Man charged with murder after 17-month investigation at Weyers Cave

WEYERS CAVE, Va. (WHSV) – Damian Nesselrodt was recently charged with the murder of an infant after an incident in which authorities found a baby with bruises on his torso in 2023.

The Augusta County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call about an unresponsive baby on April 8, 2023. There, authorities found a baby with bruises on his torso in Nesselrodt’s care. After a 17-month investigation, a grand jury indicted Nesselrodt for the murder.

According to court documents, Nesselrodt told investigators he laid the baby on a pillow, scrolled through Facebook for several minutes and got up to use the bathroom. Once he came out of the bathroom, he found the baby unconscious. Nesselrodt was then the only guardian of the house.

Documents say he tried to contact the child’s mother — his girlfriend at the time — but she did not respond. He contacted the mother’s friend and she was the one who called 911.

After an autopsy was performed on the child, the baby’s death was ruled a homicide and the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the torso.

Nesselrodt is currently imprisoned on additional charges at Wallens Ridge State Prison in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. He does not yet have a court date set for this incident.