Autopsies detail brutal deaths of baby, mother at Norfolk apartment

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — An infant and his mother were brutally killed in their Norfolk apartment in December. 10 On Your Side investigators obtained a copy of the baby’s autopsy, which shows he likely suffered several beatings over the course of his short life before the day the fatal blows were allegedly delivered by his father.

Damere Warren was 3 months old when he and his mother, 22-year-old Epifani Andrews, were killed in their 6th Bay Street apartment. The Norfolk Police Department responded to the apartment after neighbors reported a domestic disturbance around 1 p.m. on Dec. 29.

Officers found the mother and child on the floor of their living room, and the two were pronounced dead at the scene, according to Norfolk police.

Police believe Damere and his mother died at the hands of his father, DuWayne Warren. The 26-year-old was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the slayings.

Court records allege that Warren admitted to “squeezing the baby around the chest,” and that he was “sorry for what he did.”

He also issued an apology on Facebook, which references another child who died a year prior:

I’m sorry. What I’ve done is unforgivable … Piff I love you so much n [sic] I’m sorry for not being a better and loving father to our babies may they RIP. I took everything from you and all I wanted to do is give you the world.

DuWayne Warren via a Facebook post

The charges against Warren have been certified to a grand jury, which will decide if the case will proceed to Norfolk Circuit Court. Warren is being held without bond at the Norfolk City Jail. He declined an interview with 10 On Your Side on Tuesday.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed autopsies on the mother and son, ruling both of their deaths as homicides. The OCME determined that both mother and son were beaten. The OCME’s report also showed that Andrews was cut and stabbed more than 25 times, and that Damere may have been smothered.

Further investigation into Damere’s death showed that the infant was likely abused at least three times prior to his death. He had extensive bruising on his body, scars on his face, scalp, neck, and back, a bite mark on his thigh, a well-healed fracture to his left arm, and several rib fractures that were in different stages of healing. A forensic anthropologist determined that the fractures were consistent with abuse.

“This suggests that baby Damere had been beaten multiple times in his short life,” the OCME’s report states.

Andrews and Warren had another child who “died under suspicious circumstances” a year before Damere, according to the OCME report. That child was 3 months old when she died in December 2019. No one has been charged with a crime in connection to that infant’s death.

Norfolk police confirmed they are investigating her case as an undetermined death and declined to comment on the active investigation.

The same forensic anthropologist who examined Damere’s body in January 2021 also examined his older sister’s body in January 2020. That forensic anthropologist reported “similar findings” from the examinations of both infants.