March 28, 2025
District Attorney Collin Sims reports that on March 27, 2025, a St. Tammany Parish jury found 32-year-old Corey Nauck, Sr. guilty of First Degree Murder. Assistant District Attorneys Iain Dover and Angelina Valuri presented the case to the jury with Judge William H. Burris presiding over the 4-day trial. Detective Daniel Buckner with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office was the lead detective in the investigation.
Due to the severity of the baby’s skull fracture, the child was airlifted to a south shore hospital, where he was determined by medical officials to have no brain activity. Two days later, on February 28, 2018, the baby was taken off of life support and pronounced deceased. Following an autopsy conducted that same day, the baby’s death was ruled a homicide.
Law enforcement officials located and arrested Nauck later that evening at a family member’s home in Mississippi. Nauck eventually confessed that he had “lost it” after his son wouldn’t stop crying. He admitted and demonstrated to investigators how he slammed the baby’s head on the ground 5-7 times. Nauck explained how he didn’t tell anyone about what he had done to his son because he knew “he [the Defendant] was going to lose everything and everyone.” Nauck further admitted he never called 911 to seek out medical assistance. He described how he drove the baby through Covington in his vehicle after knowing he was critically injured, because his other 5 year old son needed to be dropped off at school.
Throughout the trial, jurors listened to testimony from the baby’s medical teams at both of the hospitals where he received treatment for his injuries. All of those witnesses explained to jurors how the baby was so severely injured, that his case would follow them for the rest of their life. Defense counsel conceded that Nauck was solely responsible for his baby’s death, but asserted he did not intend to kill him. In the first closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Angelina Valuri stated, “Let your verdict of guilty as charged be the last voice this little boy hears before he finally rests in peace.” Assistant District Attorney Iain Dover said in his closing argument, “The only just outcome in this case is a life sentence. Hand the Defendant a life sentence for the death sentence he handed his 7 month old son.”
The jury concluded Nauck acted with the specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily injury upon his son and found him guilty of First Degree Murder. Nauck’s sentencing is set for April 16, 2025. The mandatory sentence for First Degree Murder is life imprisonment, without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.
District Attorney Collin Sims would like to thank the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, the St. Tammany Parish Hospital, the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office, the Department of Children and Family Services, the Child Advocacy Center, and Ochsner Medical Center – New Orleans for all of their hard work and dedication in this case.