FOUR-MONTH-OLD NEVAEH PETTY DIES AFTER SEVERE INJURIES — QUESTIONS SURROUND THE MAN WHO WAS CARING FOR HER

A BABY SPENT FOUR DAYS ON LIFE SUPPORT. NOW HER FAMILY IS DEMANDING ANSWERS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE SHE WAS FOUND UNRESPONSIVE.

Four-month-old Nevaeh Petty should have had a lifetime ahead of her.

She should have been discovering familiar voices, smiling at the people who loved her and growing up surrounded by the safety and comfort every child deserves.

Instead, her short life ended after she was found unresponsive inside a Nashville home — leaving her family devastated and investigators trying to reconstruct what happened.

THE CALL THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

On September 19, 2026, officers were called to a home on 24th Avenue North in Nashville shortly before 5 p.m. after receiving a report of an unresponsive infant.

Nevaeh was rushed to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in extremely critical condition.

At the time, she was in the care of her mother’s boyfriend, 32-year-old Bobby Randall Conner Jr.

According to police, Conner told officers that he had been lying in bed with Nevaeh while her mother was at work.

He said he got up to use the bathroom and, when he returned, found the baby unresponsive.

But doctors soon discovered injuries that raised serious concerns.

DOCTORS FOUND SEVERE HEAD INJURIES

According to the Metro Nashville Police Department, medical testing revealed that Nevaeh had suffered serious internal head injuries, including retinal hemorrhaging.

Doctors reported the injuries as indicative of abuse.

Nevaeh remained in hospital for several days as her family hoped she could survive.

But the damage was devastating.

On September 23, Nevaeh was declared brain-dead after spending four days on life support, according to her father and local reporting.

Her family ultimately made the heartbreaking decision to remove her from life support.

She was only four months old.

CONNER WAS INITIALLY CHARGED WITH CHILD ABUSE

Conner was arrested on September 23 at a motel on Spence Lane.

He was initially charged with aggravated child abuse, and a judicial commissioner set his bond at $500,000.

After Nevaeh died, Nashville police said Youth Services detectives would consult with the District Attorney’s Office about upgraded charges.

Subsequent reports said the charge was upgraded to murder.

Conner is accused in connection with Nevaeh’s death. He has not been convicted, and the allegations will have to be tested through the court process.

A HISTORY THAT IS NOW UNDER SCRUTINY

As investigators examined the circumstances surrounding Nevaeh’s injuries, Conner’s previous criminal history became another major focus.

According to the Nashville police department, Conner was convicted of child abuse in August 2020 and received a four-year sentence.

He was later convicted of child neglect stemming from a March 2025 arrest and received a one-year sentence.

Police said he had been released from jail in August 2026 — shortly before Nevaeh’s death.

That history has left Nevaeh’s family asking difficult questions about how the infant came to be in his care.

HER FATHER SAYS HE WARNED AUTHORITIES

Nevaeh’s biological father, Edward “Eddie” Wagner, said he knew about Conner’s previous convictions.

Wagner told WSMV that he repeatedly warned Nevaeh’s mother, Jessica Petty, that he did not believe Conner should be around their daughter.

“I told Jessica, who is the mother, it was not a good idea for him to be around my daughter,” Wagner said.

Wagner also said he contacted the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services because he was worried about his daughter.

According to Wagner, DCS conducted a welfare check.

At that time, he said, Nevaeh was found unharmed.

Wagner told WSMV that he was informed Conner was not a sex offender and was considered permitted to be around the baby.

THE MOTHER HAS ALSO SPOKEN OUT

Jessica Petty has denied harming her daughter.

In an interview reported by WTVF, she said she had been cleared by DCS to leave Nevaeh with Conner and questioned why authorities had allowed him to be around the child.

“I didn’t do anything to my daughter,” Petty said, according to the report.

When asked whether she believed leaving her infant with Conner, given his previous child-abuse history, was a risk, she reportedly responded:

“No comment.”

Her comments have fueled further public debate over what authorities knew about Conner’s history and what legal options were available to child-protection officials at the time.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WARNINGS

For Nevaeh’s father, the tragedy has left questions that may never have easy answers.

What information was available before September 19?

What did DCS know?

What did the family know?

And could anything have been done differently before Nevaeh was left in the care of a man with previous convictions involving children?

Those questions are now part of the wider scrutiny surrounding the case.

The Nashville police investigation and the court proceedings will determine what evidence can establish about the circumstances of Nevaeh’s injuries and death.

A BABY WHO NEVER GOT THE CHANCE TO GROW UP

Nevaeh was only four months old.

She never had the opportunity to take her first steps, start school, make lifelong friends or discover the world beyond the home where she should have been protected.

Her father is now left mourning a daughter he believed he had tried to protect.

“I don’t wish this upon no parent,” Wagner told WSMV after learning his daughter had been declared brain-dead.

The criminal case against Bobby Randall Conner Jr. will now move through the courts.

But for Nevaeh’s family, the legal process is only one part of a much larger search for answers.

They want to know what happened to their baby.

They want to know whether the warning signs were missed.

And most of all, they are left with the unbearable reality that a four-month-old girl who should have had an entire lifetime ahead of her is gone.