2 arrested in connection to death of 3-week-old baby in North Carolina

CURRITUCK COUNTY, N.C. (WAVY) — Two people have been arrested and charged in connection to the March death of a three-week-old infant, the Currituck County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

Brittany Daniel Nixon, 35, of Nags Head, N.C. has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligent child abuse—serious physical injury, both felonies, and is being held at the Currituck County Detention Center under a $500,000 secured bond.

Cameron Merritt, 28, of Nags Head, has been charged with negligent child abuse—serious physical injury and is being held at the Currituck County Sheriff’s Office under a $250,000 secured bond.

The Currituck County Sheriff’s Office said that it was dispatched to Bluefish Court in Grandy around 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 27 about an unresponsive three-week-old child, Declan Merritt. The infant was taken to Sentara Albemarle Medical Center in Elizabeth City, where he later died.

After an investigation by the Criminal Investigation and Narcotic divisions of the sheriff’s office, Nixon and Cameron Merritt were served with warrants for their arrests, and then arrested, at the same Nags Head address and charged in connection to the infant’s death.

It was not immediately clear what the relationship was between Nixon, Cameron Merritt and the infant.

According to the arrest warrant for Nixon on the involuntary manslaughter charge, it states that on or about March 27 in Currituck County, she “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously did kill another living human being, a three-week-old infant, by a culpably negligent act or omission.”

On the charges against Nixon and Cameron Merritt for negligent child abuse—serious physical injury, it states that their “willful act or grossly negligent omission in the care of the child showed a reckless disregard for human life which resulted in serious mental or physical injury to the child.”

Both Nixon and Cameron Merritt are due to be in Currituck County District Court for a 9:30 a.m. hearing on Sept. 4.

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