Norfolk man sentenced to 50 years for murder of girlfriend and two infant children

A man in Norfolk has been sentenced to 50 years behind bars for killing his girlfriend and their two infant children. 27-year-old Duwayne Warren was sentenced in Norfolk Circuit Court on Friday for murdering his infant daughter in December 2019 and murdering his infant son and the mother of both children, Epifani Andrews, in December 2020.

Warren previously pleaded guilty to the murders back in November. He pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder with no agreement as to his sentence. On Friday, Judge Jerrauld C. Jones sentenced Mr. Warren to serve 50 active years in prison: 30 years for each of the three counts of second-degree murder, with 10 years suspended on two counts and 20 years suspended on one count.

Court documents state the first death occurred on December 19, 2019. First responders were called to a report of an unresponsive baby at the couple’s home in the 300 block of Hicks Avenue.

When they got to the scene, medics pronounced the couple’s 12-week-old daughter, Evonne Warren, dead. Warren initially told detectives that he had co-slept with his daughter and noticed that she was “cold to the touch and unresponsive” when he woke up.

Evonne’s body was subsequently sent to the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters where a Child Abuse Program (CAP) consultation report was completed and an autopsy was performed. A referral to an anthropologist was also made.

Health officials who completed the CAP report found that Evonne died with multiple internal and external injuries. Additionally, officials reported that Evonne also had a low body weight and was found to have been nutritionally and medically neglected.

When investigators interviewed both parents, they denied abusing Evonne or seeing anyone abuse her. Evonne’s official cause of death was undetermined but suspected to be asphyxia due to evidence of smothering. However, the medical examiner who conducted Evonne’s autopsy could not rule out death caused by co-sleeping adults.

An autopsy of their second child, 14-week-old Damere Warren, showed that he had multiple scars, numerous rib fractures in different stages of healing, a healed fracture of his right arm, and a contusion of the brain. Officials say these were all the results of “numerous and severe beatings.”

On December 29, 2020, the day Warren murdered 22-year-old Epifani and their son, Epifani went to Warren’s apartment in the 9500 block of Sixth Bay Street to pick up Damere. The couple no longer lived together and Warren had been watching Damere over the Christmas holiday.

Officials say Warren led Epifani inside the apartment to a back room where Damere and his car seat were. She did not know it at that time, but by then, detectives say Warren had already beaten Damere to death.

Once the couple was in the backroom, Warren stabbed her at least 25 times with a knife as he chased after her as she attempted to escape. At the front door, Warren then proceeded to beat Epifani in the face with a soundbar to the point where she was unrecognizable.

Epifani’s autopsy showed that Mr. Warren had stabbed her in her face, scalp, neck, chest, arms, and right hand. Health officials say Warren had severed Ms. Andrews’ cervical spinal cord and punctured her lung, leading to bleeding in her chest. The medical examiner had to confirm her identity using her dental records.

When the police arrived at the apartment, Warren stepped out of the apartment covered in blood. The police found Epifani lying unresponsive in a pool of blood at the door and Damere in the back room. Both Epifani and Damere were pronounced dead at the scene.

When Warren was arrested he admitted to detectives that he killed both Epifani and their son. He claimed to not know why, besides saying that he is “always angry.”

Mr. Warren also confirmed to detectives that he wrote a Facebook post on the day he killed them, in which he said: “My babies I love yall I’m so sorry. I pray God takes care of them … Piff I love you so much n 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.”

Mr. Warren also admitted to squeezing Evonne.