LACOMBE, LA – The St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s office has reclassified the cause of death of an infant who died in 2016 after the baby’s father was arrested last week for murdering his seven-month-old son.
When Tanner Nauck died on January 4, 2016, at four-months-old, Coroner Dr. Charles Preston classified the death as “natural” after finding severe congenital heart disease.
Preston began the process of reclassifying that death from “natural” to “undetermined” after 25-year-old Corey Nauck was arrested February 28 on first-degree murder charges after his seven-month-old son Carter Nauck died of blunt force trauma.
“We completed the review of the case, including consultation with the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Tanner Nauck more than two years ago,” Preston said. “The reclassification is undetermined for both cause and manner of death. I spoke with the boys’ mother, Melissa Nauck, and made her aware of the reclassification.”
Although no obvious signs of trauma were found during Tanner Nauck’s autopsy in 2016, the new murder case triggered a closer look at the case, Preston said.
“I would stress that there is no particular red flag after reviewing the case, but given the additional information regarding Carter’s death, we are looking at Tanner’s death through a different lens,” he said. “The mechanism to change a death certificate involves writing a letter to the state. That letter is now in the mail.”
