Austell man indicted in infant daughter’s 2021 killing

A Cobb grand jury has indicted Sherrard Marquise Brooks for murder and child abuse in connection to the death of his infant daughter. 

Brooks, 24, of Austell, was indicted on charges related to the November 2021 death of Nevaeh Brooks who was one month old when she died.

According to the arrest warrent, Smyrna police were dispatched to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital on the morning of Nov. 22, 2021, in response to an alleged child abuse patient.

Brooks’ mother, Alissa Marchand, had brought her to the emergency room around 6:45 a.m. that morning complaining of her daughter’s abnormal breathing, lack of eye tracking and pale skin. 

Hospital officials noted that the child was also bruised all over her body and diagnosed her with “extensive brain hemorrhages” before transferring her to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for specialized treatment.

Children’s Healthcare confirmed that Brooks had “abusive head trauma”. The doctor suspected she was “shaken to the point of receiving brain injuries she was unable to survive,” police report.

Marchand told police she had been at work starting at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 21 and did not return home until 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 22, during which time Nevaeh Brooks and her 11-month-old brother had been in the care of Sherrard Brooks.When she arrived home, Marchand checked on her daughter and “found her having a possible seizure in her baby swing,” the warrant said. Police said Sherrard Brooks offered a contrary statement saying his daughter did not have any visible injuries prior to arriving at the hospital the morning of Nov. 22.

Young Neveah Brooks was pronounced dead on Nov. 26, 2021, and the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded in April 2022 that her cause of death was “complications of non-accidental trauma.”

Sherrard Brooks was arrested in the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 12 and indicted on three counts of felony murder, one count each of aggravated battery and aggravated assault, and two counts of first degree cruelty to children.

Brooks is being held at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond.