Nashville Man Arrested for Aggravated Child Abuse; Victim is Girlfriend's 4-Month-Old Daughter

Youth Services detectives this morning charged Bobby Randall Conner Jr., 32, with aggravated child abuse for allegedly causing life-threatening injuries to his girlfriend's four-month-old daughter. The infant remains hospitalized in very critical condition.

Officers responded to a home on 24th Avenue North just before 5 p.m. on September 19th concerning a report of an unresponsive child. The infant was rushed to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. Conner told patrol officers that he was lying in bed with the child while her mother was at work, got up to use the restroom, and upon his return noticed she was unresponsive.

Doctors at Vanderbilt reported to detectives at the first of this week that testing revealed the child suffered serious internal head injuries, including retinal hemorrhaging, indicative of abuse. Conner was taken into custody this morning at a Spence Lane motel. A judicial commissioner set his bond at $500,000.

Conner was convicted of child neglect just last month as the result of a March 2025 arrest and received a sentence of one year. He was convicted of child abuse in August 2020 and received a sentence of four years.