A Mooresville couple already facing felony child abuse charges was served with first-degree murder indictments Tuesday at the Iredell County Detention Center, after a medical examiner determined their infant died from severe malnutrition and dehydration caused by caregiver neglect. Kendal Lee Hayes, 34, and Glenn John DelGreco II, 33, now face the state's most serious criminal charge in connection with their child's death.
The indictments follow a grand jury presentation on September 2, when Iredell County prosecutors laid out autopsy findings from Wake Forest Medical Center, according to WSOC-TV. Medical examiners ruled the infant's death a homicide, determining the cause of death was severe protein-calorie malnutrition due to caregiver neglect, per the sheriff's office. Magistrate R. Imes issued a no-bond order on the new charges against both parents.
Infant Lost a Third of Its Body Weight
Investigators say the infant suffered from severe malnourishment and dehydration and had lost approximately one-third of its body weight since birth. Per investigators, the child was not provided necessary medical treatment before dying. The station's report notes the Iredell County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division led the inquiry into the death.
Hayes and DelGreco lived in the Mooresville residence alongside the infant's grandparents, Alice Loraine Evans and Thomas Virgil Evans. According to the sheriff's office, all four adults shared responsibility for the infant's care, well-being, and safety. Deputies served all four with outstanding warrants back on June 11, when they were initially charged with felony child abuse and aiding and abetting.
Grandparents' Charges Remain Unchanged For Now
It remains unclear whether the grand jury will also consider upgraded murder charges against Alice Loraine Evans and Thomas Virgil Evans, who currently face the original felony child abuse and aiding-and-abetting counts filed in June. Hayes and DelGreco were served their new indictments at the detention center on Tuesday.
Under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-17, first-degree murder is classified as a Class A felony — the state's highest criminal offense level — carrying, upon conviction, either life imprisonment without parole or the death penalty, as determined under the applicable sentencing procedure, according to Justia Law. The statute lists starving, torture, and imprisonment alongside willful premeditated killing as circumstances for first-degree murder, as Patrick Roberts Law explains.
A Pattern of Child Welfare Cases in Iredell County
This is not the first time the Iredell County Sheriff's Office has confronted allegations of severe child neglect. In June 2025, deputies arrested two parents in Harmony on felony child abuse charges after finding eight children living in unsanitary and hazardous conditions, Hoodline previously reported.
The case also lands amid a broader statewide reckoning over child mortality. North Carolina recorded an overall child death rate of 64.2 per 100,000 children in 2022, its highest since 2009, according to the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force. The state's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner separately recorded 14 infant homicides out of 227 total infant deaths investigated in 2022.
State lawmakers have since moved to overhaul oversight of these cases. Effective July 1, 2025, North Carolina restructured its child fatality prevention system, establishing a centralized State Office of Child Fatality Prevention within the state health department to coordinate local multidisciplinary death review teams, per the UNC School of Government's Coates' Canons. North Carolina also maintains a Safe Surrender Law allowing parents to anonymously hand over an unharmed infant up to 30 days old to designated safe individuals without fear of prosecution, a measure enacted specifically to prevent newborn abandonment and infant homicide.
The Iredell County Sheriff's Office, led by elected Sheriff Darren Campbell, investigated the case. Hayes and DelGreco are being held without bond at the detention center. No further court dates have been disclosed for either parent or for the infant's grandparents.
