GLOUCESTER, Va. — Author's note: the above video is on file from July 9, 2020.
Dennis Chambers was sentenced to life in prison in Gloucester Circuit Court Tuesday, after pleading guilty to beating his wife and killing her baby.
The crimes he was sentenced for happened back in July 2020.
Gloucester County deputies were sent to Chambers' home on Aberdeen Creek Road for a welfare check; a bedroom was locked, and his wife, Corena, wasn't answering relatives who were calling for her.
Deputies found 24-year-old Corena covered in blood, and her baby on the bed, dead.
Court documents say Chambers told investigators he had hit Corena with a hammer several times, and smothered the baby with a burping cloth.
After authorities broke down the bedroom door and found Corena, she had to be flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital for emergency brain surgery.
Chambers plead guilty to First Degree Murder and Malicious Assault, Victim Injured earlier this year.
In June, his sentencing was pushed back for a mental competency exam.
That day, his wife's family told 13News Now they wished the judge had issued a sentence more quickly, so they could "be at peace and try to get along with [their] lives."
Chambers' got a life sentence for the baby's murder, and a 40-year sentence for beating his wife.
His sentence will be carried out in a penitentiary, according to Circuit Court records.