Mugshot/Facebook Darriynn Brown and Cash Gernon.
A chilling video shows the moment police say 18-year-old Darriynn Brown kidnapped a 4-year-old boy from his crib in Dallas, Texas.
The boy, Cash Gernon, was later found murdered and dead in the street.
“The suspect has been identified as 18-year-old Darriynn Brown. He is charged with kidnapping and burglary. Dallas investigators anticipate additional charges, pending results from a forensic analysis,” Dallas police wrote in a news release.
The crime has shocked the Dallas area. The abductor then tried to return to kidnap the boy’s twin brother but failed at that attempt, according to Daily Mail, which obtained the videos.
“Honestly, I’m confused bro,” Kamron Mori, who considered the boy like a brother, told WFAA-TV. “Like why? He’s 4, ya know. Like who does this to a 4-year-old kid?”
He said he went to school with the suspect but was baffled by the motive, telling the television station, “Random. Yes. Random out of nowhere, for no reason. There’s not a reason for none of this. It’s not from revenge. Not from hate. Not from none of that. Nothing. To get back at us? Nothing.”
You can see the video below, but be aware that it’s disturbing.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Videos Show the Moment the Child Was Taken From His Crib
The Daily Mail reported it obtained video that shows Brown taking the boy from his crib.
According to the Daily Mail, 39-year-old Monica Sherrod, the ex-girlfriend of Cash’s father and the person with whom Cash was living, identified Brown “as the brother of her older sons’ friend.” The motive is not clear, however. Cash’s father is named Trevor Gernon, Daily Mail reported.
A second video shows Brown returning to take Cash’s twin Carter, the Daily Mail reported, but the man in the video leaves without taking the boy.
According to the Dallas Morning News, an arrest affidavit in the case says that the child was lifted out of his crib and kidnapped.
The newspaper reported that Cash and his brother were staying with his father’s girlfriend, Monica Sherrod. “I loved those boys. They were not even my biological boys. I brought them into my home. I had made this room for them,” Sherrod said to Daily Mail, which reported that the surviving twin is now reunited with his biological mother, Melinda Seagroves.
Cash Was Found Dead in the Street, ‘Shirtless & Shoeless,’ Police Say
On Saturday, May 15, 2021, at approximately 6:50 a.m., “officers received a call regarding a child deceased on the street in the 7500 block of Saddleridge Drive. As a result of the investigation, an arrest has been made in the homicide of the four-year-old toddler,” police wrote in the news release.
“Through the hard work of the men and women of the Dallas Police Department this criminal was brought to justice and it would not have been possible without the Dallas FBI Evidence Response Team and the public’s assistance.”
The child’s cause of death was not released, but police said the killer used an edged weapon, according to CBS 11 in Dallas.
WFAA-TV reported that the child had “multiple wounds” to his body.
The child was “shirtless and shoeless” when found, according to The Dallas Morning News. The newspaper reported that a jogger discovered the child’s body, initially thinking he was a dog.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Brown lives with his parents “who provide for him financially.” His address in court records is just a half-mile from where the child’s body was discovered.
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