Cash Gernon – FOUR-year-old Cash Gernon was found dead after being abducted from his home on May 16, 2021.
The crime was allegedly committed by 18-year-old Darriynn Brown.
Brown, 18, and is being held on charges of kidnapping and burglary, but police said more charges are likely “pending results from a forensic analysis.”
Authorities have not confirmed how Sherrod identified the suspect or Brown’s relationship to Cash.
According to WFAA, Brown wore an ankle monitoring bracelet for a prior charge.
“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,” police said in a statement.
The boy had multiple wounds from “an edged weapon,” according to The Dallas Morning News.
“We are shocked, we are very angry about what has happened to this small child,” Martinez said, describing the boy’s death as “violent.”
WHY DID DARRIYNN BROWN ABDUCT HIM?
The motive for Gernon’s abduction by Brown is unclear.
He was identified following the release of CCTV footage that shows him snatching the 4-year-old in the middle of the night.
A second clip also shows how he returned to the house hours later before leaving empty-handed.
How Sherrod identified the suspect or Brown’s relationship to Cash is also unclear.
Yet, what is known is that Brown had previously been arrested by Police and wore an ankle monitoring bracelet for a prior charge, according to WFAA.
The Dallas Morning News reported that the suspect lives with his parents “who provide for him financially.”
WHO WAS CASH GERNON?
Cash Gernon was a four-year-old boy who is believed to have lived locally in Dallas, Texas.
He was abducted from home on May 16, 2021 after the supect, Darriynn Brown, broke in at 5am local time and kidnapped him.
The little boy’s body was later discovered by a jogger on a resident street early Saturday morning in the city’s Mountain Creek area.
Cash’s father’s girlfriend, Monica Sherrod, then called cops shortly before 11am to report Cash as missing – but his body had already been found hours before.
Ms Sherrod formally identified the body later that day.
Dallas police officials on Monday identified the boy as Cash Gernon.
Court records obtained by the Morning News allege that security cameras inside the home where Cash and his twin brother, Carter, were staying show his 5 a.m. abduction. Darriynn Ronnell Brown is accused of breaking into the home and snatching the sleeping boy from his crib.
The motive for the abduction is unknown.
Cash’s body was found lying in the road in the 7500 block of Saddleridge Drive, about eight blocks from where the kidnapping took place. Investigators said it appeared he had been slain with an “edged weapon.”
Brown, 18, has been charged with kidnapping and felony burglary. The teen, who lives a few streets from where Cash’s body was discovered, is being held in the Dallas County Jail in lieu of $1.5 million bail.
New video released Monday afternoon from inside the Dallas County Jail shows 18-year-old Darriynn Brown booked in handcuffs.
Right now, he faces kidnapping and theft charges. We are still waiting at this hour for additional charges to be brought against Brown. @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/kKwdlt5lZB
— Peyton Yager (@peytonyager) May 18, 2021
Authorities said additional charges against Brown are pending the result of forensic analysis.
Detectives learned that Cash and Carter had been left for some time in the care of Monica Sherrod, a former girlfriend of their father’s. The twins’ mother, Melinda Seagroves, didn’t know their father had left them with Sherrod.
“According to Ms. Sherrod, she has not been able to contact the father since his departure from her residence in March,” Dallas police officials said in a statement. “Meanwhile, Ms. Seagroves, with the help of her mother, Ms. Connie Ward, has been conducting an extensive search for her sons for an extended amount of time.”
Carter has been reunited with his mother, authorities said. The boys’ father has not been located.
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The brutal homicide has stunned the Dallas community, including even the most hardened investigators.
“We are shocked,” Dallas police spokesperson Albert Martinez told the Morning News over the weekend. “We are very angry about what has happened to this small child.”
Residents in the Mountain Creek neighborhood, where the crime took place, awoke to police asking if they were missing a toddler. They gathered in groups on sidewalks and in yards as FBI agents and police officers, including some on horseback, searched for evidence in the area, including the nearby Big Cedar Wilderness Trail.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Lila Gilbert, 18, told the newspaper. “It’s so shocking to me that it’s a 4-year-old, someone’s baby. That could’ve been my little cousin or brother or something. It’s just terrifying.”
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Authorities said Sherrod contacted police just before 11 a.m. to report Cash missing.
Sherrod was able to identify Brown on her surveillance footage taking the boy, according to an affidavit in the case.
There was initially some misidentification in the case, with Sherrod being identified as Cash’s mother, police officials said. Sherrod’s mother shared a GoFundMe page on social media Monday, asking people to “please help (her) daughter during the loss of (her) grandbaby.”
Dallas police officials made a point to caution the public that fraudulent GoFundMe accounts were being set up on Cash’s behalf, though they didn’t point to any specific fund as being illegitimate.
“Please verify the source before donating,” authorities said in a statement.
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Sherrod’s son, Kamron Mori, told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth that he considered Cash his little brother. The 4-year-old was a happy child who was into superheroes, the 18-year-old said.
“He loved to play superheroes. He always thought he was Iron Man,” Mori said.
The teen was in tears as he spoke to reporters over the weekend.
“He was the sweetest boy ever,” he told the news station. “Like why? He was 4. Who does this to a 4-year-old kid? For what? For what reason? Because you want to be evil?”
Brown is a former classmate of Mori’s at Duncanville High School. Mori insisted that Brown’s alleged attack on Cash was random.
“No reason for none of this,” Mori said.
Brown’s mother, Mimi Brown, told the Morning News her son was home all weekend and could not have committed the crime. Like the Sherrod home, the Brown home is within a half-mile of the spot where Cash’s body was found.
“That’s not right at all,” she said. “I know my son is traumatized. I know he’s scared, because I’m scared.
“Darriynn is very kind. I feel that he’s being framed.”
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