Boy found dead in Dallas street was kidnapped while he slept, mom says
A 4-year-old boy found dead in a Dallas street was kidnapped while he slept, his distraught mother said.
The boy, who suffered multiple wounds from what police say was an “edged weapon,” was identified Sunday by his mother as Cash Gernon, WFAA reported.
The “happy-go-lucky” boy was sleeping when a suspect, identified by cops as 18-year-old Darriynn Brown, barged into his home through a back door and kidnapped him on Saturday, his mother said.
The boy’s grieving mom said he had no idea what allegedly led Brown to target her son, whose body was later discovered in the street by a jogger early Saturday. The teen suspect did not know Cash, his mother told the station off-camera.
Surveillance video also captured the kidnapping, the boy’s mother said. Investigators asked neighbors Sunday for any additional footage to help them piece together what happened, WFAA reported. Some nearby residents told the station Brown was regularly seen in the city’s Mountain Creek section.
“Hard to believe,” neighbor Jose Ramirez said of the boy’s slaying. “I don’t think [Brown] was in his right mind.”
Cops scoured the neighborhood over the weekend after finding the boy’s body, Ramirez said.
“They were back in the alley, looking through trash containers to see if they could find any type of evidence,” he told WFAA. “They went down the street, and they spent a good time down there.”
Another resident, Katie Guillen, dropped off flowers at a makeshift memorial where the 4-year-old’s body was found.
“It’s just so sad that someone woke up this morning and lost their child without a warning,” Guillen said. “How do you throw away someone’s body like he’s nothing? He’s someone’s kid.”
Cash’s twin brother is now in state custody, his mother told WFAA.
Dallas police said in a statement Sunday Brown had been charged with kidnapping and theft. Additional charges are expected in the homicide investigation following a forensic analysis, authorities said.
Brown was being held Monday at the Dallas County Jail on $750,000 bond, records show. It’s unclear if he’s hired an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
The boy, who wasn’t identified by authorities, was found shirtless and shoeless in the street and likely died before 5 a.m. Saturday, the Dallas Morning News reported. He’s believed to have lived in the area, a Dallas police spokesman told the newspaper.
“We are shocked, we are very angry about what has happened to this small child,” spokesman Albert Martinez told the newspaper.
Brown was busted for evading arrest in late April, the Morning News reported. Court documents show he lived with his parents just a half-mile away from where the boy’s body was found. Brown’s stepfather, meanwhile, declined to speak when reached for comment, the newspaper reported.
Brown had been ordered to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet in connection to the prior charge, WFAA reported.
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