A Dallas teenager who allegedly abducted a four-year-old boy from his bed, before stabbing him and dumping him in a nearby street, has bee...
A Dallas teenager who allegedly abducted a four-year-old boy from his bed, before stabbing him and dumping him in a nearby street, has been booked by police.
The body of toddler Cash Gernon was discovered by a jogger in the city's Mountain Creek neighborhood at around 7am Saturday. Police said it appeared the child suffered a violent death from an 'edged weapon'.
Darriynn Brown, 18, was arrested hours after and was charged with kidnapping and theft. Police said they expect to place charges once forensic analysis has been completed.
Meanwhile, a family friend has hit out at the 'evil' killer as he mourned the loss of the sweet little boy who loved superheroes.
Kamran Moori told NBCDFW he lived with Cash and his twin brother, and that his mother dated Cash's father until he left suddenly a few months ago.
'He was the sweetest boy ever,' said Moori. 'He'd be so happy y'all were here he'd probably come out and say: What's up y'all?'
Moori said after Cash went missing on Saturday morning, he had gone searching for him and came across the crime scene. He said he instantly knew it was connected to Cash's disappearance.
Moori said surveillance cameras had captured the suspect breaking into their home, and carrying Cash out while he was asleep.
Cash was identified by a woman claiming to be his mother, who told WFAA that Brown had broken into her home through a back door early Saturday morning and snatched the 'happy-go-lucky' child while he was sleeping.
Moori said he had attended nearby Duncanville High School with the suspect, but that they were not friends.
He added that the suspect was not known to Cash, and he was struggling to understand why anyone would brutally murder an innocent child.
'He was four, who does this to four year old kids, why, just because you want to be evil?'
Four-year-old Cash Gernon (pictured) was found stabbed to death on a street in southwest Dallas on Saturday morning
Darriynn Brown, 18, is led through a Dallas police station after being arrested and charged with kidnapping and theft
Brown, who was wearing an ankle monitor stemming from a prior charge for evading arrest in late April, was not known to Cash
Cash Gernon, left, was the 'sweetest boy ever', said Kamron Moori, who lived with Cash and his twin brother in Dallas
An emotional Moori told NBCDFW that if he could change places with Cash, he would.
'I love this little boy,' he said.
'He was the sweetest by ever. He loved to play superheroes. He always thought he was Iron Man.'
Brown was being held Monday in Dallas County jail on $750,000 bond. It's unclear whether he has an attorney.
At the time of his arrest late Sunday night Brown was wearing an ankle monitor stemming from a prior misdemeanor charge for evading arrest in late April, according to the Dallas Morning News.
A charging document from that case states Brown lived with his parents just half a mile from where Cash's body was found.
The case has shocked residents of the southwest Dallas neighborhood where Cash was found dead.
Antwainese Square, 39, told The Dallas Morning News she called police after seeing Cash's body on the 7500 block of Saddleridge Road just before 7am while she was out for a run.
She said the boy's face and upper half of his body were covered in blood and that he didn't have shoes or a shirt.
'It breaks my heart,' Square told the newspaper. 'And now I'm afraid. Now I'm paranoid. Because I don't know what happened, I don't know what's going on.
Cops are seen on the 7500 block of Saddleridge Road where Cash's body was found
Investigators roped off the crime scene on Saturday morning before Brown's arrest
'I mean just knowing that someone out there is capable of killing a child, that alone is just unsettling.'
Martinez, the assistant police chief, said it's believed Cash was killed at about 5am and that he lived in the neighborhood where his body was found.
The boy appeared to have suffered multiple stab wounds.
'We are shocked, we are very angry about what has happened to this small child,' Martinez said.
Dallas police issued an update on Monday afternoon which claimed that a woman named Monica Sherrod had been misidentified by the media as Cash's mom.
It's unclear whether Sherrod is related to Kamron Moori.
'Cash was left in the care of Ms. Sherrod by his father unbeknownst to his biological mother, Ms. Melinda Seagroves,' Dallas police said in their release.
'According to Ms. Sherrod, she has not been able to contact the father since his departure from her residence in March 2021.'
The release further explained that Seagroves - the biological mother of Cash and his twin brother - 'has been conducting an extensive search for her sons for an extended amount of time'.
Police said Cash's twin has since been reunited with Seagroves.
The woman who identified herself as Cash's mother had told WFAA that the twin was in state custody.
A makeshift memorial is seen at the site where Cash's body was found
She said the kidnapping was captured on surveillance video and investigators reportedly asked neighbors for any additional footage that could help shed light on what happened.
Some residents told WFAA that Brown was regularly seen in the Mountain Creek area where Cash was killed. Court records showed he lived with his parents about a half-mile from the crime scene.
Neighbor Jose Ramirez called the slaying 'hard to believe' and said: 'I don't think [Brown] was in his right mind.'
By midafternoon Saturday, FBI agents were focusing on a wooded trail not far from where the body was found and police were on horseback in the area.
The trail, which neighbors said is popular for biking, was sealed off with crime-scene tape.
'They were back in the alley, looking through trash containers to see if they could find any type of evidence,' Ramirez said. 'They went down the street, and they spent a good time down there.'
Another neighbor, Katie Guillen, spoke to the outlet when she stopped by a makeshift memorial at the site where Cash's body was found to drop off flowers.
'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.'
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