'Sorry For Trying To Take Your Grandchild', Suspect In Cash Gernon Homicide Grabbed Sleeping 2-Year-Old In February
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The 18-year-old accused of killing 4-year-old Cash Gernon -- Darriynn Brown -- now faces two more charges. One of the charges details another incident involving a 2-year-old girl in February of this year, according to an arrest affidavit.
In addition to kidnapping and theft, Brown is charged with injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual. Additionally, he faces a second burglary charge.
According to the affidavit for the burglary charge, Brown entered a man's home and started going through all the rooms and closets. Picking up a kitchen knife, the man demanded that he leave. The homeowner managed to get Brown out of his home, but he came back and started kicking and damaging an interior door between the garage and home. The homeowner opened the door and Brown reentered, punching the man in the forehead, according to the affidavit.
It was then that Brown allegedly walked into the living room where the man's 2-year-old granddaughter was sleeping. He grabbed her and started carrying her toward the laundry room at the back of the house near the garage door. Her grandfather demanded Brown let her go, but he continued with the child toward the door. Fearing Brown would take the child from his home, the man physically removed her from his grasp, according to the affidavit. The grandfather put the girl back on the couch then confronted Brown in the kitchen. Brown allegedly punched the man in the face then fled out the back door. The child's grandfather later told police that she was "startled and began crying when she awoke to Brown holding her."
At the time of the incident, the homeowner decided not to press charges.
Two weeks after the incident, the man ran into Brown at Walmart. He told police that Brown approached him and apologized, saying, "he was sorry for breaking into his house and trying to take his grandchild."
Child Abuse Detectives met with the man on May 18 to interview him about the incident on Feb. 8. He told them he now wanted to press charges against Brown.
This was three days after Cash was found in the 7500 block of Saddleridge Drive -- about a half-mile from a home he was living at with his twin brother on Florina. He was lying in a pool of blood, had multiple wounds from what investigators say was "an edged weapon" and did not have on a shirt or shoes.
A jogger discovered Cash's body. The woman told CBS 11 News that she initially thought what she was seeing was a dog, but quickly realized it wasn't. "The closer I get to it I can tell it's a human cause I see a hand and I see legs. Very traumatizing. I have three kids. To see a child covered in blood in the middle of the street, it's truly traumatizing," she said.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, home surveillance video shows a person, who police said is Brown, lifting Cash from his crib as he slept and carrying the boy away.
The woman who had the child in her care, Monica Sherrod, is the girlfriend of Cash's father. According to the court papers, Sherrod identified Brown as the person in the video and said that while she knew him he did not have permission to be inside her home.
A second video allegedly shows Brown returning, it appears to take Cash's twin Carter, but he leaves without taking the boy. This would have happened after Cash was already deceased.
