Man charged with brutal stabbing murder of 4-year-old Cash Gernon found incompetent to stand trial



The man charged with the brutal stabbing murder of 4-year-old Cash Gernon was found incompetent to stand trial after he was assessed by both the prosecution and his defense team.

Dallas Police claimed that Darriynn Brown kidnapped the boy from his bed and stabbed him to death in May 2021. The boy's body was found in the middle of a street eight blocks away by a jogger the morning after he died.

Police released home surveillance video showing someone looking like Brown grabbing Cash and walking off with him. The video showed that the same man later returned for Cash's twin brother Carter, but he was scared off.

Brown's defense team claimed that he was in a trance-like state during the murder and that he suffered from hallucinations.

A medical expert hired by the prosecution also came to the conclusion that Brown was mentally incapable of standing trial. On Friday, Brown was officially declared incompetent to stand trial.

"He can finally get the help that he needs so he can assist us in his representation," said Brown's defense attorney Heath Harris.

Brown will be likely be transferred to Vernon Psychiatric Hospital according to Harris.

"Maybe someday we can get to the facts of this case, which we believe are going to show he has a mental defect that potentially led to this tragedy," Harris added. "He may be entitled to an insanity defense."

The boy and his brother were in the care of a woman who was reportedly dating their father at the time of his murder. Their father had been on a work trip for months when his boy was murdered. The twins' mother accused the father of running off with the boys and said she had been searching for them for months.

Brown may never be found competent to stand trial for the murder of Cash. Even if he is found competent to stand trial in the future, his defense may argue that he was insane at the time of the murder. If that's the case, the prosecution will have to prove that Brown knew what he was doing was wrong at the time that he did it.

"We ask people to be patient in forming their opinions or judgments about this," defense attorney Valerie Baston said.

Here's a local news video about the ruling:

Man accused of murdering Dallas 4-year-old Cash Gernon found incompetent to stand trialwww.youtube.com

Suspect in 4-year-old Cash Gernon’s horrific stabbing death charged with capital murder, could face death penalty



Darriynn Brown, the 18-year-old suspect in the violent killing of 4-year-old Cash Gernon, has been charged with capital murder and could face the Texas death penalty, according to the Dallas Morning News.

What's a brief history here?

The young child was discovered in the middle of a Dallas road in May, having been stabbed to death just hours after being kidnapped from the bed he shared with his twin brother.

The kidnapping was caught on camera, and despite clear similarities between Brown and the suspect captured on video, Brown has said that he is not the person in the video.

Brown was previously facing kidnapping and theft charges after he reportedly attempted to kidnap a 2-year-old girl in February.

Brown faces a minimum sentence of life in prison and could receive the death penalty if found guilty on the capital murder charge in connection with the child's death.

What are the details?

A spokesperson for the Dallas Police Department said that new evidence links Brown to the child's murder and the time of his death.

"Evidence submitted to the lab has been returned linking Darriynn Brown to Cash Gernon at the time of his death," the statement noted. "Therefore he is also being charged with Capital Murder."

On Wednesday, Brown attorney Heath Harris said that he is still trying to gain access to evidence to make a case for his client.

"It's almost a month after this tragedy and I'm still waiting to prepare this kid's defense," Harris said. "We can't do that till we have all the evidence."

He added, "This is not an open and shut case. Even if you believe that's [Brown] on the video, it doesn't mean he killed the kid. The world is basically prejudicing this whole community by saying, 'That's him.'"

Harris has also insisted that Brown may suffer from schizophrenia and is waiting for a physician to place him under a mental health evaluation to see if he's competent to assist in his own defense.

During a community meeting in May, Lt. Carrie Wise said, "There is no doubt who took [Cash], and as soon as I get the lab report back, there will be no doubt who killed him."

Brown remains in the Dallas County Jail with bail set at $1.625 million. In addition to the capital murder charge, Brown faces charges of burglary and kidnapping related to the child's abduction, as well as counts of burglary and injury to an elderly person stemming from a February incident, the outlet noted.

You can read more on the background of the case here.

Attorney claims man accused of killing Dallas 4-year-old Cash Gernon, is schizophrenicwww.youtube.com

Suspect in brutal murder of 4-year-old in Dallas had allegedly tried to kidnap a 2-year-old, but homeowner refused to press charges



The suspect in the murder of a 4-year-old boy in Dallas, Texas, had been previously accused of assaulting another homeowner and trying to kidnap his 2-year-old girl, but the man had refused to press charges at the time.

The disconcerting accusations were outlined in a second arrest affidavit filed against Darriynn Brown, the 18-year-old arrested and charged in the heinous murder of Cash Gernon, who was found in a pool of his own blood by a jogger.

Brown is accused of entering a home in February and rifling through the closets before a homeowner grabbed a kitchen knife and forced him to leave. He then allegedly damaged the door in order to gain entry again, punched the homeowner in the forehead, and walked into the living room where the homeowner's 2-year-old granddaughter was sleeping.

The affidavit says that Brown picked up the girl and tried to make his way out the back door when the homeowner confronted him and wrenched his granddaughter away. Brown allegedly punched him in the face and fled the scene.

Astoundingly, the homeowner decided not to press charges at the time of the incident.

Investigators talked to the homeowner three days after Cash Gernon was found dead, and he decided to press charges at that time.

In addition to the charges of kidnapping and theft in the murder of Cash Gernon, Brown now faces two new charges of injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual, and burglary. Police say more charges are pending the results of forensic analysis.

A figure fitting Brown's description was captured on surveillance video kidnapping the child from his crib the night before he was found dead. Brown's mother told the media that her son is completely innocent and that he was framed for the crime.

The boy was in the care of his father's girlfriend at the time of his abduction and murder. The mother of Cash said that she didn't know where her children were and that the father had left the two boys with his girlfriend without notifying her about their whereabouts.

Here's a local news report about the new charges:

Accused Child Killer Darriynn Brown Faces New Charges In Cash Gernon Casewww.youtube.com

Video reportedly shows suspect abducting 4-year-old Cash Gernon from his bed, then returning for twin brother hours after murdering boy



Darriynn Brown — the 18-year-old suspect accused of brutally murdering a 4-year-old Dallas, Texas, boy — reportedly came back to the family home for the boy's twin brother just hours after kidnapping the child and committing the heinous killing.

Surveillance video captured the moment that the suspect entered the boys' bedroom and abducted 4-year-old Cash Gernon.

Authorities arrested Brown on Saturday after the child's body was discovered on a residential street in the early hours of the morning.

Brown's bond is set at $1.5 million.

What are the details?

According to a Wednesday report from the Daily Mail, surveillance footage showed the moment that Brown grabbed 4-year-old Cash and ran.

"In night vision footage, Brown creeps in dressed in a hoodie, backpack, sweatpants, and sneakers, and hovers menacingly over the two boys," the outlet reported. "He appears to hesitate for a few seconds, staring at the brothers and looking around the room, before finally reaching toward the bed and carefully pulling back the boys' blanket."

At that point, the suspect can be seen snatching Cash — who appears to awaken immediately — and running out of the room with the little boy in his arms.

Just hours later, Brown reportedly returned to the boys' bedroom for 4-year-old Carter.

The outlet said that Brown in surveillance footage can be seen "hovering menacingly over Carter Gernon as he slept in the cot he shared with his brother Cash."

Brown, however, "appears to get spooked by a sound in the house and flees, leaving Carter asleep."

"Brown, 18, reaches down and touches the boy as he stirs in his toddler bed, before wandering around the room, seemingly disturbed by a sound, and fleeing the room, leaving the boy sleeping peacefully," the outlet noted.

This is the disturbing moment four-year old #CashGernon was taken from his bed early Saturday morning by… https://t.co/6yPpob8ShG

— The Daily Sneed ™ ➐ (@Tr00peRR) 1621388055.0

'Truly traumatizing'

A jogger — later identified by the Daily Mail as 39-year-old Antwainese Square — said that she discovered Cash's lifeless body in the middle of a street, initially believing it to be that of a dog.

"That image that I saw, I just can't erase it," Square, an educator, recalled. "To see a child covered in blood in the middle of the street, it's truly traumatizing."

Cash, she said, was not wearing a shirt or shoes.

Square added that when she got closer, she realized it was a child and began screaming. She called 911, she said, and added that dispatchers requested she check the boy for any signs of life.

"They asked me to walk right up to the body in case the little boy was still alive," Square recalled. "And if he was, for me to try to save his life. I saw ants crawling all over his bare feet and he had blood over his face. He had no shoes, no socks, no shirt, none of that."

"He was only wearing a pair of bottoms, shorts," she added. "I just keep remembering those ants at the bottom of that baby's feet. He was on his back in the roadway. I remember one arm and one leg out. And the reason why I remember the arm and leg is because when I was walking up from afar, that was the determination of me knowing, 'OK this is a human. This is not a dog, this is a human being.'"

Square said that she remained with Cash's lifeless body until first responders arrived.

"[T]here was no way in the world I was going to leave that baby on his own," she said. "Whether he was dead or alive, I just wasn't going to leave him. My fear was somebody was going to accidentally run over him."

This 4y/o boy was found murdered on Saturday am on Saddlerige drive in the Mountain Creek Area in Dallas.Mom iden… https://t.co/rv9n3BybRr

— Malini Basu (@MaliniBasu_) 1621212902.0

Living with their biological father's estranged girlfriend

The boys were said to be living with Monica Sherrod, the girlfriend of their biological father, who the outlet reported "vanished" in March.

Sherrod said that Brown was "known to the family as the brother of her older son's friend," but the motive behind the shocking murder remains unknown at the time of this reporting.

Sherrod added that the suspect was able to gain entry to the home through an unlocked garage door.

"[F]ootage shows [Brown] returning at 7 a.m.," she told the outlet. "It seemed he was spooked by someone. It chills me to think that he could have been coming back for Carter."

Sherrod said that she didn't even realize the child was gone until later that morning when Cash failed to wake her up as he always did.

"We were all asleep when it happened," Sherrod said. "Cash usually wakes me up, but he didn't wake me [that day]. When I got up, I noticed he was gone. I called 911. I didn't even know somebody had taken him. I thought he might have gone outside. That was until I watched my surveillance camera, which showed someone taking him out."

Where are the mom and dad?

According to a report from the Dallas Morning News, Cash's biological mother and grandmother had been looking for for the children, and believed the boys were with their father.

The outlet reported that the family did not realize that their father left them with Sherrod and disappeared.

Authorities still do not know the father's whereabouts at the time of this reporting.

Carter has since been reunited with his mother.