Intruder seen on video baby monitor carrying sleeping 4-year-old Cash Gernon from bed before he was murdered
Neighbours decry ‘senseless murder’ as police say an 18-year-old suspect has been taken into custody
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An intruder was caught on camera carrying a sleeping four-year-old, Cash Gernon, from his bed before he was murdered.
Cash Gernon’s family identified him as the victim in the horrifying attack which has rocked the suburban neighbourhood in Dallas, Texas where his body was found.
Police said the boy suffered from wounds made by an “edged weapon” in a “violent” death before his body was found shoeless and partially clothed in the Mountain Creek neighbourhood by a jogger around 6:45am on Saturday morning.
According to his mother, the boy was sleeping when the alleged kidnapper broke into the house and grabbed him, while an arrest affadavit said the incident had been recorded on the video baby monitor in the bedroom.
“At about five a.m ... was removed from his crib as he was sleeping ... viewed the video and identified the suspect,” Fox 10 reported of the affadavit.
She told a local news broadcaster said she has no idea why the alleged kidnapper targeted her son and said she did not believe that the alleged killer knew her child.
This 4y/o boy was found murdered on Saturday am on Saddlerige drive in the Mountain Creek Area in Dallas.
— Malini Basu (@MaliniBasu_) May 17, 2021
Mom identifies him as Cash Gernon. She says, “Cash was sleeping when he was kidnapped.”
Cash has a twin brother, who mom says, is in state custody now.
Pray for Cash 💔 pic.twitter.com/eiZgyvjAtK
Albert Martinez, the executive assistant police chief, said the child was killed around 5am that morning.
Police arrested 18-year-old Darriynn Brown in connection with the murder.
Mr Brown was charged with kidnapping and theft on Saturday night. Law enforcement officials said they were waiting on forensic analysis results before determining whether to pursue additional charges against the 18-year-old.
Following his arrest he was held at the Dallas County Jail with a $750,000 bond.
Mr Martinez issued a statement to the media expressing his shock and offering the family his condolences.
"Unfortunately a small child was lost today in our city through a violent act and we will pursue justice to find whoever did this and bring some sort of closure, not only to the family but to the community," he said. “We are shocked, we are very angry about what has happened to this small child.”
The neighbour who found the body, Antwainese Square, told NBC she was out for a jog when she saw what she initially thought was the body of a dog lying in the street.
As she got closer, she realised the form was a child and immediately called 911.
“The baby didn’t have shoes, he didn’t have a shirt on and he was just laying there. For a kid to have to go through that, that’s just disturbing, and that’s disturbing for me to carry,” she told NBC 5.
A memorial for the boy has been set up on a street corner near where he was found.