Cash Gernon: Teen charged with capital murder in kidnapping and death of four-year-old Texas boy

‘Evidence submitted to the lab has been returned linking Darriynn Brown to Cash Gernon at the time of his death,’ Dallas police have announced

An 18-year-old man has been charged with capital murder in the kidnapping and death of a four-year-old boy in Texas.

The suspect, Darriynn Brown, is accused of snatching the boy, Cash Gernon, from his crib in Dallas. The Dallas Morning News reported that evidence from a crime lab linked Mr Brown to the boy’s death.

“Evidence submitted to the lab has been returned linking Darriynn Brown to Cash Gernon at the time of his death,” the Dallas Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday. “Therefore he is also being charged with Capital Murder.”

Mr Brown had previously been charged with burglary and kidnapping, but police had waited for forensic tests to be finished before they decided on any murder charges.

“There is no doubt who took him, and as soon as I get the lab report back there will be no doubt who killed him,” Lt Carrie Wise told the Morning News last month.

Cash went missing on the morning of 15 May, after spending the night with his twin brother at the home of his father’s girlfriend, Monica Sherrod. Home security footage shows that around 5am, a man entered the twins’ room and removed Cash from his bed. At about 11am, Ms Sherrod called the police to report him missing.

Later that morning, a jogger found Cash’s bloody body on the street about eight blocks from the house. Police say he was stabbed to death.

When Ms Sherrod viewed the surveillance footage, she told the police the intruder was Mr Brown. She reportedly recognized him because he attended school with her son.

Mr Brown’s lawyer, Heath Harris, has said his client is innocent of both the kidnapping and the murder.

“This is not an open-and-shut case,” the lawyer said. “Even if you believe that’s [Mr Brown] on the video, it doesn’t mean he killed the kid.”

Mr Brown is being held at Dallas County Jail, where his bail has been set at $1.625 million.