He's also charged with killing the baby's mother.
Police in Memphis have posted a tragic update to an Amber Alert for a missing 2-day old girl: it is now a recover operation.
On Tuesday, Memphis PD issued the alert after finding an abandoned vehicle in the Whitehaven area; running the tags, they discovered it belonged to 27-year-old Danielle Hoyle.
They contacted her family, who told them she had left the house earlier to take her newborn daughter Kennedy to hospital for tests. It was while they were on the phone to the family that officers discovered the mother's body laying nearby. She had been shot dead.
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View StoryThere was no sign of the baby.
Detectives began an immediate search; they discovered her empty car seat abandoned near a dumpster in a Walmart parking lot, but Kennedy was nowhere to be found.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued a gut-wrenching Amber Alert for the missing child. "Kennedy was last seen wearing a black and white polka dot onesie with pink pants," it read, sharing pictures of the newborn. "She is 6lbs. and 17 inches long. She has brown hair and brown eyes."
Kennedy was last seen wearing a black and white polka dot onesie with pink pants.
— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) February 2, 2022 @TBInvestigation
She is 6lbs. and 17 inches long. She has brown hair and brown eyes.
If you have seen baby Kennedy or know where she can be found call MPD at 901-545-2677 or TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.#TNAMBERAlert pic.twitter.com/Sh16CZM5ob
But 24 hours later, investigators informed the public they were no longer looking for the child alive.
"Brandon Isabelle, the father of missing newborn Kennedy Hoyle, has been charged with First Degree Murder (2x), Murder in the Perpetration of Aggravated Kidnapping, Especially Aggravated Kidnapping, and Tampering/Fabricating with Evidence in connection with the deaths of Danielle and Kennedy Hoyle," Memphis PD said.
"Kennedy Hoyle has not been located; however, evidence suggests that she is deceased. The search will continue to recover her remains."
Police said Isabelle later admitted to luring Hoyle to the area of Levi and Sedgwick and shooting her, WMC reported.
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View StoryHe "also admitted to taking the two day old child out of Danielle's vehicle, driving the child to Island Park and the Upper Mud Island Boat Ramp, where he tossed the child into the water," affidavit of complaint states.
Isabelle told detectives he also threw the gun he had shot Kennedy's mom with into the Mississippi River.
Isabelle was taken into custody and held without bond, and is due to be arraigned Friday. According to the outlet, his only prior offenses are traffic infractions.
Police have not yet revealed a motive for the killings.
Kennedy's body has still not been found. The search was suspended Thursday due to inclement weather, and will resume Friday morning.
After learning her daughter had been murdered, April Campbell told WLOX she had been clinging to hope the granddaughter she had only held for ten minutes had not been harmed.
"Why would somebody want to hurt a baby? She is precious. She didn't do anything to you," she said. "Y'all could have taken her to a fire department, a police station, dropped her off on somebody's porch. I'm just praying that she ain't hurt."
After learning of Isabelle's arrest and confession, she told WMC: "I want him to suffer like he made my baby suffer. I want him to hurt. I don’t want it to be easy for him. I want him to suffer. He needs to suffer. Why would you hurt a baby?"