Man Sentenced for Kidnapping Boy, 4, from Bed, Leaving Body in Pool of Blood on Road Half Mile Away: Judge

Darriyn Brown, 22, was 18 years old when Cash Gernon was snatched from his bedroom and later found about eight blocks down the road laying in a pool of his own blood. He reportedly had no shirt or shoes and had multiple wounds from what investigators described as "an edged weapon," per CBS News. Gernon was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gernon and his twin brother had been at home on May 15, 2021, when the boy was abducted at about 5 a.m. They were being watched at the time by Monica Sherrod, alternately described as a girlfriend and a friend of the twins' father. Two hours later, a 911 caller reported finding a missing child lying in a puddle of blood, per CourtTV.

By 11 a.m., Gernon had been reported missing, and it was Sherrod who was able to ID Brown from video of the abduction. Footage from a baby camera cited by ABC affiliate WFAA reportedly showed Brown carrying the sleeping 4-year-old away from his bedroom just hours before his body would be found with multiple stab wounds, lying in the middle of the road.

According to an arrest affidavit reviewed by the news station, police searched Brown's room after the body was found. There they found a hoodie, shoes, and a dark pair of glasses which all tested positive Gernon's blood.

No motive was ever released for the kidnapping or murder. In 2021, Brown's defense attorneys told Fox affiliate KDFW that he was schizophrenic and had recently been released from a mental health facility. His defense further alleged that Brown had been in a trance-like state at the time of his alleged crimes.

Brown was initially declared incompetent to stand trial by a judge in Dallas County, but that decision was reversed earlier this year when a court ruled that he had regained competency after receiving treatment at the facility that had been holding him.

Nevertheless, CBS News reports he had intended to carry forward with an insanity plea in the case until a last-minute change of heart. According to the outlet, Brown wanted to admit to the judge that he had committed the murder of Gernon.

His defense attorney Heath Harris also cited other circumstances in their decision to forgo the insanity defense. "We realized we got 3 different doctors' reports that all say they don’t believe he qualifies for insanity," he told KDFW. "Things like him hiding the knife once he gets back to his mom’s house. Also, taking a different direction to avoid cameras, you know."

When asked if Brown had ever told him why he abducted and murdered Gernon, Heath told the news station, "That's what the voices told him to do. The voices told him that Cash was special and that if he killed Cash he would get superhuman powers."

In his deal, Brown pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, as opposed to the capital murder charge he would have faced had his case gone to trial. He was also charged with kidnapping and burglary, per KDFW. With this deal, Brown does have the possibility of parole after 30 years.

In court at his sentencing, prosecutors read three victim impact statements, where Brown was called a monster and a coward who'd ruined so many lives. The victim's father, Trevor Gernon, wanted to say that his son's death had reduced him to a fraction of his former self and that he would've given his life to save his son.

He further said that while he was initially for the death penalty in this case, his son's death wasn't "painless or human" and so he wanted Brown to live out the rest of his life behind bars.

The decedent's grandmother reportedly told Brown, "I wish you nothing but misery," per CBS News. Another statement read, "I hope you seek God while you are in prison because you need him worse than anyone I’ve ever known in my life."