Cash Gernon and Darriynn Brown

Suspect accused of kidnapping 4-year-old Cash Gernon faces charges in incident involving 2-year-old girl

The 18-year-old Texas man accused of kidnapping 4-year-old Cash Gernon has now been charged in another incident involving a 2-year-old girl earlier this year.

Darriynn Brown has been charged with injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual and burglary in the February 8 incident, CBS DFW reports.

An affidavit says that a man confronted Brown after he allegedly came into his home and began going through rooms and closets. The man told police that he picked up a kitchen knife and told Brown to leave, eventually forcing him out. But, the affidavit says, Brown came back and began kicking a door between the garage and the home.

When the homeowner opened the door, Brown allegedly came into the house and punched him in the forehead.

At that point, according to the affidavit, Brown went into the living room where the homeowner’s 2-year-old granddaughter was sleeping and picked her her up, heading toward the laundry room in the back of the house. He ignored the grandfather’s demands to put the girl down, so the homeowner took the girl out of Brown’s arms and put her back on the sofa in the living room.

Then, the affidavit says, the homeowner returned to the kitchen and confronted Brown, who punched him in the face and ran out the back door. The man also told police that he ran into Brown two weeks later at Walmart. Brown apologized, the man said, saying “he was sorry for breaking into his house and trying to take his grandchild.”

The homeowner had decided at the time not to press charges, but told detectives after Cash Gernon was found dead and Brown arrested that he had changed his mind.

A jogger found the body of Cash Gernon in the middle of a Dallas residential street early in the morning on May 15, CrimeOnline reported earlier. The little boy was stabbed multiple times by an “edged weapon,” police said.

Brown was arrested later that day after Monica Sherrod, Cash’s father’s girlfriend, showed police surveillance that she said showed Brown lifting Cash from the crib he shared with his twin brother Carter and walking away with him. The twins’ father, Trevor Gernon, left the boys with Sherrod in March to escape warrants for his arrest. His whereabouts remain unknown, but his sister posted and then removed a statement from her brother “clarifying” his actions and accused the boys’ mother of refusing to let the father pay his respects to his son, as CrimeOnline previously reported.

Brown has been charged with kidnapping and burglary in the case, but not murder. Police have said they are awaiting results of forensics tests before they file murder charges.

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[Featured image: Cash Gernon and Darriynn Brown/Dallas Police Department]