This is the chilling moment four-year-old Cash Gernon was snatched from his bed early Saturday morning just two hours before he was found stabbed to death and dumped on the street in Dallas, Texas.
Home surveillance footage obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com shows suspect Darriynn Brown, 18, allegedly breaking into the home just before 5am and making off with the toddler who had been asleep alongside his twin brother Carter.
DailyMail.com can also reveal Brown was captured on camera a second time as he returned to the scene after sunrise in an apparent attempt to kidnap the other boy. It is believed Cash would have already been killed at this time.
The two brothers had been staying at the home located on the 7500 block of Saddleridge Drive where they shared a bedroom located in the back of the house.
In night vision footage, Cash is seen sleeping peacefully in the same toddler bed as his sibling when Brown creeps in, dressed in a hoodie, backpack, sweatpants, and sneakers, and hovers menacingly over the two boys.
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The chilling moment four-year-old Cash Gernon was snatched from his bed early Saturday morning has been revealed for the first time in home video footage obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com
The disturbing surveillance tape shows suspect Darriynn Brown creeping into the bedroom just before 5am, wearing a hoodie, sweatpants, a backpack and sneakers. He is seen hovering over Cash who is sleeping alongside his twin brother Carter in a toddler bed
The 18-year-old, who is said to have gained entry through the unlocked garage door, appears to hesitate for a few seconds, staring at the brothers and looking around the room, before finally reaching down and carefully pulling back the boys’ blanket
Brown is seen throughout the video at pains to not wake the two boys. Then, in one swift motion, he quickly picks up Cash, who is immediately awoken, and bolts out of the room with the toddler in his arms
Darriynn Brown, 18 (pictured left in his booking photo) was already wearing an ankle monitor from a prior offense when he arrested charged with kidnapping and theft later on Saturday. He is expected to face additional charges pending the results of a forensic analysis. Brown is reportedly known to the family who was taking care of Cash, but it is unclear why he allegedly targeted the boy
He appears to hesitate for a few seconds, staring at the brothers and looking around the room, before finally reaching toward the bed and carefully pulling back the boys’ blanket.
Brown stands motionless for another couple seconds while extending his arms over the Cash, carefully trying not to wake the pair.
Then, in one swift motion, he quickly picks up Cash, who is immediately awoken, and bolts out of the room with the boy in his arms.
Carter, meanwhile, can be seen stirring slightly on the right side of the bed seconds after his brother is abducted.
Roughly an hour and 45 minutes later, Cash was found lying dead in a pool of blood in a quiet residential Dallas street after being stabbed with what police described an ‘edged weapon.’
A second and further disturbing clip also shows Brown returning to the bedroom after sunrise around 7am, this time apparently targeting Carter.
Brown is seen hovering the boy who is still asleep, but leaves empty-handed after seemingly being scared off.
Monica Sherrod, 39, identified herself as the guardian of the two boys, who she says were left in her care after their father and her ex-boyfriend vanished in March.
Sherrod identified Brown to police after watching the security footage of the snatch early Saturday.
The boys’ bedroom is located at the back of the house, near the rear entrance, and away from where other members of the family sleep.
A second clip reveals Brown returned to the scene after sunrise, around 7am, in an apparent attempt to abduct Cash’s twin, Carter
Brown is seen hovering the boy who is still asleep, but leaves empty-handed after seemingly being scared off
Carter later wakes up to find his twin brother missing and can be seen searching for him
The little boy, who is visibly puzzled, briefly leaves the bedroom but returns after failing to locate Cash
Brown gained entry by coming through the unlocked garage door and forcing the back door into the house, Sherrod told Dailymail.com.
Sherrod revealed Brown was known to the family as the brother of her older sons’ friend.
‘Other footage shows him returning at 7am. It seemed he was spooked by someone,’ she added.
‘It chills me to think that he could have been coming back for Carter.’
She fought back tears as she replayed the disturbing video of the abduction once again.
‘It shows him [Brown] taking the blanket off Cash and shows him snatching him and running with him while he is still asleep,’ Sherrod said.
‘He stares at him for a minute. I have watched it over and over again. I can’t watch it anymore.’
Cash Gernon was asleep next to his twin brother Carter (left) when he was abducted from their bed and killed shortly after
Cash and his brother had been staying at the home of their biological father’s ex-girlfriend Monica Sherrod (pictured) after he vanished in March and left the boys in her care, Sherrod said
Monica Sherrod (pictured in blue) who identified herself as Cash’s guardian, broke down in tears as she visited a makeshift memorial near where the toddler was found
Earlier, Sherrod broke down in uncontrollable sobs while visiting a makeshift memorial where he was found for the first time.
‘We were all asleep when it happened. Cash usually wakes me up but he didn’t wake me [that day]’ she said at the time.
‘When I got up, I noticed he was gone. I called 911. I didn’t even know somebody had taken him.
‘I thought he might have gone outside. That was until I watched my surveillance camera, which showed someone taking him out.’
Antwainese Square, 39, had set out on a morning power walk in Dallas’s Mountain Creek neighborhood Saturday when she discovered Cash Gernon’s lifeless body on the street
Cash’s lifeless body was discovered by passerby Antwainese Square, 39, who had set off on a power walk around the city’s Mountain Creek neighborhood just before 7am.
Square told DailyMail.com she initially believed she had stumbled upon the body of a dog.
‘I turned into the street and thought I saw a dog lying there. We have a lot of loose dogs around here,’ she said.
‘I called my mom, because the only thing I could see at first was the hair. I said, “Mom, it’s weird, it’s not moving. So I started to walk slow and the closer I got I started noticing things.
‘I said, “Mom, I see a hand, I think I see a body. I think I actually see a body.” And I got close, and I said, “Mom, it’s a child. It is a child.” And I just started screaming.’
Square hung up and called 911. Paramedics did their best to calm her down and asked her to check for any signs of life.
‘They asked me to walk right up to the body in case the little boy was still alive. And if he was, for me to try to save his life,’ she said.
‘I saw ants crawling all over his bare feet and he had blood over his face. He had no shoes, no socks, no shirt, none of that.
‘He was only wearing a pair of bottoms, shorts. I just keep remembering those ants at the bottom of that baby’s feet.
‘He was on his back in the roadway. I remember one arm and one leg out. And the reason why I remember the arm and leg is because when I was walking up from afar, that was the determination of me knowing, OK this is a human. This is not a dog, this is a human being.
Kamron Moori (pictured) Sherrod’s son who lived with Cash hit out at the ‘evil’ killer on Monday as he mourned the loss of the boy
‘And when I noticed it was a kid I just freaked out. My initial thought was, one of these loose dogs has gotten to this baby because of the blood on his face. And then I thought, maybe somebody ran over him like a hit and run.’
Square, an educator, said she remembers setting off on her morning walk and activating the steps counter on her phone at exactly 6.40am. Five minutes later, she was confronted by the scene of horror.
She continued: ‘I stayed with him until the police came, there was no way in the world I was going to leave that baby on his own.
‘Whether he was dead or alive, I just wasn’t going to leave him. My fear was somebody was going to accidentally run over him.’
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A loved one, Kamron Moori, hit out at the ‘evil’ killer on Monday as he mourned the loss of Cash – whom he described as a sweet little boy who loved superheroes.
Surveillance camera footage from the home shows Cash was kidnapped around 5am Saturday
Moori told NBCDFW he lived with Cash and his twin brother, and that his mother, Monica Sherrod, dated Cash’s father. The father – who has not been named – departed Sherrod’s home suddenly in March, leaving the boys behind with her.
Meanwhile, police said the boys’ biological mother, Melinda Seagroves, has been searching for them ‘for an extended amount of time’. The twin was reunited with Seagroves after Cash’s death.
Sherrod, Moori’s mother, identified Cash as the slain toddler in an interview with WFAA.
She said Brown had broken into her home through a back door early Saturday morning and snatched the ‘happy-go-lucky’ child while he slept.
Police said Sherrod helped them identify Brown as the kidnapper in video from a baby monitor in Cash’s room.
At the time of the kidnapping Brown was wearing an ankle monitor stemming from a separate arrest last month.
Brown’s bond is set at $1.5million. His attorney, Robbie McClung, said Monday that she had not yet met with him so she could not comment.
Authorities have said additional charges are expected once forensic evidence has been reviewed.
Also, Dallas police said that Cash’s mom did not know he and his twin brother were in the care of their father’s girlfriend and that the mother had been searching for her sons. Police said Cash’s twin is now with his mom.
Brown was arrested on April 27 on a misdemeanor charge of evading arrest in a case that´s still pending.
According to court documents for that charge, he lives with his parents a half-mile from where the boy´s body was found. Neighbors have said Brown was known to walk in the area.
