The Texas teenager accused of kidnapping a 4-year-old boy who was later found dead claims he wasn’t the abductor caught on chilling security footage, according to his lawyer.
Darriynn Brown, 18, allegedly snatched Cash Gernon from his Dallas bedroom on the morning of May 15 as the tot slept next to his twin brother.
The child was found dead in the street, covered in blood, a mile away a short time after the abduction, police said.
Home surveillance footage showed the suspect, later identified as Brown, standing over the twins before swiping a sleeping Cash from his bed and carrying him away, court documents allege.
But Brown’s defense attorney told The Dallas Morning News that police have the wrong guy, and his client did not break into the home, kidnap Cash or kill him.
“This is not an open and shut case. Even if you believe that’s [Brown] on the video, it doesn’t mean he killed the kid,” Heath Harris said. “The world is basically prejudicing this whole community by saying, ‘That’s him.’”
Harris told the newspaper that he has yet to receive the widely published security tape from law enforcement. He also claimed it will be proven that Brown has a mental disorder, according to the article.
Brown is facing charges of kidnapping and burglary, but investigators expect to also file a capital murder charge after a forensic analysis, the report said.
The teen was caught on a neighbor’s ring camera lurking around the property more than 10 weeks before the abduction, according to The Daily Beast.
A Texas man also claims that Brown broke into his home and tried to kidnap his 2-year-old granddaughter this winter, but left empty-handed after he confronted the teen.
The grandfather did not press charges until after Cash was found dead.
Brown was eventually charged with burglary of a habitation and injury to an elderly person in the Feb. 8 incident involving the little girl.
He is being held on a $1.6 million bond.
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