EXCLUSIVE: Girlfriend of Cash Gernon’s father breaks down as she describes how 18-year-old abductor Darriynn Brown ‘broke in through the garage to snatch the toddler as he slept next to his brother’
- Monica Sherrod, 35, was left to care for twins Cash and Carter Gernon in Dallas, Texas after their dad and her ex-boyfriend, Trevor Gernon, took off in March
- Cash, four, was found dead early Saturday morning hours after 18-year-old Darriynn Brown allegedly broke into Sherrod’s home and snatched him
- DailyMail.com was shown the bedroom where the two brothers had been sharing a toddler bed after Gernon moved in with Sherrod in February
- Sherrod, who lives in the home with her four other children, revealed Brown sneaked in unlocked garage before breaking open the door that led to the house
- ‘This is a six-bedroom house and I put them [twin] together at the back of the house because I didn’t want them to be alone, I wanted them together,’ she said
- The abduction was captured on surveillance cameras which Sherrod said she installed around the house over concerns about thefts in the neighborhood
- ‘I loved those boys. They were not even my biological boys. I brought them into my home. I had made this room for them,’ Sherrod said tearfully
The Texas mother who had been looking after four-year-old Cash Gernon and his twin brother has recalled the harrowing moment she realized the toddler was missing after he was snatched from his bed early Saturday morning.
Monica Sherrod, 35, broke down in tears on Tuesday as she entered the boys’ bedroom for the first time since Cash was allegedly abducted by Darriynn Brown, 18, and found dead hours later in a Dallas street.
‘I haven’t touched a thing,’ the mother-of-four said in an emotional interview with DailyMail.com.
‘It’s exactly the same as when Cash was last in here. I haven’t been able to do this until now. It’s breaking my heart, but I know I have to confront this.’
Sherrod invited Dailymail.com inside the twins’ bedroom where their toys were still scattered across the floor and the small white toddler bed they shared remained unmade since they last slept together.
She looked around tearfully and was silent for a moment before saying: ‘I just couldn’t face this before, the pain is so deep.’
Sherrod revealed Cash and Carter were the sons of her ex-boyfriend, Trevor Gernon, 31, who moved into her house on the 7500 block of Florina Parkway, in February.
Monica Sherrod (left) relived the fateful morning four-year-old Cash Gernon (far right) was abducted from her home in Dallas, Texas in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com. The mother-of-four had been looking after Cash and his twin brother Carter (right) after their father and her ex-boyfriend, Trevor Gernon, disappeared in March
Sherrod invited DailyMail.com to join as she visit the boys’ bedroom for the first time since Cash was allegedly kidnapped by 18-year-old suspect Darriynn Brown on Saturday
The twins’ father, Trevor Gernon (pictured with Cash and Carter) 31, had custody of the boys and moved in with Sherrod in February. He fled in March after learning there was a warrant out for his arrest and has not been heard from since, Sherrod said
Cash was seen being taken from his bed before daybreak at around 5am. He was found stabbed to death less than two hours later about a half-mile away on the 7500 block of Saddleridge Drive
She told DailyMail.com she began raising the boys as her own in March, when Gernon, who had custody of the kids, suddenly fled after getting into legal troubles and has not been heard from since.
In the wake of Cash’s death, Carter was said to have been reunited with his biological mother, Melinda Seagroves, who reportedly had been searching for her sons ‘for an extended amount of time.’
‘I loved those boys. They were not even my biological boys. I brought them into my home. I had made this room for them,’ Sherrod said.
Darriynn Brown, 18, (pictured in his booking photo) was arrested and charged with kidnapping and burglary Saturday. Additional charges are expected to be filed once forensic evidence has been reviewed
Pointing, she added: ‘There was that little tortoise for them. We put a lot of toys in here. Cash slept at one end of the crib and Carter at the other.
‘This is a six-bedroom house and I put them together at the back of the house because I didn’t want them to be alone, I wanted them together.’
Sherrod also replayed the home surveillance video of the abduction on her phone which was revealed for the first time by Dailymail.com on Tuesday.
She wept silently as she stood on the spot where the horror unfolded and watched it happening on screen.
‘This is hard to do. He [Brown] took him at 4.58am. That’s the time that he took Cash. And he came back for Carter. I can’t really watch it.’
The chilling footage showed Brown creeping into the bedroom and snatching Cash, who had been sleeping peacefully next to his sibling.
He was seen returning to the room about two hours later – when Cash would have already been dead – to apparently try to abduct the other Carter, but eventually ended up fleeing.
The early morning abduction was captured on home surveillance cameras which Sherrod said she installed around the house because she was concerned about thefts in the neighborhood.
DailyMail.com joined her as she retraced Brown’s steps to show how he had forced his way into the house located in the Mountain Creek neighborhood of Dallas that fateful morning.
This is toddler bed where Cash and Carter slept head-to-foot. They began staying at Sherrod’s six-bedroom house full time in February when their father moved in
As she walked through the bedroom, Sherrod looked around tearfully and was silent for a moment before saying: ‘I just couldn’t face this before, the pain is so deep’
Inside, the toddlers’ toys were scattered across the floor and the small white toddler bed where Cash and Carter slept together for one last time was still unmade
Sherrod explained she decided to have the boys share a room rather than give them each their own, because she ‘didn’t want them to be alone’
The twins’ room was located in the rear of the house, away from where Sherrod and her other four children slept
The back door leading to the garage remained damaged and broken Tuesday after the intruder had forced his way in after sneaking in through the unlocked garage.
TIMELINE OF CASH GERNON’S ABDUCTION
MAY 15, 2021
4:58am: Darriynn Brown breaks into the home on the 7500 block of Florina Parkway and snatches Cash while he’s sleeping next to his brother Carter
6:45am: Local resident Antwainese Square finds Cash stabbed to death and wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, on the 7500 block of Saddleridge Drive
7:30am: Darriynn Brown returns to the bedroom for Cash’s twin brother Carter
10:00am: Monica Sherrod wakes up to find Cash is missing
11:00am: Sherrod calls 911 to report the missing child
The Dallas Medical Examiner on Tuesday revealed Cash’s cause of death was multiple stab wounds
He then made his way to the boys’ room, which is located in the back of the house, away from where Sherrod, her sons Matthew, 15, Landon, 14, and Kamron, 18, plus her daughter Emily, 16, sleep.
‘The kidnapper broke in through that door right there. The garage doesn’t latch,’ Sherrod explained. ‘He came in and broke the connecting door into the home.
‘We are on the other side of the house, we didn’t hear anything. We were all sleeping.’
Cash was seen being taken from his bed before daybreak at around 5am. He was found stabbed to death less than two hours later about a half-mile away on the 7500 block of Saddleridge Drive.
The Dallas Medical Examiner revealed Tuesday Cash’s cause of death was multiple stab wounds. Police earlier said the boy had been stabbed with an ‘edged weapon.’
Sherrod, who said she’s now become the target of an online hate campaign by people who blame her for Cash’s death, became emotional as she recalled watching his final moments on video.
‘It shows [Brown] taking the blanket off Cash and shows him snatching him and running with him while he is still asleep,’ she said.
‘He stares at him for a minute. I have watched it over and over again. I can’t watch it anymore.
‘I’m wondering why we didn’t hear him break in.’
Chillingly, other motion-tripped surveillance video also showed the abductor back in the house hours later, after Cash had already been killed. He was seen standing over Carter, but fled without the boy after apparently being spooked.
‘It’s on video. He came back a second time, at around 7:30am,’ Sherrod added. ‘He came back for Carter but was scared off by something. You can see him on the video running out, like he is startled.’
Sherrod revealed Brown, whom she described as an acquaintance of one of her sons, had visited the house two days earlier and interacted with Cash while she was out, which angered her at the time.
‘I told him don’t come back around my kids. I don’t want you,’ she said.
‘I was out grocery shopping when he was here. I’d left the twins with my boys and daughter. He was only here a short time. Emily said he creeped her out. I got upset with them.’
Sherrod said Cash and Carter had been living with her fulltime since Valentine’s Day, February 14, after Gernon, a construction worker, moved in with her. She continued to look after the twins after he suddenly took off.
The former couple had known each other for two years and met in their home city of Houston, with the twins regularly staying temporarily with her before moving in full time, she added.
Sherrod relived the fateful morning, saying: ‘The day that he was missing, I got up late and thought it was weird. I was like, it’s 10 o’clock already, you guys. So I figured Cash was still in bed.
Sherrod showed DailyMail.com around the house as she retraced Brown’s steps to show how he had broken into the home after sneaking in through the unlocked garage (pictured)
A garage door that leads to the house remained damaged and broken Tuesday after the intruder forced his way inside and then into the twins’ bedroom
The early morning abduction was captured on home surveillance cameras which Sherrod said she installed around the house because she was concerned about thefts in the neighborhood. Brown, 18, was seen creeping into the bedroom, staring at the brothers and looking around the room, before finally reaching down and carefully pulling back the boys’ blanket
‘Carter goes, “he went outside.” So we believed Carter. I started screaming, “Cash, if you’re hiding from mommy it’s not funny anymore. Come out it’s time for breakfast.” He wouldn’t answer.’
Sherrod said her sons began frantically searching the local area and yelling for Cash.
‘He wasn’t answering and I knew something was wrong. I called 911… they [asked] when did I notice he was gone. I said immediately when I got up, when Carter woke me up. I didn’t even think about the surveillance system.’
As reports came in of a body being found in a street less than half a mile away, Sherrod said she refused to believe it could be Cash.
‘I was crying and confused and in a million pieces and praying they would still find Cash and that that little boy wasn’t Cash,’ she said.
‘I kept telling my daughter, that’s not Cash. And she said, “mommy, it has to be.”
It was in a detective’s office that the security footage on Sherrod’s phone first revealed the horror.
‘My son Matthew was the last to be interviewed. He remembered all of a sudden, “mom has cameras.”
‘When you’re going through something like that… all you think about is your baby that’s missing. And when they said mom has cameras I rewinded the cameras and there he was, the boy, taking my son out of his bed.’
‘I freaked out. I was devastated. I started screaming. Because my daughter kept telling me, “Mom, somebody did this. Mom, somebody did this to our baby.” And I’m like, no, no they didn’t. He’s going to be found.’
Sherrod (right) said she and Gernon (left) chad known each other for two years and met in their home city of Houston, with the twins regularly staying temporarily with her before moving in full time
She told DailyMail.com she doesn’t know where Gernon (pictured with the boys) is, saying: ‘I have tried reaching out but I’m getting no response’
Sherrod revealed her sons Matthew, 15, Landon, 14, and Kamron (pictured) 18, plus daughter Emily, 16, had been with her in the house when the kidnapper broke in
She continued through tears before collapsing in sobs: ‘And they did. They did do it. They took him. Why would they hurt him? He was four. He was like this big, he was so little. He wasn’t even the size of a four-year-old. He was so tiny.’
Sherrod paid a loving tribute to Cash, who she described as ‘so happy’.
She went on: ‘Cash was eager to learn. He wanted to learn his ABCs. When I got them they didn’t know anything, like their colors, they didn’t know letters by sight.
‘Cash was such a quick learner. We would do this schooling thing every day and he would say, OK mom I’m ready for school. He didn’t go to school here, we did it on the kitchen table.
‘He wanted to know how to read so bad. He would always say, what’s that say? And what’s that say? He loved books. And he wanted me to read the same book over again.
‘Cash was more outspoken than Carter. Cash was the leader. He was the one that showed Carter how to do everything. Cash was the one that was brave enough to follow through with everything.’
Sherrod, her parents Lezlee and Kurt Pinkerton, both 54, and her two elder sons paid a heart-rending visit on Monday to the spot where Cash was discovered by local resident Antwainese Square, 39, at around 6.45am on Saturday. They laid a large toy dinosaur at the makeshift shrine.
She said: ‘It was his favorite toy. He loved that toy. He had a bunch of cars and put them around the dinosaur and said look mom I made a monster truck.
‘I waited so many days to go to where Cash was found. That’s because everybody was bombarding me, and my baby just died. I have been receiving a lot of hate online. People are telling me it is my fault Cash died. I didn’t want to be publicized as a monster. I’m not. My kids are my life.’
A second clip revealed Brown returned to the scene after sunrise, around 7am, in an apparent attempt to abduct Cash’s twin, Carter
Carter later woke up to find his twin brother missing from his bed and can be seen searching for him
Cash had been staying at the home of his biological father’s ex-girlfriend Monica Sherrod (pictured)
Sherrod insisted Cash’s biological mother Melinda Seagroves had not been frantically searching for the twins, as reported.
‘She wasn’t. This last Christmas we begged her to even FaceTime the boys and she wouldn’t,’ she claimed.
‘She’s a trucker. She hadn’t properly seen the boys for two years. Trevor had custody of them. Now all of a sudden it is reported she and her mother were looking for them and they miss them because Cash passed away.
‘It is also reported that Carter is now back with her, which I don’t believe is true. I think he is in the custody of child services.
Dallas Police confirmed Carter was ‘reunited’ with Seagroves, however, it is unclear if he remains in her custody.
‘The biological mother, if you showed them a picture of her, they didn’t know who she was,’ Sherrod added.
‘They called me mommy. If someone said is Monica there, they would say no. I’d be like, that’s me, I’m Monica. They’d say, no you’re not, you’re mommy. I felt they need a mom, they needed stability.’
Sherrod also claimed Seagroves is banning her from attending Cash’s funeral.
‘I don’t understand why. I took care of them. She didn’t. She wasn’t there,’ she added.
‘The mother has said to Trevor’s mother that I can’t go to the funeral and they passed that on. It’s not right. I love Carter and I loved Cash.’
After Cash’s death, Carter was said to have been reunited with his biological mother Melinda Seagroves, who had reportedly been frantically trying to locate her sons, but Sherrod has disputed this
Monica Sherrod (pictured in blue) broke down in tears as she visited a makeshift memorial near where the toddler was found Tuesday
The twins’ father was also condemned by Sherrod who said: ‘He is a coward. His son passed away and he is letting us deal with all of this as if it’s our fault.’
She added: ‘I don’t know where Trevor is. I have tried reaching out but I’m getting no response.
‘He left because he had a warrant. He got busted with pills that he said weren’t his, before we got together.
‘He was supposed to turn himself in to go to rehab. And he was scared. Because they told him he had to go to jail until a bed opens up. And that’s all he could hear, jail. And I told him it’s OK. But he got spooked and left.’
However she added: ‘Trevor is actually a very good dad. This is a mishap for him. I don’t understand what’s going on in his life right now.’
Sherrod also said Child Protection Services have now ‘taken into care’ Landon and Matthew following Cash’s killing.
She said they also previously fostered along with Emily and Kamron.
Sherrod said: ‘I fought for four years straight to get them back and I did. I lived on the streets, I sold everything I had, I didn’t care. I was not going to stop fighting. And now I have to fight again. But I will. The CPS, they took my kids. This is not fair.’
Early morning walker Square, 39, told Dailymail.com how she found partially clothed Cash in the street, with ants crawling across his bare feet. He was only wearing a pair of shorts.
She said:’ At first I thought what I saw was a dog, but as I got closer I started noticing things, like a hand. And I just started screaming.’
Brown, who was wearing an ankle monitor for a prior offense, was arrested hours later and charged with kidnap and theft. He is expected to face additional charges pending the results of forensic tests. He remains behind bars in lieu of $1.5million bail.
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