TX - Cash Gernon, 4, found dead in street w/multiple wounds, Dallas, 15 May 2021 *ARREST*

[mickey2942]

It took me a few minutes here but seems Sherrod has 4 children ranging in age 14 - 18, in addition to the twins that had been staying with her since March when their father left.

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.

I understand the 18-year-old is an adult but wouldn't CPS also take the 16 yr old daughter if they removed the younger sons?

Inside the bedroom where four-year-old Cash Gernon was snatched from his bed | Daily Mail Online

Yeah, I really can't figure this out.

 

[Miigo]

I still think the person he was talking to, that was pressuring him to take the child, was probably a voice in his head. Schizophrenics can actually 'hear' the disembodied voice and sometimes answer back, as if you were hearing a phone call.

There is a possibility that he was speaking on the phone---but it seems more likely to me that he was arguing with his split personality.

Do they also “see” the layout of a potential kill zone without ever being there before?

 

[al66pine]

Kidnapper's Access to home & child?
@MimosaMornings Like you noted - six bedroom house? Well, actually Monica S. said that*
per DM link. Also as noted upthread, one r/e website described as 3 BR, another said 4 BR.
I'm not sleuthing/commenting about her, or Cash's Mom, or Dad.

Pic* shows what may be exterior-type lock, maybe a dead-bolt, on door of room where Cash & twin slept. If so could kidnapper enter directly - w or w'out breaking lock/door - from back yard to the room? And w lower chance of detection by others in house at that time?

In same pix, next to door, is a window w dark curtains, that seems to have makeshift plywood piece instead of glass or covering glass for the lower 3/4 of window. Looks like low ceilings to me {{{ETA: other rooms also have low-ish ceilings like many basements have, so no, twins were not sleeping in basement}}} and like an I-beam in ceiling, w some drywall missing.

Just watched vid tour* the teen son gave, showing how (he said) kidnapper got in. He said the lock on garage's vehicle door - the one for cars - is broken so they chain it. I missed it if he said it was chained that night.
He also said, the ped. door from garage to house was kicked in or tampered with.

Could occupants miss noise of roll-up vehicle door to garage being opened by kidnapper? IDK. Seems likely imo, opening or closing would be a noisy, squeaky, rattley operation. my2ct.
_________________________________________________
Inside the bedroom where four-year-old Cash Gernon was snatched from his bed | Daily Mail Online

 

[iamnotagolem]

Do they also “see” the layout of a potential kill zone without ever being there before?

Db had been to the house before, he was friends with the older kids that lived there.

 

[mpnola]

When he is in the room with the brother upon return, I think Carter wakes up and he says go back to sleep.

Also, I think the hand on his head is moving his glasses. They go from on his head to on his eyes. I cant claim that find, Gray noticed it and it seems to be correct. His glasses are off and then on, you can see the reflections.

Hes balling his fists at one point. He is contemplating. He wants to do it but knows it's risky, which is why he keeps looking around. Yall never snuck out or saw your kids trying to get away with something shady? They do the same thing. Quiet. Still for longer than they should. Look around. Then make the move and dart. It doesn't seem like it is anything but his own situation. I dont think anyone else is involved.

 

[HaikuMommy]

You guys look very closely at the videos the time he takes cash his hair seems curly , the second time when he was spooked I see the twist braids is that me or does anyone else see that

No, I think it’s just short braids and low resolution video that makes them lack definition. This still from just before Cash was taken is definitely DB, in my opinion. Exact same flat expression, even.

 

[iamnotagolem]

Kidnapper's Access to home & child?
@MimosaMornings Like you noted - six bedroom house? Well, actually Monica S. said that*
per DM link. Also as noted upthread, one r/e website described as 3 BR, another said 4 BR.
I'm not sleuthing/commenting about her, or Cash's Mom, or Dad.

Pic* shows what may be exterior-type lock, maybe a dead-bolt, on door of room where Cash & twin slept. If so could kidnapper enter directly - w or w'out breaking lock/door - from back yard to the room? And w lower chance of detection by others in house at that time?

In same pix, next to door, is a window w dark curtains, that seems to have makeshift plywood piece instead of glass or covering glass for the lower 3/4 of window. Looks like low ceilings to me {{{ETA: other rooms also have low-ish ceilings like many basements have, so no, twins were not sleeping in basement}}} and like an I-beam in ceiling, w some drywall missing.

Just watched vid tour* the teen son gave, showing how (he said) kidnapper got in. He said the lock on garage's vehicle door - the one for cars - is broken so they chain it. I missed it if he said it was chained that night.
He also said, the ped. door from garage to house was kicked in or tampered with.

Could occupants miss noise of roll-up vehicle door to garage being opened by kidnapper? IDK. Seems likely, opening or closing would be a noisy, squeaky rattley operation. my2ct.
_________________________________________________
Inside the bedroom where four-year-old Cash Gernon was snatched from his bed | Daily Mail Online

That article states that Cash & Carter’s room was opposite ends of the house from the other 5 people in the house.

In the video, they walk us through the garage through the kitchen/dining maybe, they didn’t actually indicate from there where any of the bedrooms were. Does this mean the babies’ room was near the garage?

And to your point it looks like an exterior door from their room, why not exit there and leave the door unlocked for baby 2 retrieval?

 

[TTF14]

@Seni I was referring to the fact that two of Sherrod's biological children have also been removed from the home.

With all due respect, I can't imagine a scenario where there was ANY child murdered out of a home when all of the minors were not promptly taken out of the home....bio or not.... I'm confused why you're questioning this.

 

[mpnola]

That article states that Cash & Carter’s room was opposite ends of the house from the other 5 people in the house.

In the video, they walk us through the garage through the kitchen/dining maybe, they didn’t actually indicate from there where any of the bedrooms were. Does this mean the babies’ room was near the garage?

And to your point it looks like an exterior door from their room, why not exit there and leave the door unlocked for baby 2 retrieval?

Because that is not the way people come and go from the home. I think most people who commit a crime against people they know will take the path they know works. I mean, I could go out my bedroom door to exit daily, but I dont. I walk through the house to the front door. Every day.

 

[Sallyla]

You guys look very closely at the videos the time he takes cash his hair seems curly , the second time when he was spooked I see the twist braids is that me or does anyone else see that

I see exactly that. There is a lot of volume of hair underneath the white hoody. And the skin of the kidnapper looks close to the colour of the twins skin. He also moves very, very differently in the two videos.

In the first video twin 2 (I’ll call him T2 henceforth, don’t think we can use his name) walked into the room directly in front of the kidnapper. He didn’t seem afraid the kidnapper was there and was wide awake when his brother was taken but he didn’t react, doesn’t protest, doesn’t go to look for help when Cash is gone. It seems to be a reaction that might be given to someone expected to be there so not out of the ordinary.

It seems very odd if the person would have taken such care to conceal his face the first time, but the second time would make no effort at all. Plus he would’ve had to kidnap Cash, go home with the murder weapon and tissue, wash himself up, change clothes and go back to place the murder weapon in a bin at Cash’s home, have a look at twin 2 (brother) then leave. Makes no sense.

There are reports saying DB came back for twin 2 but was disturbed and went off spooked. DB is totally relaxed and not an iota spooked in the 2nd vid. He walks in relaxed, pulls back the cover a little and says something gently about sleeping. Then smumbles something else like ‘You enjoy your sleep’ (can anyone hear it more clearly?), then ambles off very relaxed. In the 1st vid the kidnapper was noticeably quiet not just verbally, but in movement too. DB in the second video doesn’t try to be quiet at all.

The 2nd vid just looks like a normal person popping into see if a child is awake. Nothing sinister at all. It looked like someone had asked him to ‘Go see if T2 is awake for breakfast’. Not a kidnap attempt.

Also, it’s very unusual for baby monitors to actually record footage. Most are just live stream. That looks more like professional grade CCTV. In the UK where I am that type of surveillance kit, esp. if indoors, is mainly used by people with involvement with certain things. I will leave it at that as I want to stay within the rules.
<modsnip - sleuthing a family member not named as a suspect/POI>

And if I was trying to pin something on someone, I think a young man with documented mental health problems, who has been argumentative and aggressive in the past would be an ideal patsy.

<modsnip - sleuthing a family member not named as a suspect/POI>

Also so far DB is on minor charges so I wonder...

 

[Sallyla]

Yeah, I really can't figure this out.

I had a quick look. It seems like at 16 some teens can live alone and they can be emancipated from their parents.

Also it’s a Daily Mail article and they are notorious for mistakes. Earlier this week they reported Fred West had been updated about a search taking place in his home. Fred West committed suicide in 1995. His home was demolished over 25yrs ago when 9 bodies were recovered from it. So, yeah, pinch of salt.

 

[iamnotagolem]

With all due respect, I can't imagine a scenario where there was ANY child murdered out of a home when all of the minors were not promptly taken out of the home....bio or not.... I'm confused why you're questioning this.

I guess I can’t recall another case where a child is murdered and all the other children were removed from the home, except in cases where the parents were involved, there was heavy drug use, etc. but I just may not be aware. Is it standard procedure to remove children when another child dies?

I’m trying to imagine how traumatic that would be to have a child murdered and their siblings all being removed from their parents if they weren’t involved.

 

[al66pine]

... And to your point it looks like an exterior door from their room, why not exit there and leave the door unlocked for baby 2 retrieval?

@iamnotagolem Thanks for your post. Yes, that's what I was getting at in my earlier post.
If the twins' bedroom door opened directly to exterior, & if kidnapper had been in home before, why not use that door? Why parade thru house as Monica S's teen son showed on Daily Mail vid Or maybe slide or pop the plywood out of the window, if it's not really screwed in securely?

Maybe a Google Earth wizard can locate pics of the back of the house? Anyone? TiA.
Looks like the garage is at back of house w alley used for entry. Then we could see whether twins room has door to exterior. my2ct

 

[Sallyla]

Jonbenet Ramsay’s brother didn’t go into CPS care, off the top of my head. Although having seen the state of that house, I think that alone would be reason to remove them.

 

[Shamrock1]

I guess I can’t recall another case where a child is murdered and all the other children were removed from the home, except in cases where the parents were involved, there was heavy drug use, etc. but I just may not be aware. Is it standard procedure to remove children when another child dies?

I’m trying to imagine how traumatic that would be to have a child murdered and their siblings all being removed from their parents if they weren’t involved.

I’m with you on this - removal isn’t standard IMO. Elizabeth Smart’s siblings weren’t removed. Ditto for JonBenet’s brother, the Krim kids, and Gannon Stauch’s little sister.

 

[al66pine]

Backyard, Directly to Twins' Room?
Earlier I posted this: Pic* at link shows what may be exterior-type lock, maybe a dead-bolt, on door of room where Cash & twin slept. If so could kidnapper enter directly - w or w'out breaking lock/door - from back yard to the room?

Now after seeing interview w Monica S, I don't think door lock has a deadbolt, but has a thumb turn piece above the knob,** as seen at ~6:25 time marker. Does not seem to be a lock for an interior door imo . So from backyard, did kidnapper enter home thru this door to twins' room?

_______________________________
* Inside the bedroom where four-year-old Cash Gernon was snatched from his bed | Daily Mail Online
** Image from Streamline Thumbturn / Keyhole | Rejuvenation

 

[MsLGinNC]

Kidnapper's Access to home & child?
@MimosaMornings Like you noted - six bedroom house? Well, actually Monica S. said that*
per DM link. Also as noted upthread, one r/e website described as 3 BR, another said 4 BR.
I'm not sleuthing/commenting about her, or Cash's Mom, or Dad.

Pic* shows what may be exterior-type lock, maybe a dead-bolt, on door of room where Cash & twin slept. If so could kidnapper enter directly - w or w'out breaking lock/door - from back yard to the room? And w lower chance of detection by others in house at that time?

In same pix, next to door, is a window w dark curtains, that seems to have makeshift plywood piece instead of glass or covering glass for the lower 3/4 of window. Looks like low ceilings to me {{{ETA: other rooms also have low-ish ceilings like many basements have, so no, twins were not sleeping in basement}}} and like an I-beam in ceiling, w some drywall missing.

Just watched vid tour* the teen son gave, showing how (he said) kidnapper got in. He said the lock on garage's vehicle door - the one for cars - is broken so they chain it. I missed it if he said it was chained that night.
He also said, the ped. door from garage to house was kicked in or tampered with.

Could occupants miss noise of roll-up vehicle door to garage being opened by kidnapper? IDK. Seems likely imo, opening or closing would be a noisy, squeaky, rattley operation. my2ct.
_________________________________________________
Inside the bedroom where four-year-old Cash Gernon was snatched from his bed | Daily Mail Online

The plywood on the window, especially in a kids' bedroom, raises questions for me, especially when I see a door that seems to lead to the exterior.

There is a camera in the room to monitor the children? To add security since the windows are clearly not unbreachable? In case someone looks in through the sheer curtains? I don't understand, and it might be that I'm obtuse or that we were just a different type of toddler parents, why the youngest, smallest, most defenseless occupants of the house were sent to the back of the house so they wouldn't be "alone". Our instinct would say they should be in a more interior area, surrounded by older occupants.

The other thing that keeps gnawing at me is that this house doesn't look like the sort of place one could move through noiselessly. The amount of clutter in that house makes for abundant opportunities to step on something, hit something, knock something over. How the garage door made that much noise (especially at night) and wasn't heard, or how the lock was tampered with (and it doesn't look like it was done recently either) and no one heard THAT...this is a house with low ceilings, narrow spaces, lots of clutter; DB was in that room for a very long time. The video that has been aired of him in the room is four-plus minutes long and it's been either edited, or it shuts down when there's no motion and re-starts when it detects any.

Another thing is that, from having lived in apartments in California, I can tell you the mechanism on those windows is very easy to tamper with, and if the windows are to the backyard, why go through the trouble of breaking in through the garage when you can just jimmy the window and slide in through there? If the argument is made that "well, how do you take the kid out that way?", DB had to navigate through one sliding door, turn into a narrow kitchen, go into a small laundry, turn into the garage and walk out among vehicles to get Cash out.

We've had toddlers, and we've had teenagers. Not in a million years would we have been able to stay in bed until 10 a.m. without noticing the toddlers weren't up. And the fact that Carter supposedly told Ms. Sherrod that Cash "went outside" and she thought he was playing a game and hiding? That just doesn't ring true.

To me, and this is my opinion, he didn't do this alone. Could there be "voices" that told him to do it? Possibly. The one thing I would say makes me doubt it is the amount of time it took him to act on these "prompts".

Hopefully they process this scene with great care and don't consider this simply an open-and-shut case.

 

[MsLGinNC]

The only experience I have is with my younger brother---but he rarely sounded frantic in his exchanges with his voices.

Now, we were lucky that his voices didn't urge him to do anything violent. He believed the CIA was out to kidnap him, so he was truly paranoid, and imagined that total strangers were actually secret agents, about to. pounce.

So when he was off his meds he would do very odd, impulsive things, like take off running in the middle of the grocery store, because the old lady behind us looked like she was in disguise.

One of the reasons I thought DB might be schizophrenic was because he seems so eerily calm and indecisive. My brother was like that if the voices in his head were very active.

He would hear 'mixed' messages and it made him stall and be confused about what to do next. He would scare me sometimes because if he came to visit my parents when I was there, he'd often stand on the porch, not making a move to come in, for a long time, as his voices argued in his head about it all.

Thank you for your insight. I agree that this could be what has happened; being off-meds can lead to all sorts of crises that, as neurotypical people, we cannot understand fully.

It does seem rather striking, though, that Ms. Sherrod has gone so out of her way to point out that she was upset by DB being in her house and that her daughter specifically told her he was weird. Did this really happen or is this to further establish his guilt? There is something a little too earnest about all her statements to the DM...of course, the DM often brings out the worst and most dramatic in people...that's their thing.

 

[Lusitana]

The conspiracy theories are running wild on this thread. Yikes.

If the suspect wasn’t mentally ill, then nobody would be questioning if someone made him do it, right? Mentally ill people are also violent, and have urges like any other person. Mentally ill people kill too. Actually, if you deliberately kill someone, I have to argue that something can’t be right mentally.

He did it. It’s on camera. This could’ve happened to literally anyone.

This lady got left with two 4-year-olds that weren’t hers. Yes, she could’ve and should’ve called CPS and notify them. But what did the biological father tell her about their mother? If she was made to believe that she was abusive, I can see her just keeping the kids.

She has a bunch of teenagers in that house, it can’t be easy to deal with that and two 4-year-olds. Teenagers are so hard to deal with.

If she sold anything to the Daily Mail, I can’t hold it against her. I just can’t. Have you read this thread? I’m assuming this is very tame compared to what might being said about her and her kids on social media. Of course she’s going to make the video public. Of course she’s going to talk to the media.

Some people on this thread said loud and clear that it might be her son who killed Cash. Come on.

The killer is on camera kidnapping the victim. <modsnip>

I actually don’t think he wanted to grab the other child when he went back, I suspect he lost something (glasses, mask) and went in there to see if he lost it there. And the reason why he grabbed Cash instead of Carter might have been simply because maybe Cash was closer to the edge of the bed, thus easier to grab.

As for the teenagers being removed from the house, it could be for many reasons. If CPS didn’t think the house was a safe environment for them, of course they would be removed. And if she had contact with CPS in the past, a kidnapping from her home would immediately qualify for removal of all children, I hope.

 

[Barry]

I'm not an expert, this is all MOO. When I watch the video, I see a person with psychiatric issues. Not something that can be solved with a psychologist or social counseling. DB definitely fell through the cracks somewhere, and the result is horrible.