After killing the mother of his two-day-old child and hurling the infant into the Mississippi River, a Tennessee man has been charged with murder.
After police say he admitted to killing Danielle Hoyle, 27, and putting their infant, Kennedy Hoyle, into the sea, Brandon Isabelle, 25, was arrested on two counts of first-degree murder, murder in the perpetration of aggravated kidnapping, and tampering or fabricating evidence on Wednesday.
Authorities were still searching for the infant before Memphis confirmed in a tweet that evidence suggests she is dead.
Police officers discovered the body of Danielle Hoyle, who had been shot in the head, in an abandoned vehicle at Sedgwick Street and Levi Road in Whitehaven around 11.15 p.m. on Tuesday.
Hoyle’s relatives told officers that her infant was in the car with the woman, but no child was found, according to authorities.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert for Kennedy as the hunt began. Kennedy’s car seat was discovered abandoned in a Walmart parking lot hours later, but the infant was nowhere to be seen.
Police quickly identified Isabelle, Kennedy’s biological father, as a suspect and brought him in for questioning.
During questioning, Isabelle acknowledged to ‘luring’ the mother of his child to Whitehaven and fatally shooting her, according to an affidavit of complaint. The statement claimed that he ‘also acknowledged to taking Danielle’s two-day-old child out of her vehicle, driving the infant to Island Park and the Upper Mud Island Boat Ramp, where he dumped the youngster into the sea.’
There has been no explanation given.