A man has been convicted of murdering his girlfriend and tossing their newborn daughter into a river following a week-long trial. Brandon Isabelle, 28, had maintained his innocence against all accusations related to the deaths of Danielle Hoyle, 27, and their infant, Kennedy Hoyle. However, a jury has advised a sentence of life imprisonment for Isabelle, with the chance of parole after 51 years.
The prosecution revealed that Isabelle and Danielle were co-workers at FedEx and had a romantic involvement that resulted in Danielle getting pregnant. Simultaneously, Isabelle was in a relationship with another FedEx employee who wanted to end things due to the baby.
After Danielle gave birth to Kennedy on January 31, 2022, she met with Isabelle as per his request following her hospital discharge. Allegedly, Isabelle deceived Danielle by claiming he wanted to give her baby clothes, but instead, he led her to a location where he fatally shot her before absconding with the baby.
Isabelle then purportedly drove to the Mud Island Ramp and callously threw his two-day-old daughter into the alligator-infested Mississippi River. The investigation commenced when authorities found Danielle’s abandoned vehicle with a broken window on February 1, 2022, near where her lifeless body was discovered with a gunshot wound to her head.
Danielle’s family informed authorities that she was meeting Isabelle with Kennedy, who was reported missing. Isabelle swiftly became a suspect, and within a day of discovering Danielle’s body, he was apprehended by the police. Investigators testified that Isabelle confessed to luring Danielle to a specific location, shooting her, and then discarding Kennedy into the river.
Following the heinous act, Isabelle purportedly visited a Walgreens to purchase gifts for another partner and disposed of Kennedy’s car seat in a Walmart dumpster. Regrettably, Kennedy’s remains have not been located.
In a separate incident, a man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for causing the death of his two-month-old son due to severe neglect. Kristopher Matthews, 40, was found guilty of aggravated child abuse and disturbing details emerged about the tragic fate of baby Karson. Prosecutors disclosed that Karson was born weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces, but at the time of his death two months later, he weighed significantly less, indicating prolonged starvation.
Matthews confessed to law enforcement that he never fed his child, believing he had no obligation to do so as the father. Moreover, he neglected to seek medical care for Karson after birth. The prosecutor described the child’s condition at the time of death as a harrowing sight resembling a horror movie scene.
Karson’s mother, Shirley Matthews, was also convicted of aggravated child abuse and received the same 20-year prison sentence. Prosecutors condemned the Matthews couple for neglecting their son’s well-being until his tragic demise, emphasizing that the baby’s suffering and death were entirely preventable.