Sandy MaloneMemphis, TN – A 25-year-old father murdered his baby’s mother on Tuesday and then threw the two-day-old infant in the Mississippi River.
A Memphis police officer was looking for dumped stolen vehicles in Whitehaven at about 11:15 p.m. on Feb. 1 when he discovered a tan Chevrolet Cruz parked on the side of the road with a window busted out, the Commercial Appeal reported.
The officer checked the license plate and learned the vehicle belonged to 27-year-old Danielle Hoyle.
When the officer got out and walked around the vehicle, he found Hoyle’s body on the ground, and she was dead from an apparent gunshot wound, WMC reported.
Police contacted Hoyle’s family and they said nobody had heard from her since she left the house earlier in the day with her two-day-old baby, Kennedy Hoyle.
The baby, who had been born one day earlier, was nowhere to be found when her mother’s body was discovered, according to WMC.
Authorities launched a search and issued an Amber Alert for the missing infant who was last seen wearing a black and white polka dot onesie under pink pants, the Commercial Appeal reported.
Kennedy Hoyle’s father, 25-year-old Brandon Isabelle, was arrested at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday, WMC reported.
Court documents showed that Isabelle admitted to police that he shot Hoyle, the Commercial Appeal reported.
And he did it on his own birthday.
#BREAKING: Brandon Isabelle’s mugshot.
He’s charged w/2 counts 1st degree murder for the deaths of Danielle Hoyle & her 2-day old baby, Kennedy.
MPD says Brandon shot Danielle late last nite.
Yesterday…was Brandon’s 25th birthday.
Kennedy’s body hasn’t been found yet.💔 pic.twitter.com/3SIfCZgTb2
— Joyce Peterson (@MemphoNewsLady) February 3, 2022
Isabelle told police that after shooting the mother of his newborn daughter, he picked the baby up and “tossed” her into the Mississippi River.
Police said Isbabelle told them that he threw the gun he used to shoot Hoyle into the water, too, near the Wolf River delta, the Commercial Appeal reported.
Authorities immediately launched a water recovery effort for the baby between the area where her mother was found dead and Mud Island, but so far, Kennedy Hoyle’s remains have not been recovered.
Memphis police officers, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) agents, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office deputies, and a dive team have been searching near the boat ramp located at the northern end of Mud Island, the Commercial Appeal reported.
MPD still at the scene where Kennedy Hoyle was kidnapped. 2 days old.
Her mother’s body was found near the car in this wooded area.
Somebody planned this out. IMO #missingchild #Missing pic.twitter.com/QmvRM5Ebdk— Rose (@901Lulu) February 2, 2022
Police said the search effort is ongoing.
April Campbell, Hoyle’s mother, had a message for the man who murdered her daughter and granddaughter, the Commercial Appeal reported.
“You didn’t have to hurt her,” Campbell said. “You didn’t want to take care of your child, you didn’t want to be in her life, you should have left her alone.”
She stood watching first responders searching for Kennedy Hoyle, WMC reported.
“I just want to know where my grandbaby is, that’s all I want,” Campbell said.
And the grandmother told WMC she wants the man who killed her daughter and granddaughter to suffer.
“I want him to suffer like he made my baby suffer,” she said. “I want him to hurt. I don’t want it to be easy for him. I want him to suffer. He needs to suffer. Why would you hurt a baby?”
The mother of #KennedyHoyle’s final Facebook post breaks my heart.
#RIP #DanielleHoyle
We will find your baby and seek justice for you. 🥺💐💔❤️🩹 pic.twitter.com/7tWemhdn7m— Whitney Sich (@WhitSich) February 2, 2022
Isabelle has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, murder in perpetration of aggravated kidnapping, especially aggravated kidnapping, and tampering with evidence, the Commercial Appeal reported.
He was held without bail at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Complex.
Holly Matkin
