Major update after pregnant woman found shot dead by side of road with her toddler’s body flung over a nearby bridge
A MAN has been charged for shooting dead his pregnant girlfriend and killing her toddler son after throwing him off a bridge.
Brynnen Murphy, 20, from Baton Rouge, Lousiana was formally charged by a grand jury on Thursday for the deaths of Kaylen Johnson, 24, and her son Kaden, 2, according to WBRZ.
Kaden is not Murphy’s biological father, but Murphy and Kaylen were expecting a biological child when he killed Kaylen six months into her pregnancy, reported Law&Crime.
Police found Kaylen’s body on March 14 in a wooded area at Burbank Drive in Baton Rouge.
Her two-year-old son’s body was found minutes after along Central Thruway. Police believe Bynnen threw him off a bridge.
Investigators believe the bodies had been there since March 5, the same day the victim’s family told police they’d been missing.
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After examining the bodies, the victims could have been dead for at least a week, according to police.
The coroner also confirmed the woman’s body had multiple shot wounds in it.
The suspect was arrested after turning himself in on March 14.
“Throughout the interview process, he gave us the information as to both being deceased and the locations as to where they were,” said McKneely.
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Police reported that Brynnen admitted to fatally shooting his girlfriend in the car park of his apartment building, according to WBRZ.
The son was allegedly in the car when his mother was shot and when Murphy dumped her body, according to WBRZ.
CHILLING DETAILS
After disposing of her body and the murder weapon in a wooded area, the suspect drove to the Central Thruway and threw the son, who was still alive, over the bridge, WBRZ reported.
Murphy heard the toddler’s cries as he drove off, sources with WBRZ said.
In a preliminary autopsy, the coroner said the toddler likely died from hypothermia.
After the double homicide, Bynnen abandoned his girlfriend’s car near his apartment.
“It was suspicious in nature. We found her car without the license plate on it. And from there, it raised an eyebrow,” said Sgt. L’Jean McKneely with the BRPD.
The motive is unknown at this time.
“We tried to interview him and get some information. He didn’t give us any,” said McKneely.
MYSTERY DISAPPEARANCE
On March 11, the family had asked for Baton Rouge Police Department to do a wellness check on Kaylen and her son.
According to the arrest warrant, when officers went inside the apartment they found no signs of foul play.
The family still tried reaching Johnson but her cell phone was disconnected and the call could not be made, according to KSLA News.
When Kaylen’s car was found near an apartment building three minutes away from the apartment building she had lived in, her family got concerned.
“We looked inside, and the seat was all the way back. She’s short. She can’t drive like that, and she can’t see. So she sits up under the steering wheel,” said Tiara Johnson, Kaylen’s sister.
Family members told WBRZ, Bynnen, who was a property maintenance worker at Kaylen’s apartment building, was babysitting Kaden the day both disappeared.
AWAITING TRIAL
Murphy was originally booked in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison with no bond on two counts of first-degree murder, according to KSLA News.
He was then charged two days later with first-degree feticide.
Jail officials in East Baton Rouge Parish said Murphy was transferred to the West Baton Rouge Parish Prison for his safety, reported KSLA News.
This is where he is currently being held, according to WBRZ.
Murphy will now be put on trial for two counts of first-degree murder and one of first-degree foeticide.
“This is a first-degree murder case that has the potential to carry the death penalty, not that we’ve made any decisions at all at this point,” District Attorney Hillar Moore said.
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Moore added that Murphy wasn’t offered anything for his confession and it won’t have any bearing on how he tries the case, according to WBRZ.
The date of his trial is unknown at this time.