A Tennessee man, Brandon Isabelle, has been arrested for fatally shooting his wife in the head and tossing his two-day-old daughter into the Mississippi River. Isabelle, 25, confessed to police that he lured 27-year-old FedEx worker Danielle Hoyle to a place where he shot her before hurling daughter Kennedy Hoyle into the river, Mail Online reports.
Memphis police officers found an abandoned vehicle along Sedgwick Street and Levi Road in Whitehaven on Tuesday night, and on further investigation found Hoyle with a head gunshot wound. Hours later they discovered the car seat used by Hoyle’s baby at a Walmart parking lot, but baby Kennedy was not found.
Suspecting that Isabelle may know a thing or two about the shooting of his wife and baby disappearance, he was brought in for questioning, and he confessed to a crime. He admitted he shot Hoyle and took Kennedy out of the woman’s car before driving it to Island Park and Upper Mud Island Boat Ramp where he threw the baby into the river.
Waiving his right to an attorney, Isabelle chose to speak for himself and police authorities are still trying to establish a motive for the crime. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of murder in the perpetration of aggravated kidnapping, and tampering with evidence. He is held in police custody without bond and expected to appear in court on Friday.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation continues to search for Kennedy and issued an amber alert for her search. Weighing 6 pounds and measuring 17 inches long, police officials said the baby wore a black and white polka dot onesie with pink pants the last time she was sighted with her mother.
Hoyle’s mother, April Campbell, expressed sadness over the shooting of her daughter and the disappearance of her granddaughter, saying Isabelle must be brought to justice.
“I just want my grandbaby, and I want my daughter to come home,” she said. “That’s all I want. At least tell me what’s going on. They said they got like 50 police looking for her. My thing is everybody should be looking for her. She’s a newborn.”
And then she added:
“I want him to suffer like he made my baby suffer. I want him to hurt. I don’t want it to be easy for him…why would you hurt a baby.”
Hoyle is survived by a 10-year-old daughter.