And the reason, according to prosecutors? Brandon Isabelle didn’t want another baby mama in the picture. Not when he was trying to build a future with his other girlfriend.
—
Danielle Leticia Hy was born in 1995 in Memphis. By 2022, she was raising her 9-year-old daughter, Jeriah, in White Haven, a neighborhood where she lived with her mother, April Campbell. The home wasn’t wealthy, but it was filled with love. Danielle’s favorite color was red. She worked at a FedEx facility. She showed up for the small moments. Everyone who knew her said the same thing: she lit up a room.
Sometime in early 2021, she met Brandon Isabelle at work.
Brandon was born February 1st, 1997. In 2020, he had been named FedEx Employee of the Year. But his personal life was complicated. He was still legally married to a woman named Zarya, though they had been separated for years and co-parented a son named Kingston. By the time he met Danielle, the divorce paperwork hadn’t been filed.
April Campbell warned her daughter. “If he’s married, how do you think he’s going to treat you? If he’s not even treating his wife right, how is he going to treat you right?”
By mid-2021, Danielle learned she was pregnant. She was excited. Brandon was not. According to court records, he sent her text messages telling her he could not be a father to her child. He asked her to terminate the pregnancy, referring to the baby as a mistake.
Danielle refused. She was already five months along.
But Brandon had already met someone else at work. Her name was Artisha Stewart, 23, a single mother with a 4-year-old daughter. When Brandon first approached her, he said he was separated from his wife. He did not immediately mention that another co-worker was pregnant with his child.
When Artisha learned about Danielle’s pregnancy, she stayed with Brandon anyway. But she made her position clear. She didn’t want another child and another baby mama in the mix. Court testimony revealed significant tension between the two women — “he say, she say” confrontations, though never physical.
In December 2021, Brandon gave Artisha a promise ring. On December 23rd, he texted her family members: “She changed me. I’m completely committed to her.” In that same message, he stated that Artisha told him not to purchase anything for Danielle or the baby if he wanted to prove his loyalty.
—
On January 30th, 2022, Danielle and her mother went shopping for baby supplies.
At 5:42 p.m., Brandon’s phone records showed a Google search: “Can you tell what gun a bullet came from?”
That evening, Danielle went into labor. The hospital had a one-visitor policy due to pandemic protocols. Danielle chose Brandon to be present for the delivery.
While Brandon was at the hospital with Danielle, he was also actively communicating with Artisha. She told him she was “pretty much over” the relationship because of this new baby. How sure was he that Kennedy was even his baby?
Around 1 or 2 a.m. on January 31st, Kennedy Hoy was born.
