A few hours later, Brandon left the hospital and drove to meet Artisha in person. Her demand was immediate: get a paternity test. When their meeting failed to resolve things, Brandon went back to the hospital. But Artisha purchased the test at Walgreens and personally brought it to him.
On February 1st, around 4:30 p.m., Danielle was discharged. She brought Kennedy home to the house she shared with April in White Haven. The family gathered. April. Jeriah. Relatives. For about an hour, they passed Kennedy around. Each person getting a little time.
“When she laid on my chest, I got the biggest smile,” April later testified. “I got to feed her and change her clothes. That was my number seven. She was seven for me.”
At 6 p.m., Danielle told her mother she needed to take Kennedy back to the hospital for some routine testing. April didn’t question it.
Unknown to everyone at the house, Brandon had reached out. He told Danielle he had baby clothes for Kennedy. He asked her to meet him.
At 8:32 p.m., surveillance footage captured Danielle and Brandon at a Mapco gas station on Brooks Road. Danielle had Kennedy with her.
At 9:02 p.m., Brandon’s phone pinged near the intersection of Levi and Sedwick — a dark, secluded, dead-end road in White Haven. No one had any reason to be there at that time of night.
For the next 20 minutes, Brandon stopped texting Artisha. The longest silence between them all day.
During that 20-minute gap, prosecutors say, Brandon pulled a gun. He told Danielle he heard something behind her. When she turned around, he fired into her head and face. Five times. The car rolled backward. He dragged Danielle from the vehicle. He took Kennedy, still in her car seat, and drove away.
At 10:24 p.m., Brandon arrived at his parents’ house in Cordova. He left Kennedy in the car. He went inside, changed his clothes, and left his bloodstained Adidas slides and windbreaker in a closet.
At 10:54 p.m., Brandon texted Artisha: “Just left the house.” His phone showed he wasn’t at his house. He was on Mud Island, driving toward the Wolf River boat ramp where it meets the Mississippi.
At 11:20 p.m., Brandon’s phone pinged at that boat ramp. He removed Kennedy from her car seat. He threw her into the river.
“It didn’t go as far as the gun,” he later told detectives.
At 11:39 p.m., 30 minutes after disposing of Kennedy, Brandon texted Danielle’s phone: “Show me Kennedy. I’m going to take her tomorrow.”
At 11:59 p.m., Brandon pulled into a Walgreens parking lot. He bought a plush teddy bear, a Valentine’s Day card, a six-pack of Sprite, and gummy candy. Gifts for Artisha. He sat in the parking lot writing in the card about their future together — raising Kennedy, his son Kingston, and Artisha’s daughter as a blended family.
