A Tennessee man has been charged with first-degree murder, murder in perpetration of aggravated kidnapping and tampering/fabricating with evidence after allegedly killing his 2-day-old daughter and her mother in Memphis this week.
Memphis Police told Fox 13 that Brandon Isabelle killed Danielle Hoyle and their newborn, Kennedy Hoyle, saying the 27-year-old mother was found dead with a gunshot wound to her head. Isabelle reportedly confessed to throwing baby Kennedy from a bridge into the water at Island Park and the Upper Mud Island Boat Ramp.
Hoyle’s mother, April Campbell, said her daughter left her home in Whitehaven around 6 p.m. on Tuesday to take the newborn to a medical appointment.
She told WREG that she spoke to her daughter later that evening to ask if she made it to her destination. “She was like ‘Yea, mom. I’m trying to get the baby out the car and get her in the hospital,” Campbell said.
Campbell said that she later messaged her daughter but didn’t get a response. That night, she received a knock at her door from police officers, who asked what kind of car her daughter drove and told her what happened.
Hoyle also has a 10-year-old daughter who is unharmed.
According to the Family Safety Center, 24% of domestic violence incidents in Tennessee occur in Memphis. In an analysis of homicide data released in 2010, Tennessee was on the list of the 10 states where men murder their romantic partners at the highest rates.
Deaths attributed to domestic violence nearly doubled in Memphis during the pandemic in 2020, compared to the year before, according to WKNO. Police and advocates say the pandemic has turned many of the factors that fuel domestic violence, such as unemployment and isolation, into a powder keg for abusive relationships.
“We’re seeing a lot less strangulation and a lot more shootings and stabbings,” Lt. Stephen Roach told the outlet. “Roughly, I would probably say it’s increased probably anywhere from 15 to 20 percent over last year.”
Roach says the cases involve family members, kids — even the elderly. But most of all, he says, “What I’m seeing an increase of is more intimate-partner violence.”
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