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Who is Monica Sherrod? Caretaker of slain Texas toddler Cash Gernon targeted as 'mastermind' behind tragedy

'Something tells me the lady who the twins was staying with, Monica Sherrod, was the mastermind behind all this,' said one Twitter user

DALLAS, TEXAS: In the aftermath of the shocking kidnapping and murder of Texas toddler Cash Gernon, the Internet has broken into frenzied speculation surrounding the motive behind the heinous crime.

The 18-year-old suspect Darriynn Brown has been arrested and charged with kidnapping and burglary after baby monitor footage from the murdered boy's room showed him snatch the child at around 5 AM on Saturday, May 15. He hasn't been charged with murder yet, but the Internet is convinced there's a bigger 'mastermind' behind all that went down. 

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Cash was found dead in the middle of the street about half a mile away from home, on the morning of May 15; he was lying in a pool of blood with no shirt or shoes on. Police have said he died from multiple stab wounds with an 'edged weapon', but haven't been able to reveal an exact reason behind the crime.

Cash, at the time, was living in the care of his father's ex-girlfriend, Monica Sherrod, from whose house he was taken from. Many Twitter users, following the case, have now mounted a hate campaign of sorts against Sherrod.  

Who is Monica Sherrod?

The 39-year-old lives on the 7500 block of Florina Parway, at Mountain Creek, Dallas. She and her children, including an 18-year-old son who went to school with the suspect, were allegedly asleep when Brown broke into their home and kidnapped Cash.

Sherrod was the one who identified the suspect from the footage recorded by the baby monitor. She had initially said the family knew Brown as a friend of her oldest son, Kamron Mori, but later, Mori claimed they are just acquaintances. A heartbroken Sherrod recently invited Daily Mail into the bedroom where Cash was sleeping with his twin brother Carter when he was taken.

Breaking down in front of the camera, Sherrod told the outlet "I haven't touched a thing. It's exactly the same as when Cash was last in here. I haven't been able to do this until now. It's breaking my heart, but I know I have to confront this." Sherrod, as seen in videos and photos captured by Daily Mail, hasn't removed the toys scattered on the bedroom, with the small toddler cot the twins slept in, still unmade. The videos see her remember Cash fondly, touting how eager to learn and read the four-year-old was. But the internet isn't quite convinced.

Where is Cash's father?

According to reports, Cash and Carter's father, Trevor Gernon, was dating Sherrod and had moved in to her home with his two sons as he had custody of them. Trevor suddenly fled in March after getting into legal troubles and hasn't been heard from or seen ever since.

Sherrod then began raising the twins as her own children. She told Daily Mail "I loved those boys. They were not even my biological boys. I brought them into my home. I had made this room for them." 

Cash's twin brother Carter has been reunited with his biological mother Melinda Seagroves, who told news outlets she had been looking for her sons 'for an extended amount of time' and had no idea they were in Sherrod's care or her home. What has also left social media disturbed is how the suspect Darriynn Brown returned the same day to possibly kidnap Carter as well.

In a second baby monitor clip obtained by Daily Mail, Brown can be seen back in the bedroom, some time at around 7 AM the same day. He tried to take Carter, but something or someone spooks him and he bolts through the door, while a jogger finds Cash's bloodied body eight blocks away and calls the cops.

Speculation about Sherrod

Sherrod had no clue that Brown had kidnapped the boy in her care up until late in the day. She told the media that Cash would usually come and wake her up. When he didn't do so that morning, around 11 am, she went to the bedroom and saw he had gone missing. That's when she reported the incident and police were able to identify the slain toddler as Cash Gernon. The Internet however thinks all of this is a ruse.

Twitter has been abuzz with users refusing to believe Sherrod's story, with one writing "You probably have seen the video of Monica Sherrod, the woman where Cash was staying. I was alarmed by the state of the bedroom, it looked like a dump. I also think, this isn´t a fact, that she is on drugs, big time. Another red flag, she got up late..."

Others have also pointed out "Horrible! Why the hell were 4 year olds sleeping in a crib, & what 4 yr old sleeps till 11AM? Hell what parent sleeps that late? Even with him being gone where was the other twin before 11? Any normal parent knows they don’t sleep that late. There’s some BS !"

Another wrote "Something tells me the lady who the twins was staying with, Monica Sherrod, was the mastermind behind all this."

Another pulled up old drug possession charges against Sherrod, which showed a screenshot of a 2019 incident where she was pulled over for speeding and charged with possession. "The biological father of the 4 year old left him with his girlfriend . A methhead. Terrible."

Others simply deduced "He knew the family. Dollars to donuts that woman paid him to do it."