Man Accused of Killing Girlfriend, Throwing Newborn Into River

A Memphis man tossed his two-day-old daughter into the Mississippi River after he shot his girlfriend dead, according to authorities.

Brandon Isabelle, 28, is facing first-degree murder charges for the 2022 deaths of his girlfriend Danielle Hoyle, 27, and their newborn daughter Kennedy.

Isabelle, then 25, lured Hoyle to meet him in Memphis and to bring their daughter before he shot her dead and threw the baby into the river, prosecutors say.

Kennedy’s body was never found after she was was tossed into the Mississippi. Alligators are present in the famous river and have been spotted in Memphis in recent years.

At the time of her death, Kennedy weighed just 6lbs and was 17 inches long.

Isabelle was caught on video telling detectives last month that he killed killed Hoyle and threw his daughter in the river because he did not want the child.

Isabelle’s trial began this week, with opening statements expected on Tuesday.

He’s also pleaded not guilty to murder in the perpetration of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated child abuse and neglect and tampering or fabricating evidence.

According to a police affidavit, Isabelle told officers he lured Hoyer to the location where her body and the car were found and shot her.

Isabelle told police he took the baby, drove to Mud Island on the Mississippi River and tossed the child into the water at a boat ramp, the affidavit said.

He then threw the gun used in the woman’s killing into the river at a separate location nearby, police said.

Isabelle was arrested in 2022 after police officers located an abandoned vehicle and nearby found the body of Danielle Hoyle, who had been shot in the head.

Officers were told by Hoyle’s family that her baby had been with the woman, but no child was found in the car, police said.

A search began, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert for Kennedy.

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Hours later, Kennedy’s car seat was found abandoned in a Walmart parking lot, but there was no sign of the baby.

Police quickly identified Isabelle as a suspect and brought him in for questioning.

Kennedy’s devastated maternal grandmother, April Campbell, said at the time that she only got to hold her granddaughter once for 10 minutes, reported WLOX. She asked that her daughter and grandchild’s suspected killer brought to justice.

‘I want him to suffer like he made my baby suffer,’ Campbell told Action News 5. ‘I want him to hurt. I don’t want it to be easy for him… why would you hurt a baby?’

Hoyle worked at FedEx and was survived by another daughter.