Police have charged 18-year-old Darriynn Ronnell Brown with capital murder over the death of four-year-old boy Cash Gernon after new lab evidence came to light.
The charge comes four weeks after Gernon was allegedly snatched from his bed before being found stabbed to death on a Dallas street on May 15.
Brown was already facing kidnapping and theft charges filed last month, and reportedly tried to snatch two-year-old girl in February but was thwarted then.
Darriyn Brown (left) is accused of kidnapped and killed four-year-old Cash Gernon in Dallas, Texas on May 15. He has now been charged with capital murder over the death of Cash. If found guilty, he faces a minimum punishment of life in prison, and could face the death penalty
While police did not say what the new evidence was, to the Dallas Police Department said it links Brown to the toddler at the time of his death, leading to the capital murder charge.
If found guilty, capital punishment in Texas carries an automatic life sentence and even the death penalty. The desired punishment will be determined by prosecutors before the trial starts.
'Evidence submitted to the lab has been returned linking Darriynn Brown to Cash Gernon at the time of his death,' the Dallas Police Department said on Wednesday in a short statement on its website giving an update on the case.
'Therefore he is also being charged with Capital Murder,' the statement ended.
Brown has said that he is not the teenager caught on a security camera taking Cash Gernon from his crib - where he was sleeping next to his twin brother - in May.
The toddler was later found dead by a jogger on the morning of May 15, dumped in the middle of a street around a mile away from his home covered in blood.
This harrowing video exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com earlier this month shows the moment a man - allegedly Brown - snatched Cash from his cot
Heath Harris, Brown's attorney, said on Wednesday night that he was frustrated at the slow pace at which authorities were moving, but said he hoped the latest charge would mean he would now be able to gain access to evidence.
'It's almost a month after this tragedy and I'm still waiting to prepare this kid's defense,' he said. 'We can't do that till we have all the evidence.'
Speaking to the Dallas Morning News, Harris said he was concerned about the case being prejudiced.
'This is not an open and shut case. Even if you believe that’s [Brown] on the video, it doesn’t mean he killed the kid,' he told the outlet. 'The world is basically prejudicing this whole community by saying, "That’s him."'
Brown's attorney also said he was waiting to have a doctor evaluate his client's mental health to determine whether he's competent to assist in his own defence.
In the meantime, Harris said that speculation about the case and the release of the surveillance footage from inside the child's room has made it more difficult for Brown to get a fair trial.
Police had been saying for weeks that they expected to file a capital murder charge against Brown as soon as the forensic evidence was returned from the lab.
'There is no doubt who took him, and as soon as I get the lab report back there will be no doubt who killed him,' Lt. Carrie Wise in late May at a community meeting.
A neighbor of slain 4-year-old Cash Gernon says he captured the man they believe to be Darriynn Brown on surveillance footage trying to break into cars in his driveway a month before the boy was killed
The neighbor and others who say they saw a man matching Brown's description to police 'several times' but there was no follow-up. In the image above, Brown is said to be seen casing the Gernon home weeks before his death
Surveillance footage from inside Cash's bedroom showed a man standing over the boy and his twin brother's crib at about 5 a.m. on May 15, before grabbing Cash and walking out of the room.
The man is then shown to return about two and a half hours later, lifting the blanket covering Cash's twin, before leaving again.
Cash was staying with his father's ex-girlfriend, Monica Sherrod, who reported him missing about five hours after he was taken from the home.
She identified the man in the surveillance footage as Brown - who lives in a nearby neighborhood - according to an arrest warrant affidavit seen by the Dallas Morning News. He was arrested later that day.
Cash's twin has since been reunited with his mother, who had been searching for the boys after their father - who is wanted on felony charges in Harris County - left them with Sherrod after missing a court date in March.
Police said that Brown knew Sherrod and her teenage son, but they are yet to give information on a possibly motive in the case.
Cash (pictured) was found dead by a jogger on the morning of May 15, dumped in the middle of a street around a mile away from his family's home covered in blood
They also said that Brown is the only person they believe is responsible for the boy's death, and that no one else has been arrested in connection with Cash's death or kidnapping.
Antwainese Square, 39, told The Dallas Morning News in May she called police after seeing Cash's body on the 7500 block of Saddleridge Road just before 7am while she was out for a run.
She said at the time the boy's face and upper half of his body were covered in blood and that he didn't have shoes or a shirt.
'It breaks my heart,' Square told the newspaper. 'And now I'm afraid. Now I'm paranoid. Because I don't know what happened, I don't know what's going on.
'I mean just knowing that someone out there is capable of killing a child, that alone is just unsettling.'
Brown also allegedly tried to snatch another toddler, a two-year-old girl, in February but her grandfather intervened and stopped him.
The harrowing new detail emerged in an arrest affidavit released by police on Friday. The grandfather and the girl are not named. Police describe how Brown walked into the home and started roaming the rooms.
The grandfather says he found Brown and told him to leave or he would stab him with a kitchen knife, so he fled. Brown then returned and attacked the grandfather, then snatched the girl from her room and started walking out of the house, it is alleged.
Cops are seen on the 7500 block of Saddleridge Road where Cash's body was found on May 15
The grandfather says he got back on his feet, caught up with them and grabbed her back. Brown fled, he said.
It's unclear if they knew each other or how Brown allegedly got into the home or even targeted it but the grandfather, initially, chose not to press charges or even notify the cops.
Neighbors say they did call the cops on Brown for trying to break into cars in the area, but nothing was done.
Days after the incident, he said he ran into Brown in Walmart and claims Brown said: 'Sorry for trying to take your grandchild'
On May 18 - three days after Cash was taken - the grandfather changed his mind and met with detectives to tell them he wanted to press charges.
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