A Louisiana man who was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder after he shot and killed his girlfriend and threw her toddler son, who was still alive, over a bridge faces an additional charge of first-degree feticide after a coroner report revealed the woman was six months pregnant when she died.
Family members reported Kaylen Johnson, 24, and her 2-year-old son Kaden Johnson, missing on March 11 after they hadn’t heard from the mother for six days.
A search for the pair began soon after the report and ended in tragedy on Monday after Johnson’s 20-year-old boyfriend, Brynnen Murphy, surrendered to authorities and led them to the bodies. Murphy confessed to police officers that he and Johnson got into an argument that took place inside her car on March 5. As a result, Murphy said he shot Johnson multiple times in front of her toddler.
Murphy told investigators that after shooting Johnson, he wrapped her body in a black trash bag and discarded it in a drainage ditch in the 8500 block of Burbank Drive.
After disposing of Johnson’s body, Murphy allegedly drove Johnson’s car with her kid still inside and alive to Central Thruway, and then took the kid from the car and threw him over the bridge.
Murphy told investigators he could hear the boy crying from below the bridge as he drove off, The Advocate reported.
The East Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office determined on Tuesday evening that Johnson died from multiple gunshot wounds. The toddler’s cause of death has not officially been released but is suspected to be hypothermia, according to Coroner William “Beau” Clark.
Murphy is being held without bond at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
