Background: Brandon Isabelle appears in Shelby County court for his sentencing hearing (WATN/YouTube). Inset left: Kennedy Hoyle (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation). Inset right: Danielle Hoyle (GoFundMe).
A man in Memphis, Tennessee, will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his newborn daughter and her mother in "heinous" acts of violence.
Brandon Isabelle, 28, was sentenced to consecutive sentences of 51 years for murdering 27-year-old Danielle Hoyle and their newborn child, Kennedy Hoyle, the Shelby County District Attorney's Office announced. He was also given an additional 45 years — split between the two convictions — for aggravated child neglect and especially aggravated kidnapping. He had pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors indicated that the latter 22.5-year sentences held symbolic significance: one year for every hour young Kennedy was alive.
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It all began on Jan. 30, 2022, when Isabelle received word that Danielle Hoyle was in labor. He went to the hospital and stayed with her, but all the while, he was texting with another woman.
Isabelle and Hoyle had met at FedEx, where they both worked, and they had a brief sexual relationship resulting in Hoyle getting pregnant, according to state prosecutor Amanda Carpenter. But then Isabelle met someone new, and he was willing to "do anything" to be with her.
This new woman, who also worked at FedEx, "didn't want to deal with another child or another baby mama in the mix," Carpenter added during the trial. As Isabelle sat in the hospital texting the new woman, she was "talking about ending things, breaking up," but he wanted her to give the relationship another chance.
"In the midst of these text messages in the wee hours of January, 31, 2022, baby Kennedy Hoyle was born," Carpenter continued. Isabelle left the hospital later that morning and met his new girlfriend at a small Memphis peninsula called Mud Island. They continued to discuss what they wanted, but "nothing was resolved."
Background: Brandon Isabelle appears in Shelby County court on Sept. 23, 2025, for the first day of his murder trial (Law&Crime/YouTube). Inset: Kennedy Hoyle (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation).
Hoyle and her baby were released from the hospital the following day — Feb. 1, 2022 — and they returned home to meet their family, according to authorities. Then the mother received word from Isabelle.
He said he wanted to give Hoyle some baby clothes, prosecutors recalled, and so they agreed to meet at a Mapco convenience store in the city, with Kennedy in the backseat of her mother's car. But Isabelle had an ulterior plan.
He "convinced" Danielle Hoyle to come down another road — one that was "desolate, deserted, [and] dark" — and as she parked her car, he approached, opened the passenger-side door "and fired five shots into Danielle's car, striking her in the face and the head," Carpenter stated in court. Isabelle then "dragged" her body and left her "face down in a ditch so dark that all that could be seen were Danielle's bright pink shoes."
Isabelle's plan, as authorities told it, was not finished. He proceeded to take his daughter in her car seat, put her in his own car, and drive away, "leaving Danielle face down … in the muddy rainwater," Carpenter added. Isabelle went back to his parents' home, where he lived, and changed his clothes, all while leaving Kennedy — who was not yet even 2 days old — alone in the car.
"He had one more problem to take care of," Carpenter flatly told the courtroom.
Isabelle returned to his car, drove back to Mud Island — an action captured by "real-time" law enforcement cameras — and stopped at the "old boat ramp" where the mouths of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers meet.
"He took Kennedy from her car seat, grabbed her by the leg, and threw her into the cold, dark water, not realizing that her little baby cap had fallen from her head and lay resting on the riverbank," Carpenter said.
Isabelle tried to cover his tracks, authorities said. He sent messages to Danielle Hoyle "knowing that she'll never answer," and he drove to a nearby Walmart and dumped the car seat there. Still, he focused on his new girlfriend, texting her and going to Walgreens to buy gifts.
A police officer would end up finding Danielle Hoyle's body after investigating her car being parked on the wrong side of the road. As officials investigated, Isabelle rushed to meet his girlfriend at her residence and immediately told her they needed to leave. The couple were soon after detained.
Police officers searched Isabelle and found blood on his socks that ended up matching Danielle Hoyle's. Kennedy's body was not found.
Records showed that Feb. 1 is Isabelle's birthday, indicating he murdered his daughter and her mother on his 25th birthday.
Isabelle appeared largely stoic as his fate was sealed in a Shelby County courtroom this week, per video recorded by local ABC affiliate WATN.
"We and the family are very pleased with today's sentence, which reflects the heinous nature of the crimes perpetrated against two cherished members of our community," Shelby County chief prosecutor Eric Christensen said. "Danielle and Kennedy deserved protection, love, and life. Today's sentence honors their memory and reinforces our commitment to pursuing justice for the most vulnerable."
