A Louisiana man accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend and her 2-year-old son in 2022 has pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
On Tuesday, April 1, Brynnen Murphy, 23, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter and one count of first-degree feticide stemming from the killings of Kaylen Johnson, 24, and Kayden Johnson, 2, according to local news stations Fox 8, WBRZ and KFLY.
Murphy was initially charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He now faces up to 95 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 10, Fox 8 reports.
East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore said the family members of the victims agreed to the plea deal.
“This is a really horrible set of events, as you can imagine. Anybody that is associated with the case has a hard time discussing the facts,” Moore said, per KFLY.
Brynnen Murphy.
Baton Rouge Police Department/Facebook
On March 14, 2022, Murphy walked in to the Baton Rouge police station and admitted to fatally shooting his girlfriend Kaylen, who was reported missing by family three days earlier, Fox 8 reports, citing authorities.
Murphy claimed he killed Kaylen in his apartment complex parking lot after an argument and subsequently dumped her body in the woods, according to WBRZ. Kaylen’s son Kayden was in a car at the time of the killing. Murphy said he then drove that car to the Central Thruway, where he threw the toddler over a bridge, the outlet reports, citing authorities.
William “Beau” Clark, the local coroner, told Louisiana First News in 2022 that the boy likely died of hypothermia. The coroner also said Kaylen’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and noted she was pregnant at the time of her death. The child was Murphy’s, Fox 8 reports.
