ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A man appeared in St. Louis County Circuit Court Tuesday morning and admitted to a double murder involving his father and fiancée.

Jerry Cannon, 40, and Iesha Emery, 33, were found shot to death inside Cannon’s home in the 1100 block of Oran Drive in Bellefontaine Neighbors. A family member contacted police around 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 2, 2018, after discovering the bodies.

The Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis was activated to assist the Bellefontaine Neighbors Police Department in the investigation.

Home security video showed Cannon and Emory enter the home with Tyjuan Cannon-Scarelli, 18 at the time, between 3:09 p.m. and 3:12 p.m. on Nov. 25. At 3:41 p.m., Cannon-Scarelli can be seen leaving the home with two duffle bags and a firearm. Security video shows no one entered the home until the morning of Dec. 2.

Police discovered 9mm shell casings in the residence. A 9mm handgun was also missing. Jerry Cannon’s 2008 Buick Lucerne had been stolen. The vehicle was later recovered in the Chicago area.

Investigators said social media posts showed Cannon-Scarelli holding what appeared to be the stolen firearm.

Days after the bodies were discovered, authorities named Cannon-Scarelli as their suspect.

Cannon-Scarelli was eventually arrested and confessed to a Bellefontaine Neighbors detective. However, that confession was ruled inadmissible in court because the detective, who no longer works in law enforcement, violated Cannon-Scarelli’s right to an attorney, according to a spokesperson for the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

After delays caused by changing defense attorneys and the ensuing COVID-19 pandemic, Cannon-Scarelli, now 22, finally pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action. He was sentenced to 30 years on each murder count and three years on each count of armed criminal action. Those sentences will run concurrently, for a total of 33 years. However, Cannon-Scarelli will receive credit for time served before and during the trial.

The victims’ families viewed the plea hearing and sentencing via videoconferencing. When Cannon-Scarelli’s sentence was announced, family members cried out that it was “a slap on the wrist,” a spokesperson for the prosecuting attorney’s office said.

“The fact is, in a circumstantial case with no confession, these cases are challenging and, as a result, unlikely to result in the maximum penalty that the family wants and, for that matter, deserves,” St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said. “(Cannon-Scarelli) is being held accountable and will spend more years in prison than he has been alive today before he even becomes eligible for parole.”