Autopsy evidence showed Bre’Anna Johnson was shot five times in the back while pregnant with twins.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — A Missouri man was sentenced after entering pleas in the killing of his pregnant girlfriend, whose unborn twins also died, ending a case prosecutors said was undercut by autopsy findings that contradicted his self-defense account.

Darryl Tyson Jr., 41, entered pleas June 2 to three counts of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree domestic assault in the death of 28-year-old Bre’Anna Johnson. The St. Charles County case had been moving toward trial before the plea. Prosecutors said Johnson was four months pregnant when she was killed in October 2024, and each unborn twin was counted in the murder case.

Johnson was found fatally shot inside her Wentzville home on Oct. 31, 2024. Her two young sons, then 6 months old and 17 months old, were inside the home but were not physically hurt. Tyson first told investigators he acted in self-defense and believed Johnson was facing him when he fired. Prosecutors later said the autopsy showed she was shot five times in the back. Defense attorney Raphael Morris said the physical evidence changed the course of the case. “When it happened, he initially told the police that he believed that she was facing him,” Morris said. “Obviously, once we got the discovery and seen the photographs from the autopsy, that was not accurate.”

The autopsy became central because it spoke directly to the claim that Johnson posed a threat. St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph McCulloch said the bullets traveled upward, a finding he said showed Johnson was falling or already down when some shots struck her. That detail weakened the defense account and narrowed the path to trial. Authorities have not said in public reports what weapon Tyson claimed Johnson had or whether a weapon was recovered near her. The record now reflects a plea instead of a jury verdict, leaving some courtroom evidence untested before jurors.

Tyson’s case did not begin only with the fatal shooting. Court records cited in local reports said he was arrested the same day on a domestic violence charge tied to an incident hours before Johnson died. He was accused of throwing a phone that hit Johnson in the head. That allegation became part of the final plea through a second-degree domestic assault count. The same day’s sequence gave prosecutors a wider picture of violence inside the relationship, with the earlier alleged assault followed by the shooting that killed Johnson and the twins.

The charges changed as the case moved through St. Charles County courts. Prosecutors first pursued three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and a domestic assault count after a grand jury indictment in December 2024. Tyson later entered pleas to three counts of second-degree murder, one for Johnson and one for each unborn child, plus the assault count. The plea avoided a trial that was scheduled for the week of sentencing and ended the criminal case without opening statements, witness testimony or cross-examination before a jury.

Sentencing accounts described a long prison term with parole eligibility only after more than 25 years. Reports differed in how they described the punishment, with some calling it life with the possibility of parole after 25 years and others describing a 30-year murder sentence with a seven-year assault sentence to run at the same time. The practical result is that Tyson is expected to remain in prison for decades before any parole review. The assault sentence does not add consecutive time because it runs concurrently with the murder sentences.

Johnson’s mother, Janette Perry, brought her daughter’s ashes to the sentencing hearing. Perry said she wanted Johnson to be present in the courtroom for the words that ended the case. “I wanted her to see. I wanted her to hear him say guilty,” Perry said after the hearing. “It wasn’t a jury that said he was guilty. He said he was guilty. That was justice for Bre’Anna, and I wanted her to hear that.” Perry also said the sentence did not erase the loss felt by Johnson’s sons or the rest of the family.

Johnson had just turned 28 before she was killed and was pregnant with twin boys. Family accounts described her as a mother whose life centered on her children. Her surviving sons are now living with her father, according to reports from the sentencing. The boys were too young to understand what happened inside the Wentzville home, but the case now forms part of their family history. Relatives said the outcome brought a measure of justice but not the full answer to what was taken.

After the hearing, Johnson’s family said it would continue pushing for a proposal known as “BreAnna’s Law.” The proposal would create a public registry for repeat domestic violence offenders, according to family statements reported after sentencing. The idea emerged from the family’s view that warning signs in domestic cases should be easier to track. The measure has not been enacted, and its exact language, sponsor path and legislative timetable remain unclear. For now, it is a family-backed effort tied directly to Johnson’s name.

The case also drew attention because it involved the killing of a pregnant woman and the prosecution of deaths of unborn children as separate murder counts. Missouri prosecutors used three murder counts in the case, reflecting Johnson and the twins she carried. That charging decision shaped the plea and the sentencing hearing, where the loss was described as three deaths. The defense did not win a self-defense ruling, and Tyson’s plea left the state’s evidence as the final public account of how the shooting unfolded.

The criminal case now stands closed at the trial-court level, with Tyson sentenced and Johnson’s family turning to the law named for her. Any future parole review would come only after the required prison term is served, while the public record continues to center on the autopsy finding that changed the case.

Author note: Last updated July 7, 2026.