David Huff faces 40 years to life after pleading guilty in the killings of his son and girlfriend.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A New York man laughed and smiled in court as he pleaded guilty April 28 to murdering his 11-year-old son and his girlfriend with a shotgun inside a Roney Road home last year.

David Huff, 44, entered guilty pleas to two counts of second-degree murder in Onondaga County Court, moving the case toward sentencing without a trial. The plea covered the deaths of Jeremiah Huff, 11, and Yeraldith Tschudy, 32, who were killed March 17, 2025. Judge Ted Limpert is scheduled to sentence Huff on May 29. Prosecutors said the agreed sentence is 20 years to life on each murder count, served one after the other, for a total of 40 years to life.

The plea hearing became tense almost as soon as Limpert began reading the charges aloud. Huff stood beside his attorney while the judge reviewed the deaths of the two victims. He smiled, laughed and yawned during parts of the hearing. Limpert stopped and asked him whether he found the proceeding funny. Huff said he did not. “It’s a joke stuck in my head,” Huff said, before telling the judge to continue. The answer drew more attention inside a courtroom already filled with grief, anger and family members waiting for a formal admission.

Huff admitted using a Remington 870 Express 12-gauge shotgun in the killings. Prosecutors said Tschudy was shot first, followed by Jeremiah. Authorities said Huff also fired at his stepfather, Charles O’Donnell, but the shotgun did not fire as expected or ran out of ammunition before O’Donnell was killed. Huff did not plead guilty to attempted murder in the stepfather allegation. Prosecutors said that charge, along with a weapon count, would be handled at sentencing under the plea agreement.

The most pointed exchange came when Limpert described the attack on Jeremiah, including a shot to the boy’s head at close range. Huff pushed back on that wording, saying that was not what happened, but he did not withdraw his plea. He then said he was guilty of what the court said he was guilty of. Assistant District Attorney Rob Moran said in court that Jeremiah was shot in the head. Moran said he was focused on the victims and their families, not on Huff’s reaction. He said a person with that memory might find it hard to say publicly what happened to an 11-year-old boy.

Huff’s older son, who was not at the home during the killings, was present for the hearing and shouted at his father from the courtroom. “You’re embarrassing yourself,” he said. The comment cut through the legal language of the plea and placed the family’s loss at the center of the moment. Other relatives had confronted Huff during earlier court appearances after the killings, calling him a murderer and saying he had destroyed the family. The April plea did not settle those emotions, but it ended the main question of whether Huff would stand trial.

The shootings happened at 128 Roney Road in Syracuse’s Valley neighborhood. Jeremiah’s mother, Samantha Gallup-Peltier, was not at the home, but authorities said Jeremiah called her during the incident in distress. She contacted 911 after hearing enough to believe a shooting had happened. O’Donnell also called 911 and reported that Huff was firing a gun and trying to kill him. Officers arrived and found Jeremiah and Tschudy dead. Huff had left the house before police could take him into custody.

The search for Huff lasted through the night and into the next morning. Law enforcement officers searched across the area for about 12 hours. A citizen later spotted Huff walking near the crime scene and called police. Officers arrested him close to the Roney Road home. Body camera video later showed officers taking him into custody on a sidewalk. The arrest ended the immediate danger, but it began a case that moved through murder charges, mental health review, plea talks and court hearings over more than a year.

Police and prosecutors said after the killings that Huff had no known history of domestic violence charges. Neighbors described him as friendly and said they were stunned by the deaths. District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said at the time that the evidence showed a violent attack inside the home, not a long public record of domestic abuse. That absence of known prior charges became one of the facts that left neighbors and relatives searching for answers. Prosecutors have not announced a clear motive for why Huff killed Tschudy and Jeremiah.

Tschudy, who was from the Rochester area, had been dating Huff for about six months when she was killed. She was a mother of two and worked in social services, including work connected to people dealing with addiction and mental health needs. Family memorials described her as generous and devoted to children. Jeremiah was a sixth-grader remembered by family members as curious and warm. A memorial for him noted his love of finding rocks during his adventures. His mother said after his death that he loved his father.

The case had been headed toward trial before Huff’s plea. Prosecutors had offered a deal months earlier that called for two consecutive sentences of 20 years to life on second-degree murder counts. Huff had first rejected that offer, and a trial date was later placed on the calendar. Defense lawyers also pursued hearings connected to evidence and argued that Huff had suffered a mental break on the day of the killings while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Psychiatric experts evaluated him and found he understood his actions and was competent to stand trial.

By pleading guilty, Huff avoided the risk of a first-degree murder conviction that could have carried life in prison without parole. The second-degree murder pleas still carry a long sentence and make parole only a distant future possibility. Limpert must formally impose the sentence at the May 29 hearing. At that point, prosecutors are expected to close the remaining counts under the agreement, including the attempted murder allegation involving O’Donnell and the criminal weapon charge.

The guilty plea left two truths in the same courtroom. Huff admitted he killed Jeremiah and Tschudy, and families still had no full answer for why. Moran said the prosecution’s focus remained on the two people who died. The judge kept the hearing moving after Huff’s laughter, and the record moved from accusation to conviction. Sentencing is now the next formal step.

Author note: Last updated May 21, 2026.