Bre’Anna Johnson’s mother brought her ashes to the sentencing of Darryl Tyson Jr.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. — The family of a pregnant Missouri mother killed with her unborn twins is pushing for a domestic violence registry after her boyfriend entered pleas and was sentenced in the shooting that ended her life.
Bre’Anna Johnson, 28, was four months pregnant with twins when she was shot inside her Wentzville home on Oct. 31, 2024. Darryl Tyson Jr., 41, entered pleas June 2 to three counts of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree domestic assault. The hearing closed the criminal case but opened a new public effort by Johnson’s relatives, who are seeking a proposal they call “BreAnna’s Law.”
Johnson’s mother, Janette Perry, brought her daughter’s ashes into the courtroom for the sentencing. Perry said the moment mattered because Tyson, not a jury, had to speak in open court. “I wanted her to see. I wanted her to hear him say guilty,” Perry said. “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 said afterward that she wanted a harsher outcome and believed Tyson should spend the rest of his life in prison.
The family’s next focus is a registry for repeat domestic violence offenders. The proposed “BreAnna’s Law” has been described as a way to make repeat abuse histories visible to the public. The measure has not yet become law, and no final bill language was available in the public reports on the sentencing. The push is tied to the same-day domestic assault allegation in Johnson’s case. Court records cited in reports said Tyson was accused of throwing a phone that hit Johnson in the head hours before she was killed.
That earlier allegation became part of the plea through the domestic assault count. It also shaped how Johnson’s family viewed the shooting, not as an isolated burst of violence but as the final event in a broader pattern. Prosecutors have not publicly released every detail of the couple’s relationship or all prior reports involving them, if any. The known court record connects the assault allegation and the homicide on the same date, creating the foundation for the family’s call for a public way to track repeated domestic violence accusations or convictions.
The fatal shooting also left two children without their mother. Johnson’s sons, then 6 months old and 17 months old, were home when police found her fatally shot. They were not physically injured. Reports after sentencing said the boys are now living with Johnson’s father. Their young ages mean the court record, family memories and future explanations will carry much of what they know about their mother and the day she died. Perry referred to justice for Johnson and her sons when speaking about the sentence.
Prosecutors said the case turned on evidence that contradicted Tyson’s first account. Tyson claimed he fired in self-defense and believed Johnson was facing him. The autopsy showed she was shot five times in the back. St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph McCulloch said the path of some bullets suggested Johnson was falling or on the ground when she was struck. Defense attorney Raphael Morris said the autopsy photographs made Tyson’s original account inaccurate and led to the plea decision shortly before trial.
The charges reflected three deaths. Prosecutors initially charged Tyson with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and one domestic assault count after a grand jury indictment in December 2024. The murder counts covered Johnson and each unborn twin. By the time of the June 2026 hearing, Tyson entered pleas to three second-degree murder counts and the assault count. The result spared Johnson’s family from a trial but also meant much of the evidence remained summarized through statements rather than presented day by day to a jury.
The sentence will keep Tyson in prison for decades. Public reports described parole eligibility after more than 25 years, with some reports describing the sentence as life with possible parole after 25 years and others describing 30 years for the murder counts plus seven years for the assault count to run concurrently. The court outcome places Tyson under a long prison term while leaving future release questions to the parole process. No release review would be available until the required prison time is served.
Johnson had just celebrated her 28th birthday before she was killed. Her pregnancy was about four months along, and the twins were boys, according to family accounts reported after the hearing. Family members described the sentencing as a necessary step but not a full answer. Perry’s remarks showed both relief that Tyson accepted the result and anger that the sentence still leaves open the legal possibility of parole. The courtroom scene centered on grief, accountability and the absence of Johnson and the twins.
The family’s law proposal remains the clearest sign that the case may continue beyond sentencing. A criminal judgment can punish one defendant, but it does not create the registry the family wants. That would require action by elected officials and a public process over scope, eligibility, privacy and enforcement. Johnson’s relatives have framed the proposal through her name, making the Wentzville shooting part of a wider discussion over how domestic violence histories are recorded and shared.
For prosecutors, the case is resolved because Tyson entered pleas and received his sentence. For Johnson’s family, the next milestone is whether “BreAnna’s Law” gains a formal path in Missouri. Until then, the public record stands on the autopsy, the plea and a sentencing hearing where her mother carried her ashes into court.
Author note: Last updated July 7, 2026.