Man pleads guilty to killing woman and her grandmother in their Middle River home

A man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two counts of first-degree murder as he was set to stand trial for killing a woman and her grandmother at their home in Middle River.

Bryan Cherry, 38, of Middle River, admitted to the crime in Baltimore County Circuit Court in the middle of jury selection. He murdered Autumn Harvey, 29, and Iona Sellers, 75, whose bodies were found inside the house on Taos Circle on July 7, 2024.

Circuit Judge Marc A. DeSimone Jr. has not yet scheduled sentencing in the case.

Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said he was “very pleased” with the outcome.

Prosecutors, he said, will recommend a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“It spares the families of the victims from having to go through a trial,” Shellenberger said. “We think life without parole truly brings justice to the case and assures the citizens of Baltimore County that they will be safe.”

Cherry’s attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.

Baltimore County Police went to the home to check on Harvey because people had not heard from her in two days.

Police noticed that a sliding glass door was unlocked, and they saw a plastic lawn chair positioned below a partially open side window. Officers also found a discarded cigarette on the ground.

Detectives obtained surveillance video that showed a man stealing a drink from a nearby Royal Farms store on July 6, 2024, and then walking toward the home. They discovered that security cameras captured the same person later using Sellers’ credit card at several stores in Baltimore.

The man had picked up a prescription for a woman at a Walgreens, and investigators identified Cherry as one of her associates through law enforcement databases.

By then, Cherry had been arrested in an unrelated killing.

On July 14, 2024, Baltimore Police allege, Cherry killed Sierra Johnson at a home on Abbott Court on the border of Oldtown and Johnston Square. She was 38.

Officers quickly apprehended him less than a half-mile away. He’s set to stand trial on April 13 in Baltimore Circuit Court on charges of first-degree murder and carrying a dangerous weapon.

Investigators looked at prior arrest photos and confirmed that Cherry was the same man pictured in the surveillance video at the Royal Farms before the murders. He was also the individual who had used Sellers’ credit card.

Police entered a DNA profile obtained from the partially smoked cigarette into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, and received a positive match.

In 2025, Cherry was found guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court of attempted first-degree murder and carrying a dangerous weapon for stabbing a man multiple times for no reason at the East Baltimore Medical Center on East Eager Street on June 26, 2024.

Circuit Judge Gregory Sampson sentenced Cherry to serve 40 years in prison. He has appealed his convictions.