A disturbed father from upstate New York smiled and laughed as he pleaded guilty to the murders of his 11-year-old son and girlfriend.
David Huff, 43, grinned in court Tuesday as he admitted to shooting his girlfriend, Yeraldith Tschudy, 32, and his son Jeremiah Huff, 11, with a shotgun at Huff’s stepfather’s Syracuse home in March 2025.
Huff flashed a devilish smile and even chuckled as Judge Ted Limpert read the charges against him, according to Syracuse.com.
“Do you think this is funny?” the judge asked the laughing murderer.
Huff then blamed his callous display on the fact that “there was a joke in my head.”
The father denied shooting his son in the face, but otherwise admitted to both murders.
“I’m guilty of that,” Huff said. “Whatever you say, I’m guilty of it.”
Huff’s eldest son, who was not present the night of the murders, yelled at his father in the courtroom for embarrassing himself, according to Syracuse.com.
Prosecutor Rob Moran declined to comment on Huff’s behavior in court.
“I’m focused on the family. I’m focused on Jeremiah. I’m focused on Mrs. Tschduy. I don’t care what his reaction to this is,” Moran told CNY Central. “I don’t have enough bandwidth to worry about his reaction to these things.”
After the outburst, Huff pleaded guilty to two counts of murder. His conviction comes after the defense waited months for a medical expert to assess Huff’s mental health.
Huff’s lawyer, Shaun Chase, eventually admitted that several experts concluded that his mental incapacity was due to his voluntary abuse of alcohol or drugs.
He was found competent to stand trial and chose to plead guilty to the second-degree charge instead of first-degree murder, which would have ruled out any chance of parole if he had been convicted.
It is not clear what substances Huff used or how drunk he was the night of the killings, prosecutors said.
Huff opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun at his stepfather’s home around 9:30 PM on March 17, 2025, killing Tschudy and his son. He also shot his stepfather, investigators said.
Jeremiah’s mother was the first to call 911 after receiving a disturbing call from her son just before the murders.
Huff fled before police arrived and was arrested by state police around 9:30 a.m. the next day, walking on the West Seneca Turnpike not far from the grisly scene.
