James Cannon was a successful attorney and father of three. His wife, Kelley Cannon, had suffered from psychiatric issues and drug and alcohol abuse for several years, and they were seperated. There had been at least one incident where James had to call 911 on Kelley when she threatened him and took their youngest child, speeding up to 70 mph through residential neighborhoods. After that incident, James had taken out a restraining order against Kelley and he had been awarded sole custody of the children while she sought treatment and got her life back in order. Attempting to get his lives and his children’s lives back to normalcy, James had hired both a housekeeper and nanny to help with managing the large house and raising the children.
On the morning of June 23rd, 2008, the housekeeper and nanny entered the home as they did normally, but almost immediately noticed the house was quieter than normal. They were used to being greeted by the children and James, but that didn’t happen. The two went upstairs to the childrens’ rooms to investigate, and found the body of James in the closet of one of the rooms. The children were nowhere to be found. They immediately contacted police who’s first concern was finding the three missing children.
Thankfully, they quickly found the children at Kelley Cannon’s condo, they were unharmed. Kelly immediately became the prime suspect in the case, but told the investigators an odd story. She claimed that on the night of June 22nd, she received chilling messages from James claiming he thought he was in danger. She decided to go over to the house, ignoring the restraining order against her, to make sure everything was okay. When she arrived, she found the back door open and entered the home to make sure her children were okay. She said she found furniture overturned and immediately grabbed her children to get out of the house, fearful that whoever had caused the damage was still in the house. She claimed that she didn’t call 911 because she feared that the police would immediately arrest her for violating the restraining order.
Investigators didn't buy her story, and Kelley Cannon was ultimately arrested for the murder of her husband. A glove found near the body of James had Kelley’s DNA evidence, and there was video surveillance showing her stealing a box of gloves from a convenience store the night of the murder. Based on this evidence and others, the jury voted to convict Kelley and she was sentenced to life in prison and won’t be eligible for parole until 2068. The home was sold in 2011 for just $500,000 even though it had been appraised at around $750,000.