Investigators believed man posed ‘threat to society’ before Middle River double homicide, Oldtown killing

After identifying Bryan Cherry as a suspect in a late June stabbing, Baltimore Police wrote in charging papers that they believed the 36-year-old posed “a threat to society.”

Two weeks passed before Cherry was found and arrested. In that time, investigators say he killed a grandmother and granddaughter in Middle River, and then a 38-year-old woman at her Oldtown residence .

Cherry was arrested by Baltimore Police on July 15, the day after investigators say he entered Sierra Johnson’s Baltimore home and killed her.

On Thursday, Baltimore County Police identified Cherry as the suspect in the July 6 double homicide that left Autumn Harvey and her grandmother, Iona Sellers, dead. He has been held without bail in Baltimore since his arrest in mid-July. He was indicted on his Baltimore City charges earlier this month, and did not have an attorney listed in court records.

Baltimore Police had obtained a warrant for Cherry’s arrest on attempted murder charges on July 1, a few days after police say he stabbed a man who was giving out free supplies to patients at East Baltimore Medical Center. The man sustained eight stab wounds. Witnesses, as well as the wounded man, who worked at the medical center on the 1000 block of East Eager Street, told police that the suspect, identified as Cherry, had attacked him for no reason.

About a week later, Baltimore County police believe he killed Harvey and Sellers on the unit block of Taos Circle. Police found the two women dead on July 7 while conducting a welfare check for Harvey, who had “not been heard from” in two days, investigators wrote in charging papers. Harvey was found dead with “multiple stab wounds to her head, shoulder and neck area,” and her grandmother had died from a blunt force trauma injury, police wrote.

Harvey, 29, was described by her aunt as having “an infectious laugh and an even brighter smile.” Sellers, 75, was a caring woman who fed the homeless and “helped anyone in need,” Harvey’s aunt said.

On July 14, an anonymous caller told police that they had heard a woman screaming in Johnson’s Oldtown apartment shortly before a man walked out with “possible blood on their clothing.” The caller named Cherry as the man who had just been in Johnson’s apartment , charging papers say, noting that Johnson was found dead from blunt force trauma. Cherry was arrested shortly after police canvassed the area.

County authorities later identified Cherry in the Middle River case after reviewing records from Sellers’ bank account and surveillance footage from where her credit card was used, charging papers say. The suspect had picked up a prescription for a woman who was an “associate” of Cherry, police wrote, noting that they then learned Cherry had been arrested for the “unrelated murder” in the city.

DNA from a cigarette at the Taos Circle residence also helped link Cherry to the Middle River crime scene, police wrote.

Both the city and county police departments have been criticized for delays in making arrests despite having charges approved. A Baltimore Police spokesperson said that the department’s Warrant Apprehension Task Force began a background investigation of Cherry “immediately” after the July 1 warrant was approved. Investigators “began surveillance and checked multiple locations in attempts to apprehend the suspect,” spokesperson Lindsey Eldridge said.

In addition to the July 1 attempted first-degree murder charges, Cherry now faces first-degree murder charges in Baltimore City for Johnson’s death and in Baltimore County for Harvey and Sellers’ deaths.

Cherry was scheduled for a bail review on Friday afternoon, but the hearing was postponed until Monday after county jail officials said he had not arrived at the Baltimore County Detention Center.