Background: News footage of the apartment in Denver, Colo., where Kelsey Roberts-Gariety was killed (KUSA). Inset (left): Kelsey Roberts-Gariety (Abbott Funeral Services). Inset (right): Ernest Cunningham (Denver Police Department).

Ernest Cunningham, aged 53, was convicted in December 2025 of second-degree murder for the death of 23-year-old Kelsey Roberts-Gariety. On June 29, 2024, Cunningham arrived at the Denver residence shared by Roberts-Gariety and her husband, a former co-worker of Cunningham’s, intent on confronting the husband following Cunningham’s dismissal. Instead, when Roberts-Gariety answered the door, Cunningham shot her.

The Denver Post reports, based on an arrest affidavit, that Roberts-Gariety’s husband informed authorities that Cunningham “knew where they lived and had issues with him.” He also mentioned that Cunningham engaged in drug use while at work. Following his termination, Cunningham focused his ire on Roberts-Gariety’s husband, bombarding him with threatening calls.

On the day of the murder, another resident in the building heard a gunshot and the sound of hurried footsteps. Another neighbor managed to capture video footage of Cunningham departing in his vehicle, which facilitated his capture by police a few hours later. Surveillance cameras also recorded Cunningham’s car leaving the premises shortly after the incident.

At the time of the murder, Cunningham was on parole after serving time for a burglary conviction. He was sentenced to 42 years in prison on February 27. Kelsey Roberts-Gariety’s sister, Kylie Al-Nubu’at, expressed to NBC affiliate KUSA that a sentence exceeding 20 years was essentially a life sentence for Cunningham. Reflecting on the loss, she said, “He took my sister’s life. We’re serving a life sentence of grief, so now I feel like justice has been served.”

Cunningham, who was out on parole after serving time for a burglary conviction when he murdered Roberts-Gariety, was sentenced on Feb. 27 to 42 years in prison. Roberts-Gariety’s sister, Kylie Al-Nubu’at, told local NBC affiliate KUSA that she knew anything more than 20 years was “basically a life sentence” for Cunningham. She added, “He took my sister’s life. We’re serving a life sentence of grief, so now I feel like justice has been served.”