A Lenexa man has entered guilty pleas for the February 2025 murders of his mother and aunt.

Luke Anthony Howard pleaded guilt to two counts of intentional second-degree murder at a court hearing on Wednesday morning in Johnson County District Court.

Lenexa Police were called to a house in the 15400 block of West 90th Street for a welfare check on Feb. 12, 2025, just before 5 a.m.

At the time, Lenexa Police spokesperson Master Police Officer Danny Chavez told the Post that officers had received information that someone may have been shot.

“Upon entering the home, officers located two adult females who were deceased,” Chavez said following the incident in 2025.

The women were later identified as Valerie Howard, 63, and Joyce Austin, 71.

Valerie Howard was Luke Howard’s mother, and Joyce Austin was his aunt.

The three lived together in the Lenexa home where the women were found dead.

Court documents revealed that Austin was trying to evict her nephew from the home at the time of the double killing.

Later on the morning of Feb. 12, 2025, Liberty, Missouri, police arrested Luke Howard after he walked into a Walgreens store in that city with blood on his clothes, telling employees that he needed to turn himself in.

He was extradited to Johnson County and initially charged with two counts of intentional and premeditated first-degree murder.

Court records show that prosecutors were exploring the possibility of capital murder charges, which could have made this a death penalty case.

The guilty pleas for intentional second-degree murder come with the possibility of 12-1/2 to 54 years in prison for each charge.

Sentencing is scheduled for August 24, 2026, at 1:30 p.m.