MOUNT VERNON — Cameron Moore turns 24 on Wednesday. It will be the beginning of a lifetime spent behind bars.

The Mount Vernon man was sentenced Tuesday to life without parole for killing two people.

“We entered into this agreement after consulting with the families of the victims, and the families wanted to have a final resolution,” Knox County Prosecutor Chip McConville said.

“That resolution means Cameron Moore will never be released from prison, and he has waived the right to appeal his conviction.” 

Walking into the Knox County Common Pleas Courthouse with the clacking sound of metal cuffs attached to his ankles and wrist, Moore sat down with three lawyers preparing for his change of plea and sentencing.

Moore pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated murder against Mount Vernon citizens Jessica Wardrop and Robert Caudill at 105 South Gay St. on Aug. 14. Moore’s sentence for each death is life without parole.

Moore must serve the sentences consecutively and he waived his right to appeal the conviction.

According to McConville, Moore arrived at 105 South Gay St., also known as The Terrace apartment complex, causing the deaths of Wardrop and Caudill with a wooden baseball bat.

Before the victims were found, police were asked to perform a welfare check at Caudill’s apartment and discovered him and Wardrop dead. 

Security footage from surrounding buildings helped Mount Vernon Police Department detectives connect Moore to the murders, McConville said. Authorities said the footage revealed Moore pacing back and forth behind the apartment building, carrying a baseball bat and wearing a toboggan-style hat. 

Later footage showed him walking down Main Street at around 5 p.m. covered in blood and missing his hat, McConville added. The blood-covered hat was at Caudill’s apartment. 

During the sentencing hearing, McConville praised the detectives’ investigation, noting though the motive remains a “little bit unclear” it “became absolutely clear who did these murders.” 

In 41 days, the Knox County Prosecutor’s Office, in conjunction with the county public defender’s office, closed Moore’s case. 

The prosecutor’s office dismissed the death-penalty specifications to Moore’s indictment in exchange for a life sentence without parole.