Kansas man admits strangling girlfriend on Bahamas cruise, pushing her to her death
A Kansas man pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering his longtime girlfriend in 2018 during a cruise ship voyage from Florida to the Bahamas, according to federal prosecutors.
Eric Newman, 55, of Topeka, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of 50-year-old Tamara Tucker, of Lawson, Missouri, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister of the District of Kansas.
Newman was traveling with Tucker on a ship called the Carnival Elation on Jan. 19, 2018, during a four-day cruise, according to an indictment. The ship was scheduled to depart from, and later return to, Jacksonville, Florida.
The two were staying together in a cabin room on the 13th deck of the ship, which was traveling in international water about 30 nautical miles from New Smyrna Beach.
Just 15 minutes past midnight that day, Newman attacked Tucker after they had been arguing, Newman admitted in court, according to prosecutors. He strangled her with both of his hands and, in the process, pushed her over a balcony railing.
Tucker fell to her death when she landed on the 11th deck, prosecutors said. As a result of the fall, she died of blunt force trauma.
An obituary indicated Tucker died days after her 50th birthday. She had a son and had been a professor of social work at Park University. Before that, she served as a program director of the Child Abuse Prevention Association in the Kansas City area.
Newman is set to be sentenced March 18.
The FBI in Jackson investigated the case with help from the Topeka field office.
