Kansas man, 55, sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for strangling his 50-year-old girlfriend and then pushing her over the balcony of a cruise ship
A Kansas man was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in federal prison for killing his girlfriend by strangling her and pushing her over a balcony on a cruise ship off the coast of Florida.
Eric Newman, 55, of Topeka, also was sentenced to five years of supervised release during a hearing in federal court in Kansas, The Kansas City Star reported.
He pleaded guilty in December to second-degree murder in the January 2018 death of 50-year-old Tamara Tucker of Lawson, Missouri.
The couple was on a Carnival cruise from Jacksonville, Florida, to the Bahamas and was staying in a cabin on the 13th deck. Newman admitted during his plea hearing that the couple argued in their cabin. He said he strangled Tucker then pushed her over the cabin room balcony railing to the 11th deck, killing her.
At the time, the cruise ship was about 30 nautical miles from New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
Newman and his Tucker were on a Carnival cruise from Jacksonville, Florida, to the Bahamas at the time of her death in January 2018
Newman admitted that the couple started arguing in their 13th deck cabin just before midnight. He said he strangled Tucker then pushed her over the cabin balcony railing to the 11th deck
At a news conference following the sentencing, U.S. District Attorney Stephen McAllister described her death as 'a sad tale of intimate partner violence' and spoke about the need for preventative programs.
He was joined by her family, who also called for better domestic violence policies, including a national registry of offenders.
Her brother, Bo Tucker, said Newman was arrested previously for domestic battery, unknown to the family until after Tamara Tucker's death just days after her 50th birthday. The cruise was a present from her family.
'Tamara was an advocate for everyone else,' he said of his sister, who was a professor of social work at Park University and previously served as a program director of the Child Abuse Prevention Association in the Kansas City area. 'She took care of people.'
His sister also had a son, and he lamented that the justice system 'does not take domestic abuse seriously.'
Newman and his 50-year-old girlfriend were on the four-day Carnival cruise from Florida to the Bahamas at the time
In the months after her death and prior to being charged, Newman wrote on a Facebook group set up in Tucker's memory.
'I miss u more than u will ever know I hope some day soon we can be reunited. Love always and forever,' Newman wrote.
Tucker was a full-time faculty member in the social work department at Park University in Parkville, Missouri, from 2012 to 2017.
She had been an adjunct instructor before that since 2007.
In the months after her death and prior to being charged, Newman wrote on a Facebook group set up in Tucker's memory
