July 9 (UPI) — A federal judge in Kansas sentenced a man to 12 years in prison for killing his girlfriend while they were on board a cruise ship in 2018, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
In addition to 12 years behind bars, Eric Newmann, 55, of Topeka, was sentenced to five years of supervised release. District Judge Julie Robinson also ordered him to pay a $8,496 fine.
Newmann pleaded guilty in December to second-degree murder with malice aforethought for the death of Tamara Tucker.
In his plea, Newmann told investigators he and Tucker got into a verbal argument on the night of Jan. 18. In the early hours of Jan. 19, he said he then attacked her and strangled her before pushing her over their cabin room balcony and onto the 11th deck below.
She died from blunt force trauma caused by the fall.
They were aboard the Carnival Elation cruise ship at the time in international waters, about 30 nautical miles from New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
