SANTA FE, N.M. (Court TV) — Testimony in a New Mexico courtroom on Thursday revealed that a couple accused of murdering a woman with a sword purchased the weapon on Amazon shortly before the incident.
Isaac Apodaca appears in court on July 9, 2026. (Court TV)
Isaac Apodaca, 30, is charged with murder and conspiracy in the death of Grace Jennings, 21, on Oct. 29, 2022. Kiara McCulley, 24, was Apodaca’s girlfriend; she previously pleaded guilty in the case and agreed to testify against the defendant.
In her opening statement to the jury, prosecutor Haley Murphy described the alleged murder weapon — a double-handed broadsword with a 36-inch blade — as being purchased as Apodaca and Kiara McCulley plotted to kill Jennings. In texts sent in the hours before Jennings’ death, Apodaca said, “I’m just saying, swing and don’t regret the aim,” “I’m not playing games, I’m wanting to see you do this,” and “I’m wanting you to kill her. You have to end your suffering by ending her joy.”
Apodaca and Kiara McCulley were living in a detached garage on a property owned by Kiara McCulley’s mother in October 2022. Lani McCulley, Kiara McCulley’s mother, testified on Thursday that her daughter had dated the defendant “off-and-on” for years, and they had been engaged at one point. She described the relationship as “rocky,” and noted that after an argument on April 4, 2022, she had to take her daughter to the emergency room because “she was bruised from top to bottom and had a broken thumb.”
A still from bodycam shows a sword in a detached garage where Grace Jennings was killed. (Court TV)
Prosecutors and Lani McCulley told the jury that Apodaca’s influence led Kiara McCulley to prostitution to earn money — money that Apodaca himself would then pocket. “I always thought of [Kiara] as a sweet person, very caring,” her mother testified. “I think she was easily persuaded into doing things she otherwise wouldn’t.”
Jennings, investigators said, was lured into the couple’s home on the day of her death. She had previously dated both defendants; Apodaca invited her in for the evening with her cats and her belongings when Jennings said she needed a place to stay.
Murphy said in her opening statement on Wednesday that Apodaca had been manipulating a gullible Kiara McCulley for months, convincing her that he “was part of a secret vigilante organization called ‘Ghost’ that was created for the purpose of killing sex traffickers. … She believed him when he told her that if she, Kiara, killed Grace, who was on a kill list chosen specifically for Kiara, that she would move up the ranks and have perks in the black market.”
Prosecutors say Apodaca additionally convinced Kiara McCulley that she had dissociative identity disorder and helped her to name the personalities while playing into their existence.
Prosecutors conceded that on the day Jennings was killed, she was attacked while Apodaca was out of the room — he had gone inside the main house. But Murphy said Kiara McCulley was acting under her boyfriend’s orders when she used the sword to attack the victim so violently that Jennings was nearly decapitated.
Isaac Apodaca and Kiara McCulley are seen after they were taken into custody. (Prosecution exhibit)
The sword itself, Lani McCulley testified, arrived two days before Jennings was killed. Lani McCulley said she didn’t know who paid for the weapon purchased on her daughter’s Amazon account. Lani McCulley used to participate in medieval reenactments, and because of her knowledge of swords, knew how dangerous the weapon could be. She didn’t suspect her daughter would be violent, however, telling the jury her primary concern had been that a pet could have been hurt by the sword if it wasn’t kept safely in a scabbard.
After the killing, prosecutors say, Apodaca called his mother, asking her to call 911 and pick him up from the scene.
