SANTA FE, N.M. (Court TV) — A woman who admitted to killing a lifelong friend with a sword took the stand on Tuesday to tell a jury that she was acting on her boyfriend’s orders.
Isaac Apodaca, 30, is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Grace Jennings, 21, who was killed with a sword in the detached garage where Apodaca lived with his girlfriend, Kiara McCulley, at the time.
Kiara McCulley testifies in Isaac Apodaca’s murder trial on July 14, 2026. (Court TV)
McCulley, 23, took the stand on Tuesday as the star witness for the prosecution: She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in an agreement with prosecutors that required her to testify against Apodaca. Wearing a pink sweater, a pentagram necklace with a dragon and a shaved head, McCulley spoke softly as she detailed her past with the defendant.
McCulley said she was under Apodaca’s influence throughout their relationship, returning to his side even after an argument in April 2022 ended with her covered in bruises and with a broken thumb. In 2020, she said she began engaging in sex work at her boyfriend’s behest. “No one was willing to get a job or pay for anything, and [Apodaca] suggested that I basically start prostituting myself,” she said. “I told him I needed to think about it and then he just said, ‘I already have a couple clients for you. Just go out and do it.'”
By this time in their relationship, McCulley said, she had become convinced that she was dating the Archangel Gabriel. “At first I didn’t believe him,” she said. “Then he started telling me things that no one knew about me, and maybe a part of me wanted it to be real.”
Apodaca also told her that he had founded an organization called “Ghost,” a top-secret group that McCulley described as a “vigilante group that took out people. I mean, kill people who were, like, pedophiles, rapists and even drug addicts. Just people who were considered bad,” McCulley testified on Tuesday.
McCulley said that Apodaca gave her a tattoo that branded her as a part of the organization — in whose name, he allegedly said, he had already killed 40 people. “I just wanted somewhere to belong,” McCulley said. “He kept telling me that I could be a part of it and be a hero, per se, which is one thing I wanted to do, was be a hero to somebody.”
Jennings had previously dated both McCulley and Apodaca; on Oct. 28, 2022, she had been going through a breakup and needed a place to stay. McCulley said that Apodaca brought Jennings to their home and then pressured her to kill the victim, telling McCulley that she “could rank up in Ghost and all kinds of stuff.”
The sword used to kill Jennings had been purchased on Amazon days before the killing, McCulley’s mother previously testified. McCulley admitted to making the purchase, telling the jury that at the time she did so, she thought the end of the world was at hand. Asked to describe the weapon, McCulley said, “It was extremely sharp, and it was a beautiful sword, if you look at it in the view of art.”
McCulley said that Apodaca never attacked Jennings with the sword, but rather handed it to her. “What did you take that to mean?” prosecutors asked. “It’s time to do it, and I had no choice,” McCulley answered. “He told me he would hurt my mom if I didn’t do it.” McCulley said she closed her eyes and swung the sword. Then, she testified, Apodaca started to say, “Come on! Finish it! Finish it! Finish it!” before leaving the room. “I did. I finished the job,” she said. “As he would reference it.”
First responders described finding Jennings with multiple severe injuries, including a cut to her face so severe that her left ear had been chopped off.
Under cross-examination, Apodaca’s attorneys called McCulley’s memory into question, asking her how much she had had to drink before the murder. McCulley also admitted that after her arrest she frequently saw Apodaca in mirrors, but qualified that by saying, “I believe that may also be part of my spiritual beliefs,” and insisted, “I knew it wasn’t him. I knew he wasn’t there.”
McCulley will be sentenced following Apodaca’s trial; prosecutors will recommend she serve 30 years in exchange for her testimony.
