CAPE MAY, N.J. (Court TV) — A victim’s family denounced a plea agreement as a “travesty of justice” as a woman was sentenced to eight years in prison for killing her sister.
Sarah Errickson appears in court for her sentencing on April 13, 2026. (Court TV)
Sarah Errickson, 37, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of first-degree aggravated manslaughter in the death of her half-sister, Emily Cruddas. Errickson was charged alongside Cruddas’ fiance, Joseph Ragan. Ragan pleaded guilty first to a lesser charge of drug-induced death, and was sentenced to five years in prison followed by a five-year term of supervision; he had agreed to testify against Errickson had she gone to trial.
Errickson addressed the Court at her sentencing on Monday, offering an apology for her role. “First and foremost, I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart to Emily’s family,” she said. “I know what happened is heartbreaking and is something I can’t fix and never should have happened. I take full responsibility for my actions while getting high. I wish every day that I could go back and change it. I did and still do love my sister and I will miss her the rest of my life.”
Cruddas’ aunt, Barbara Merryfield, delivered a scathing victim impact statement. “How in the heck could you inject your sister with fentanyl, knowing the stuff kills people? How could you do that to your little sister?” she asked. “If I would have gotten my way, your honor, I would never ever let this woman be released from jail, because that still wouldn’t be enough time for what has been done to Emily. In my eyes it was premeditated and greed.”
Investigators said that Cruddas had just returned home after treatment for a suicide attempt on Feb. 16, 2023, when Errickson and Ragan dosed her with Xanax and then injected her with fentanyl and heroin in a syringe, WPVI reported. “Emily, in her last moments, knew she was going to die, and knew she was going to die at the hands of her own sister and her own fiance,” the victim’s uncle, Rich Cruddas Jr., said at Monday’s sentencing hearing. “With zero remorse they went back to partying, and to watching Emily struggle to breathe and then finally take her last breath.” He further described the plea agreement given to Errickson as a “travesty of justice.”
“This is a family tragedy played out in a public forum,” prosecutor Edward Shim said in response to the family’s protests. “Facts sometimes dictate resolutions. I respect the family’s opinion, I understand it, I don’t know that I would feel any different.”
Judge Jeffrey Waldman acknowledged the family’s feelings but ultimately handed down the agreed-upon sentence of eight years. “Today is a solemn and difficult day,” Waldman said. “No words from me will ever restore what has been taken from you.”
