SANTA FE, N.M. (Court TV) — Comparing the details of the case to a “bad video game,” a New Mexico judge handed down sentences to two people who killed a woman with a sword.
Isaac Apodaca enters court on Oct. 22, 2026. (Court TV)
Isaac Apodaca, 30, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Grace Jennings, 21. Kiara McCulley, 23, who was Apodaca’s girlfriend at the time of Jennings’ killing in 2022, testified at Apodaca’s trial after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors. Under that agreement, McCulley pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
On Oct. 29, 2022, McCulley used a 36-inch sword to kill Jennings — but the attack didn’t come out of nowhere, prosecutors said. The killing resulted from a conspiracy that spanned about a year, prosecutor Haley Murphy said. Once the two lured the victim to their home on Oct. 29, Apodaca spent hours sending messages to McCulley.
Prosecutors explained at Apodaca’s trial that while McCulley had been the person to actually wield the sword, it was Apodaca who was controlling her. “Now, the notion that someone could push and cajole and manipulate someone into committing such a vicious murder is hard to imagine, but the evidence in this case bore that out,” Murphy said.
Murphy urged Judge T. Glenn Ellington to sentence Apodaca to consecutive sentences, citing his adult criminal history that included battery charges after he broke McCulley’s thumb six months before Jennings was killed. Murphy also noted Apodaca’s disciplinary history after his arrest, which included incidents of having contraband, participating in a fight and writing a fake suicide note. Murphy said the state’s expert witness, who interviewed Apodaca before trial, told prosecutors he “described Isaac’s history and behaviors as being classic for someone who is sadistic, for someone who takes pleasure in the manipulation, the pain, the suffering of others.”
Apodaca chose not to speak at his sentencing, but his mother delivered a statement in court pleading for leniency and blaming the crime on McCulley. “When I saw my son by himself, he was a happy, joyful man. But when he was around her, he was sad and depressed. And depression got to him, he started drinking; he started doing drugs just to get away,” she said. “I love my son and I wish today I could just hug him for the last time, because I haven’t had that. I just want to hug him, bless him and anoint his head and be able to see him and pray with him again.”
Kiara McCulley enters court on Oct. 22, 2026. (Court TV)
“This case was shocking, and I have presided in dozens of homicide cases in my time on the bench,” Ellington said as he began to pronounce Apodaca’s sentence. “Normally in homicides, you see a pattern that may not be understandable, but you can kind of put together the pieces. It’s a drug situation, a drug deal gone wrong, jealousy and domestic violence; someone acts irrationally and hits somebody else with a car. You see those patterns regularly. This one is very different from any of those patterns that I’ve seen directly.”
Ellington acknowledged that McCulley was the person who physically attacked Jennings, but agreed with prosecutors that McCulley was doing Apodaca’s bidding. “The testimony is clear,” Ellington said. “Ms. McCulley is the one that wielded the sword. But everything else necessary to take a life, Mr. Apodaca not only participated in, but he was the nexus.”
Ellington sentenced Apodaca to consecutive sentences and, at the prosecution’s request, ordered him to serve the 15-year conspiracy sentence before beginning his life sentence. Apodaca will become eligible for parole after serving 30 years of the life sentence.
Jennings’ mother offered an emotional victim impact statement at McCulley’s sentencing, telling the court that she remains “haunted by images of my own child’s ruined body and her last terrible moments on Earth.” She asked for the maximum sentences for both defendants, who she said “conspired to kill and then brutally executed Grace with glee and joy in their hearts.”
McCulley, speaking softly, offered an apology to Jennings’ family. “I’m sorry Grace is gone and I’m sorry she had so much life ahead of her that I took away,” she said. “Forgiveness is not something I feel I deserve. … My guilt eats at me every night. I can’t close my eyes without reminders of what I did and what I’ve experienced. Sometimes it consumes me. Truly, I try to be better, but the past is not something we can change.”
Ellington sentenced McCulley under the terms of her plea agreement, which means she will serve 30 years in prison followed by five years of supervised probation.
