TOPEKA — A Topeka man has been charged with killing a woman while they were aboard a cruise ship in January.
Federal prosecutors announced 53-year-old Eric Newman was charged with second-degree murder and made his initial court appearance Thursday.
The indictment alleges Newman and 50-year-old Tamara Tucker, of Lawson, Missouri, were aboard the Carnival Elation, a vessel registered in Panama. The cruise departed and arrived from Jacksonville, Florida.
Tucker’s obituary and a news release from Park University, where she taught, describe Newman as her longtime partner and love.
Prosecutors say Newman killed Tucker aboard the ship. No further details were released.
Tucker was a full-time faculty member in the social work department at Park University in Parkville, Missouri, from 2012 to 2017 and was an adjunct instructor before that, beginning in 2007.
