FREEHOLD – An Asbury Park woman was sentenced to 20 years in a New Jersey state prison for fatally stabbing her 23-year-old new neighbor in 2016, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
Jennie Cullum, 30, of Asbury Park, pleaded guilty in March to a charge of first-degree Aggravated Manslaughter before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Vincent N. Falcetano, admitting she caused the death of Iquan Tyler when she stabbed him in the shoulder with a knife.
According to court documents, a joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Asbury Park Police Department revealed that Cullum and Tyler, who had previously never met, had a verbal argument earlier that day.
Cullum subsequently returned to Tyler’s apartment and asked to speak with him. When he emerged, she plunged a kitchen knife 5.5 inches deep into Tyler’s shoulder and then fled the scene. Tyler, covered in blood, reentered his apartment and advised his family she had stabbed him documents said.
Documents say Tyler’s family alerted an Asbury Park police officer they located while in-route to the hospital. He was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune Township where he died as a result of a single stab wound to his left shoulder. After interviewing numerous witnesses, Cullum was arrested and charged the next day.
The 20-year prison term for Cullum is subject to the provisions of the “No Early Release Act” (NERA) requiring her to serve 85 percent of her sentence before being eligible for parole, with a mandatory five-year period of parole supervision upon her subsequent release.
The terms of the plea agreement were reached in consultation with Tyler’s family.