'I have yet to turn into a serial killer': Kiara McCulley made creepy posts before Grace Jennings murder
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: A 19-year-old and her boyfriend have been accused of stabbing Grace Jennings, 21 with a 3-foot sword in the garage where the couple lived. Kiara McCulley, 19, and her boyfriend, Isaac Apodaca, were accused of first-degree murder in connection with the killing, Santa Fe New Mexican reported. Apodaca alleged that when he returned from the restroom in the main home after leaving the garage for two minutes, Jennings was already dead. McCulley allegedly told her boyfriend, "I did it."
Apodaca didn't admit he was he was involved; instead, he told detectives that McCulley had been plotting to kill his ex-girlfriend for years. McCulley claimed that she couldn't recall killing Grace Jennings because she had an undetected multiple personality disorder and allegedly confessed to daydreaming about killing the 21-year-old. According to a Santa Fe New Mexican analysis of the teenager's unsettling social media posts, Kiara McCulley's public Instagram and TikTok profiles give the impression of a rebellious teen with a flair for strange conduct.
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The content from Kiara McCulley's Instagram account from August 2021 to two days before she was charged with the stabbing occasionally resembles that of an ordinary teenage girl: cats, food, and amateur photography. However, they also reveal brief flashes of more disturbing thoughts.
In a text message posted on January 27, the teen wrote, "Sometimes I don't give a damn what people want. I'm not a nice person, that person died a long time ago," reported Santa Fe New Mexican. In the days leading up to Jennings' death, McCulley posted a number of videos to her open TikTok account, some of which featured disturbing audio and visual distortions that seemed to implicate Apodaca. The sound effects are strange and sometimes disturbing with insane laughing, contorted faces, extra reverb effects, and a dark red filter.
In a TikTok video that McCulley posted on her account on October 9, she can be seen lip-syncing to prerecorded music. She appeared to say, "Can we all take a moment of [expletive] silence to acknowledge the fact that despite the [expletive] I have yet to turn into a serial killer." Additionally, on July 17, McCulley left a comment on an Instagram post from Apodaca's public profile asking followers to leave a comment with an emoji that indicated their friendship with him. McCulley wrote she is his "ride or die" with a green heart emoji.
However, public records indicate that there may have been a rift in the couple's relationship. Apodaca was charged with assaulting McCulley at home in a warrant for arrest affidavit submitted on April 5 in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court. Following the couple's arrests on Saturday, October 29, the case was dismissed without a finding of guilt on Monday, November 1 at the District Attorney's request, according to online court documents. More charges may be brought later.
A Santa Fe man named Lachlan Stephenson, 20, who dated McCulley when they were teenagers, said he is still horrified by the news that she has been charged with murdering Jennings. He claimed to have dated McCulley in 2016 and 2017. He described a turbulent relationship that featured difficult outbursts occasionally mixed with bouts of verbal and physical violence. "She would constantly say things like she's the all-powerful witch. She's going to hex people, and she is going to predict everyone's death," Stephenson told the outlet. "Towards the end of our relationship, when her delusions were really getting high, she was even saying that she has the power to levitate." He added," I really wish that [McCulley] got the help that she needed when she needed it."
Santa Fe police are still looking into the circumstances surrounding Jennings' death. According to the cops, a "bloody sword" and Jennings' body were discovered together in the garage. Her body had suffered "several injuries consistent with being cut or stabbed with a sharp object" and "injuries consistent with attempts to decapitate."