Sikeston, Mo., man pleads guilty to 2006 murder

BENTON, Mo. -- A Sikeston, Mo., man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges in connection with the 2006 stabbing death of a former girlfriend and the mother of his child.

James Vernon Cullum, 26, appeared Monday before Judge Fred Copeland in connection with events of June 5, 2006, in Sikeston. Cullum was charged with stabbing Tishania T. Walker, 20.

Cullum and Walker were scheduled to appeared in court for an ex parte hearing June 6, 2006, regarding their child. After she was missing for almost two weeks, Walker's body was found June 18, 2006, in a culvert that drains into a pond behind Kingdom Hall on North Ingram Road.

Based on the agreement between the state and the defense counsel, Copeland accepted the plea and sentenced Cullum to 28 years in prison.

Cullum will have to serve 85 percent of the 28-year sentence before he can be released on parole, Scott County prosecutor Paul R. Boyd said in a news release.