Woman sentenced in 2019 murder case
A woman originally charged with murder will spend time in prison for her actions after a Kings Mountain man was shot and killed in his home.
Kristen Nicole Price made an apology while pleading guilty to lesser charges in Cleveland County Superior Court Friday.
Price was living with Thomas Talucci when he was robbed, shot and killed in his High Ridge Court home on Sept. 23, 2019.
Violent altercation
Talucci, a 73-year-old widower, was helping Price, now 40, by giving her money and a place to live. She reportedly conspired with two men to rob him.
According to details of the case discussed in court last week, Price allowed Jerry Dalton Childers and Robert Moore Dover to come to the house to rob her roommate.
During Assistant District Attorney Kevin Sherriff’s account given during the hearing, the two men entered the home and restrained Talucci while they robbed his home of weapons and various items.
Talucci reportedly at one point got free. Childers was shot in the altercation, and Talucci was shot and killed.
According to Sherriff’s account in court, Price and Dover loaded items and Childers, who had been paralyzed by the bullet, into the vehicle.
They drove Childers to the hospital in Kings Mountain for treatment.
During questioning, Price gave misleading information about the incident, the prosecutor said in court last week, though she later divulged more information.
Investigators went to Talucci’s ransacked home where they found his body.
The aftermath
The trio was charged with first-degree murder and other offenses.
Dover, now 53, pleaded guilty in 2021 to second-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon.
He was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years.
Childers remains in a state facility because of his health issues, and his case has not yet been concluded.
Price was sentenced to seven to about nine-and-a-half-years in prison for accessory after the fact of felony murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon. The other offenses, drug charges and murder, were dismissed.
During her hearing Friday, her attorney, Daniel Talbert, said she’d prepared a letter to read if Talucci's family came to court.
Because his family was not at the hearing, Price didn’t read it, but she still choose to address the court.
Talbert said his client was impaired when she got wrapped up in the incident.
“Drugs is not the way to go,” Price told Judge Jim Morgan. “The man was a really good man to me. I just want to say I’m sorry.”
Diane Turbyfill can be reached at dturbyfill@shelbystar.com.
This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Woman sentenced in 2019 Kings Mountain murder case
