Crime & Safety
Woman Sentenced to Prison for Hercules Murder
Retired school teacher Susie Ko was stabbed to death in her own home. Her killer will spend decades behind bars.
HERCULES, CA - A Southern California woman accused of fatally stabbing a retired schoolteacher in her Hercules home after a multi-state crime spree in 2012 pleaded no contest in court Thursday.
Tania Washington was sentenced to 23 years, 4 months in state prison as part of the plea deal entered Thursday, Contra Costa County Deputy District Attorney Molly Manoukian said.
She admitted to voluntary manslaughter, car jacking, first- and second-degree robbery in connection to a crime spree she and her husband, Darnell Washington, allegedly went on in 2012.
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The couple killed 55-year-old Susie Ko in her house on Ash Court in Hercules on Oct. 5, 2012, and fled the scene in her car.
The pair also robbed a Kmart in Pinole and fled the scene in a stolen truck before the murder, police said.
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Washington is still facing charges in Southern California for allegedly aiding in her husband's escape from a jail in San Bernardino County on Aug. 28 of that year.
Days later, her husband allegedly shot and injured a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy to avoid arrest before they headed to the Bay Area.
The duo were finally arrested several days after Ko's murder in the city of SeaTac in Washington, according to police.
--Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock