Richmond man accused of kidnapping, murdering girlfriend outside church takes plea deal

RICHMOND — A man who was accused of kidnapping and strangling his girlfriend has accepted a plea deal and a 26-year prison term, according to the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office.

Tiocha Schultz, 41, of Richmond, accepted convictions of voluntary manslaughter, kidnapping, and other charges related to the January 2019 killing of 44-year-old Jaimee Ellam, prosecutors said. In exchange, the murder charge was dropped.

Schultz’s attorney declined to comment on the plea deal and the prosecutor did not respond to emails seeking comment.

According to police testimony during Schultz’s April 2020 preliminary hearing, Ellam was forcibly taken from a residence on the 1600 block of Monterey Street in Richmond, to the Grace Lao Lutheran Church on Carlson Boulevard. Prosecutors say that’s where Schultz strangled Ellam to death and left her body.

Schultz was arrested the same day, nearby where Ellam’s body was discovered, authorities said at the time.

Ellam was homeless at the time she was killed but a resident at the Monterey Street location sometimes let her sleep there. She was also known to sleep behind the church, where Schultz also occasionally did groundskeeping work, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing.

Schultz was also charged with burglarizing the Monterey Street resident’s neighbor, who called police around 2 a.m. Jan. 31, 2019, to report their window had been smashed. The resident told authorities he heard a man and a woman arguing and a man punched the woman, according to court records.

Before the plea deal was set in place, Schultz’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss the charges last March, arguing that one witness had identified someone else in a photo lineup and that police never established Schultz had a motive to kill Ellam. The attorney, K.C. Donovan, also argued that while DNA under Ellam’s fingernails matched Schultz, authorities were never able to determine whose blood was on Schultz’s clothing when he was arrested, nor did they find his DNA on a large metal pole near Ellam’s body.

Schultz has not yet been transferred from county jail to state prison to begin serving his sentence, according to prison records.