Murder charge reduced to voluntary manslaughter against Henderson woman who admitted killing boyfriend

By Jackie Valley

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 | 9:57 a.m.

A murder charge against 36-year-old Tammy Lucero — the Henderson woman who showed up at a hospital in May to report she killed her boyfriend — has been reduced to voluntary manslaughter.

Thursday morning in Henderson Justice Court, Lucero waived her right to a preliminary hearing and was bound over to Clark County District Court for a hearing Nov. 15, where she will enter a plea to the manslaughter charge.

Lucero, wearing the Clark County Detention Center’s standard blue attire, appeared for the brief hearing. She remains in the detention center without bail, according to jail records.

Lucero is charged in the death of her boyfriend, 35-year-old David Hudson, killed May 24 with a computer chord wrapped around his neck at the apartment they shared on Judy Lane, according to her arrest report. On the day of the slaying, Lucero reported Hudson's death to a nurse at the St. Rose Dominican Hospitals – Rose de Lima Campus.

Lucero told Henderson Police she feared for her life when, during an argument, Hudson allegedly put his hands around her neck, the arrest report states. That’s when she strangled him, she told police.

“I don’t know what happened,” Lucero told detectives, according to an arrest report. “I just lost control.”

In August, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office charged Lucero with murder and she was arrested.