Pernell Stroman, 24, of Wilmington, pled guilty Tuesday, Aug. 23 before Superior Court Judge John A. Parkins Jr. to first degree murder, burglary first degree, and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony for the 2009 death of Julie Gricol in her Triangle neighborhood apartment.
Stroman faces the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced on Nov. 15, Attorney General Beau Biden said in a press release.
“Nothing can change the fact that Julie Gricol was taken senselessly and brutally from her family,” Biden said. “That is why her killer will spend the rest of his life behind bars.”
On June 11, 2009, when Gricol did not report to work, concerned friends went to her apartment and found her unconscious in her bed suffering from a laceration to her neck. Meanwhile, in the hours before the killing was discovered, Stroman was stopped by police in Pennsylvania while driving the victim’s vehicle and was cited for traffic violations and released.
After the homicide was discovered, Stroman became a suspect and he was apprehended on June 14 in Wilmington. He has been imprisoned without bond in Delaware since his arrest.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General James Kriner.
