Christine Kaplan was found dead in her home in the 1100 block of New York Street on July 26, 2014. Angelica M. Kulp was initially charged with first-degree murder in connection with Kaplan's death.

More than a year and a half after a Lawrence woman was slain in her New York Street home, the woman who police say is responsible will stand trial.

A first-degree murder charge was filed against Angelica Kulp, 39, last Tuesday and she is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 23.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Douglas County District Court, Kulp is accused of killing Christine Kaplan on July 22, 2014, intentionally and with premeditation.

Christine M. Kaplan

Angelica Marie Kulp

Kaplan, 56, was found dead in her home at 1117 New York St. on July 26, 2014. Police investigated the scene for over three days and determined her death to be a homicide.

Jennifer McCollum, a medical investigator at Frontier Forensics Midwest, said on Thursday that the company could not release the results of Kaplan’s autopsy, including the cause of death, because the case was ongoing.

Several days after Kaplan was found, police named Kulp — who knew Kaplan and possibly stayed in her home in the past — as a suspect in Kaplan’s death.

At the time, Kulp had been a Lawrence resident for around 10 years and was known to be severely mentally ill.

Christine Kaplan was found dead in her home in the 1100 block of New York Street on July 26, 2014. Angelica M. Kulp was initially charged with first-degree murder in connection with Kaplan's death.

Brian Blevins, Kulp’s former landlord, said in the summer of 2014 that she occasionally lived in an unofficial group home on Indiana Street where he rents rooms to people with mental illnesses.

On July 30, 2014, and in an unrelated incident, Kulp was arrested in Topeka after allegedly burglarizing an acquaintance’s house. She was reportedly found hiding in the backyard with $18.10 worth of stolen change stuffed into her pockets.

After her arrest in Topeka, Kulp was sent to the Larned State Hospital for evaluation and to determine whether she was competent to stand trial, according to Shawnee County court records.

Kulp was eventually declared competent and pleaded guilty to one felony count of aggravated burglary, the records state. She was sentenced to serve nearly three years in prison, followed by two years of post-release supervision.

In January, just over 11 months into her sentence, Kulp submitted a request to be transferred to Douglas County in order to be tried for Kaplan’s death.

Cheryl Wright Kunard, assistant to the Douglas County district attorney, said the office filed a criminal complaint against Kulp on July 30, 2014, but because she was held in Shawnee County the office could not move forward with the case.

Now Kulp’s request is a part of the Uniform Mandatory Disposition of Detainers Act, Wright Kunard said.

“And a part of that act is within 180 days after the receipt of the request the prisoner shall be brought to trial,” she said.

Kulp’s request was received on Jan. 27. She was officially booked into the Douglas County Jail on Feb. 15.

After a verdict is reached in Kulp’s Douglas County case, she will be returned to the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections “to fulfill any obligation she has there,” Wright Kunard said.

There are 22 months and 18 days remaining on Kulp’s sentence from Shawnee County.

Kulp’s preliminary hearing in Douglas County is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Feb. 23.