NC won’t seek death penalty for Triangle man charged with murdering housekeeper
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- Orange County prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for Matthew Jared Vukmer.
- Vukmer faces a first-degree murder charge in the March 6 killing of Paula Floyd.
- DA Jeff Nieman said the decision aligns with longtime promises not to seek death penalty.
Orange County prosecutors will not pursue capital punishment for a man accused of stabbing his housekeeper to death in his home in Hillsborough last month, the district attorney said Tuesday.
Matthew Jared Vukmer, 53, faces a first-degree murder charge for allegedly killing his longtime housekeeper, 54-year-old Paula Floyd, on March 6. Prosecutors ruled out the possibility of the death penalty at a hearing Tuesday, saying the state will proceed “non-capitally,” according to court documents.
District Attorney Jeff Nieman said the decision was in line with promises not to seek the death penalty that he made while running for his seat.
“The decision to seek the death penalty or not rests solely with the DA, and I ran on a platform that we would not seek the death penalty in any case,” he told The News & Observer Tuesday.
“This is a decision keeping with that promise,” he added.
Nieman said his office spoke with the victim’s family ahead of the decision but declined to comment on the details of those discussions.
While the death penalty is legal in North Carolina, there have been no executions in the state since 2006.
Vukmer’s wife called the police on March 6 after she heard an altercation between her husband and Floyd — who came to the house every other Friday. The N&O previously reported on the details of the 911 call, including that a man’s voice can be heard saying, “We got Vladimir Putin.”
Vukmer fled the state and was arrested in Grayson County, Virginia, later that day. He made his first court appearance on April 10 after waiving extradition proceedings and returning to the state.
During Vukmer’s first appearance, Floyd’s older sister, Wendy Stocking, told reporters she knows God says vengeance is his, so, “He’ll take care of it, no matter what happens here on Earth.”
“It’s just hard to believe that she’s gone,” she said.
Vukmer is being held without bail at the Orange County Detention Center. The next hearing in the case is set for Sept. 15.
This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 5:21 PM.
