Judy Church is a killer from Massachusetts who was convicted of killing her boyfriend Leroy Fowler, 55.
According to court documents Judy Church and Leroy Fowler were involved in a rough relationship that involved another murder
Apparently Judy Church had enough of Leroy Fowler so she poisoned his sports drink with antifreeze. To make matters any worse Church would film Leroy suffering after consuming the poisoned drink and asked if “He was having fun”.
Leroy Fowler would be rushed to the hospital however he would die from his injuries two days later
Judy Church would be arrested and later convicted of murder. Church will be sentenced later this week
Judy Church Case
A Massachusetts woman was found guilty of murdering her boyfriend by poisoning his sports drink with antifreeze, prosecutors said.
On Monday, March 30, a jury convicted Judy Church, 67, of Salisbury, of first-degree murder with premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty in the November 2022 death of Leroy Fowler, 55, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Church, who was involved in a “toxic and dysfunctional relationship” with Fowler that involved another woman, added antifreeze, which contains ethylene glycol, to his Powerade, according to the statement.
Ethylene glycol can also be found in deicing fluid and hydraulic brake fluid.
“That’s the murder weapon,” prosecutor AJ Camelio told the court about the poisoned drink, per the statement, adding that Church was the only person who had access to Fowler during the time when the antifreeze would have taken effect.
During the trial, Camelio showed the jury a video Church recorded on her cellphone showing Fowler in pain after ingesting the antifreeze while she asked him, “Are you having fun?”
The crime came to light on Nov. 11, 2022, just after 8 p.m., when Salisbury police responded to a 911 call from Church who told the dispatcher that her “boyfriend must have ingested something,” “could not stand” and was “pulling the bedroom apart, with a bloody nose,” according to a probable cause statement affidavit previously obtained by PEOPLE.
Camelio told jurors Church called 911 only after Fowler asked her to do so.
He was rushed to the hospital, where doctors found antifreeze in his system, which had caused significant damage to his internal organs.
He died two days later on November 13, 2022.
Detectives who searched the couple’s house found a Powerade bottle with residue at the bottom that the Massachusetts Crime Lab tested and found to contain antifreeze, which had Church’s DNA on it, according to the DA’s office.
Church admitted that Fowler was involved with someone else.
“Neither woman was happy with it, as evidenced, in part, by the defendant having created a voodoo doll of the other woman,” Camelio told jurors, according to the statement.
During the trial, Fowler’s sister testified that Church said, “Leroy had made a comment to her about, well maybe he thought that she may have put something in his shake she had made for him,” NBC 10 reported.
Church’s attorneys did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
She is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on April 2.
Woman Who Fatally Poisoned Boyfriend’s Sports Drink Convicted of First-Degree Murder
Judy Church News
Jurors delivered a guilty verdict on Monday in the murder trial of a Salisbury, Massachusetts, woman accused of fatally poisoning her boyfriend with a chemical commonly found in antifreeze.
Judy Church, 64, was found guilty of murder in the November 2022 death of Leroy Fowler, 55. Prosecutors said she poisoned him with ethylene glycol, which is also found in de-icing fluid.
Church’s sentencing is scheduled for April 2
“Motive is not necessary to convict somebody; however, the jury is always asking ‘ Why did she do this,’ so the facts help the case along,” said legal expert Peter Elikann.
Church’s attorney said his team is already working on an appeal, telling NewsCenter 5 that the case is “far from over.”
During the case, prosecutors told the jury Church had diary entries and notes on her phone about how much she hated Fowler because he had another girlfriend, and Church was aware of that relationship for years.
“It was a toxic, horrible, horrible relationship. The primary reason why that relationship was so bad was Mr. Fowler had another girlfriend,” prosecutor AJ Camelio said in opening statements.
“Judy Church is not a murderer. She’s a lot of things — daughter, sister, mom, teacher, educator, ex-wife, girlfriend, a bit of a fool. She is not a murderer,” defense attorney Liam Scully told the jury.
Scully argued Church had no motive to kill him, and the couple was about to move to Florida
Prosecutors also showed a photo of a handmade doll with the other woman’s name scrawled at the bottom. The victim’s son referred to it as a “voodoo doll.”
“Various things like stick pins in it. Throw it around and stuff,” the victim’s son Leroy Fowler III said when asked what Church did with it.
Jurors also saw body camera footage from when first responders found Fowler at his home. The victim was unable to walk and was not responding to EMTs.
Fowler reportedly told his relatives he thought Church was poisoning him.
Police also found photos and videos on Church’s cellphone showing Fowler suffering from poisoning before she called 911 to get him emergency treatment, officials said.
Church called 911 on Nov. 11, 2022, to request an ambulance for Fowler, saying, “My boyfriend must have ingested something,” according to court documents. Emergency medical services responded and found the victim in obvious medical distress.
Fowler was initially taken to Anna Jacques Hospital in Newburyport and then Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge for a higher level of care. Fowler was brought to Beth Israel Hospital, where he died on Nov. 13, 2022.
Hospital staff told the family Fowler’s kidneys were damaged, and “they believed he could have ingested poison,” according to the documents.
Police spoke to Judy Church, who said Fowler was doing some work around the house on Nov. 11, 2022, and appeared tired or winded at times.
Police also interviewed Fowler’s son, who said his father had a second girlfriend and was known to “go back and forth between the two women.” He also told police Church took a life insurance policy out in Fowler’s name.
Judy Church had spent 31 years as a fourth-grade teacher in Middleton, her attorney, Timothy Connors, said at a 2023 bail hearing.
