Judy Church Convicted for Murder in Poisoning of Leroy Fowler
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SALEM, Mass. – March 30, 2026 – In Essex County Superior Court today, a jury found Judy Church, 67, of Salisbury, guilty of murdering Leroy Fowler, 55, in the first degree with premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty in November of 2022. On November 11, Salisbury Police responded to the 911 call and found Fowler in poor condition and unable to stand up. After Fowler was taken to the hospital, Camelio said, doctors found that he had antifreeze in his system, causing significant damage to his internal organs. He died two days later on November 13, 2022. A police search of the house yielded a Powerade bottle that was largely empty but contained some residue at the bottom that the Massachusetts Crime Lab tested and found to contain antifreeze.
Representing the Commonwealth before the Hon. James Lang, prosecutor AJ Camelio stated that the defendant and her deceased boyfriend were involved in a “toxic and dysfunctional relationship” that involved another woman. Camelio said the evidence showed the arrangement was known to all parties and that neither woman was happy with it, as evidenced, in part, by the defendant having created a voodoo doll of the other woman.
Camelio and Homicide Unit Chief Jessica Strasnick, co-prosecutor on the case, presented the jury with a November 11, 2022 911 call from Church in which she said, “My boyfriend must have ingested something.” That “something,” Camelio and Strasnick argued, was antifreeze that the defendant placed into Fowler’s Powerade bottle, which testing revealed had the defendant’s DNA on it.
“That’s the murder weapon,” Camelio told the court, adding that “Ms. Church was the only person who had access to” Mr. Fowler during the time when the antifreeze would have taken effect.
Camelio noted Church called 911 only after Fowler asked her to do so. He also showed the jury video Church recorded on her cell phone showing Mr. Fowler in pain while she asked, “Are you having fun?”
Maureen Leal served as victim/witness advocate on the case. The defendant was represented by attorneys Liam Skully and Stanley Norkunas. Church will return to court for sentencing on April 2 at 10 a.m.
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