SALEM, Mass. (Court TV) — A Massachusetts woman is standing trial on charges she murdered her live-in boyfriend by poisoning him with antifreeze.
Judy Church is seen leaving court after a motions hearing on Feb. 26, 2025. (Court TV)
Judy Church, 67, is charged with the murder of Leroy Fowler, 55, who died on Nov. 13, 2022, and has pleaded not guilty.
On Nov. 11, 2022, Church called 911 to report that Fowler “must have ingested something” and was pulling the bedroom apart with a bloody nose. When paramedics arrived, they found the victim with an altered mental status and in medical distress. He was taken to a hospital and died days later when he was removed from life support. When doctors told Fowler’s family that they believed his kidney damage was the result of antifreeze poisoning, they immediately contacted the police.
When police interviewed Church at her home, she refused to let detectives inside the door, choosing to speak to them outside. She denied that Fowler ate or drank anything before the incident; Church’s adult son, Douglas Church, suggested that Fowler had suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Detectives spoke with Fowler’s family, who said that the victim had been in a relationship with Church for years, but that he also had a second girlfriend. Fowler’s stepson told officers that Fowler previously told him that he thought Church could be poisoning him, because “every time he leaves Judy’s residence, he feels better.” The stepson also told police that Church had offered him $10,000 to kidnap Fowler from his second girlfriend’s house, “tie him up, and bring him back to her.”
Fowler’s family told investigators that Church took out a life insurance policy on the victim approximately one year before his death.
