A Salisbury woman was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering her boyfriend in 2022 by lacing his drink with antifreeze, court records show.
Judy Church, 67, was convicted of first-degree murder earlier this week by a Superior Court jury, Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker’s office said.
Church killed Leroy Fowler, 55, also of Salisbury, by placing ethylene glycol, an industrial compound found in automotive antifreeze and deicing fluid, in his Powerade bottle in November 2022, prosecutors said.
Tammy Carbone, Fowler’s older sister, said in a victim statement that the lives of his family “have been profoundly affected” since his death, describing a “roller coaster of emotions” that included “sleepless nights” and “grief beyond explanation.”
“Losing a loved one is painful no matter what, but when it happens at the hands of someone else, it brings a pain like you’ve never felt before,” Carbone said.
Fowler was a “happy go-lucky man that truly loved life,” enjoyed going on adventures and spending time with his family, and a hard worker who “would do anything to help anyone,” she said.
“Leroy is deeply missed by our family beyond anything we could ever say in words,” Carbone said. “Leroy was a father, a son, a brother, a grandfather, an uncle, a cousin, and a friend to many.”
On Nov. 11, 2022, Church called 911 and requested an ambulance for Fowler, and emergency responders found him in “obvious medical distress,” prosecutors said. Fowler died two days later at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.
Doctors found that Fowler had antifreeze in his system, causing significant damage to his internal organs, prosecutors said. Investigators determined he died of ethylene glycol poisoning. During a search of the house, police found a Powerade bottle that contained residue at the bottom, which was found to contain antifreeze.
During the trial, Assistant District Attorney A.J. Camelio argued that Church and Fowler were involved in a “toxic and dysfunctional relationship” that included another woman. He said neither woman was happy with the romantic arrangement and that Church had created a “voodoo doll” of the other woman.
Fowler had previously told his relatives that he thought Church was poisoning him, prosecutors said. Photo and video evidence on Church’s cellphone also showed Fowler suffering from poisoning before she called 911.
Prosecutors played her call for emergency treatment that night at trial.
“My boyfriend must have ingested something,” said Church, according to a statement from prosecutors on Monday. That “something” was antifreeze she had put in his drink, prosecutors said.
“That’s the murder weapon,” Camelio said in court.
Camelio said Church only made the call after Fowler asked her to, and he played a video for the jury that Church recorded on her phone showing Fowler in pain, according to the statement.
“Are you having fun?” Church asked Fowler in the video.
Before she was charged, Church had spent more than three decades as a fourth-grade teacher in Middleton and was a longtime resident of Salisbury, her attorney, Timothy Connors, said at her bail hearing in March 2023, according to a prior statement from Tucker’s office.
Shannon Larson can be reached at shannon.larson@globe.com. Follow her @shannonlarson98.