A voodoo doll, a love triangle, and an alleged poisoning: Testimony begins in Salisbury antifreeze murder trial

As Leroy Fowler lay dying in a hospital bed in 2022, his body wracked by the toxic antifreeze ingredient ethylene glycol, prosecutors say his girlfriend, Judy Church, made an ominous remark.

“Oh yeah, that’s one of our jokes: I joke about poisoning him,” Church allegedly told Fowler’s sister. “I joke about poisoning his milkshakes.” 

The 67-year-old Salisbury woman is now standing trial for first-degree murder as prosecutors allege her “jokes” actually belied a plot to poison her boyfriend with antifreeze as retribution for his longtime affair. 

The ‘bizarre love triangle’

“I hate being alone. I hate you for all the lies. You don’t love me; this is not love,” Church raged in one note police discovered while investigating Fowler’s death, according to prosecutor Andrew Camelio. 

Addressing jurors in an opening statement Wednesday, Camelio said Church’s roughly 10-year relationship with Fowler was “toxic, horrible” because Fowler was openly seeing another woman at the same time. He said Church had even told a family friend, “If he (Fowler) ever cheats on me, I’ll poison him.”

Fowler’s son, also named Leroy Fowler III, later told jurors Church often called the other woman a “c***” and kept a “voodoo doll” that she would stick with pins or throw around the house. 

Church has pleaded not guilty to murder, and her lawyers contend prosecutors rooted their case in off-color jokes “taken out of context” and stray journal entries that Church used to vent about their “bizarre love triangle.” 

In his own opening remarks, defense attorney Liam Scully explained that Church channeled her outrage into these notes. She was “heartbroken” and angry about the affair, Scully said, “but then every time Leroy came home, she took him back.” 

What prosecutors say

Church called 911 the morning of Nov. 11, 2022 — Fowler’s birthday — to report that her boyfriend was ill and “must have ingested something,” according to Camelio. 

“The first sign that you’re going to hear that something was just a little bit off about this whole thing,” the prosecutor added. “How did she know that he ingested something?”

Camelio alleged Church filmed Fowler as he writhed on the floor in distress, and jurors on Friday viewed video of Fowler toppling over, groaning, gagging, and breathing heavily. Off-camera, Church could be heard at times mocking or chastising her boyfriend.

“Boy, I’m hoping you’re really enjoying those pills, honey,” Church says dryly at one point. “This has been going on for over an hour.”

When Fowler asks her to call an ambulance, she demands, “What did you take? They’re going to ask me. They’re going to ask me. What did you take?” 

Camelio said Fowler “may have said something [during that exchange] about some Percocets that he took,” referring to the opioid painkiller.

“Now, he was no saint,” Camelio continued, acknowledging that Fowler had a second girlfriend and allegedly used cocaine. “But there’s not going to be any evidence at all that Mr. Fowler wanted to harm himself, that he was in any way thinking of ending his life, that he had any thoughts of suicide.”

Health care providers who treated Fowler determined he was suffering from ethylene glycol poisoning, according to Camelio. When he died days later, police quickly identified Church as a suspect and searched the home she and Fowler shared. 

There, they allegedly found a jug of antifreeze and an empty Powerade bottle with remnants of a suspiciously colored liquid inside. Investigators found DNA from Fowler and Church on the mouth of the bottle, and the remaining liquid contained ethylene glycol, Camelio alleged. 

“So that’s going to be the murder weapon,” he argued. “That’s the gun, that’s the knife, that’s the method used to kill Mr. Fowler.” 

Prosecutors also say Fowler’s family informed authorities that Fowler was concerned Church had been poisoning him. 

Camelio acknowledged the state’s evidence is circumstantial, as there is no witness who can say they saw Church tamper with Fowler’s Powerade. However, he added, “Ms. Church was the only person who had access to him during the timeframe that that ethylene glycol would take effect on the body.”

What the defense says

Scully sought to humanize Church, describing her as a Bedford native who put herself through college and became an elementary school teacher. She moved to Salisbury with her husband and son before befriending and then starting a relationship with Fowler, he said. 

“And then someone comes on the scene that dramatically changes that, and the honeymoon period comes to an end,” Scully said of Fowler’s affair. 

By 2022, however, Fowler was getting ready to leave the other woman and get a fresh start with Church in Florida, Scully contended. He said Fowler broke up with the other woman via text about a week before he died. 

“Judy has won, if it’s a competition,” Scully said. “So how could her motive be to kill him then?”

The defense alleges Church filmed Fowler while he was in distress to show him the adverse effects of his substance abuse. Scully also suggested that the amount of ethylene glycol in Fowler’s blood would have required him to drink “about three bottles” of the Powerade mixture. 

“Judy Church is not a murderer,” Scully argued. “She’s a lot of things: She’s a daughter, a sister, a mom, a teacher, an educator, an ex-wife, a girlfriend, a bit of a fool. But she’s not a murderer.”

Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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