Life Sentence in Massachusetts Poisoning Death Case

Leroy Fowler was 55 years old when he died in November 2022 at his home in Salisbury, Massachusetts. He had been in a relationship with Judy Church, 67, and the two had been making plans together - talking about moving to Florida, according to the defense. What prosecutors alleged was happening beneath the surface of that relationship was something far darker.

Fowler had been seeing another woman named Barbara Randall at the same time. Randall and Church knew each other. Prosecutors argued that Church’s jealousy over that relationship drove her to a deliberate decision: she poisoned Fowler with ethylene glycol, the primary ingredient in antifreeze, and she did so with premeditation.

The Conviction and What the Jury Found

Church was convicted of first-degree murder with premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty - the most serious murder charge under Massachusetts law. A jury rejected the defense’s argument that she and Fowler had a loving relationship and that his family had conspired against her.

Among the evidence prosecutors presented was a voodoo doll that Church allegedly kept of Barbara Randall, according to CBS Boston. Fowler’s son testified that Church would stick pins into it and throw it around. That detail, combined with the forensic evidence of the poisoning, helped prosecutors establish to the jury’s satisfaction that Church’s motive was jealousy - sustained, deliberate, and ultimately lethal.

Sentenced at 67 to Die in Prison

On April 2, 2026, a judge sentenced Judy Church to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence is mandatory under Massachusetts law for a first-degree murder conviction. The judge made clear, however, that it was also the sentence he would have chosen regardless. “That is the exact sentence I would impose if I did have discretion,” he said, according to CBS Boston.

Church is 67 years old. The sentence means she will not leave prison. At the sentencing, Randall had a written victim impact statement read on her behalf, noting that Church had not only taken Fowler from the people who loved him, but had done so through fear and pain - at the hands of someone he believed he could trust.

The Voices of Those Left Behind

Fowler’s family spoke at the sentencing, carrying the weight of a loss that began more than three years ago and has moved through investigation, trial, and now final judgment. His older sister, Tammy Carbone, addressed the court directly. “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,” she said, according to CBS Boston.

Randall’s statement offered something more complicated - a grief that extended beyond Fowler’s death to include the rupture of a friendship twisted by jealousy. She said Church had not just taken Fowler from her, but from his family who loved him. “No one deserves to suffer like that,” her statement read.

What the Case Leaves Behind

The defense had argued throughout the trial that Church and Fowler had a genuinely good relationship - that the narrative of jealousy and premeditation was constructed by Fowler’s family rather than supported by the evidence. The jury disagreed. The judge disagreed. And on April 2, the legal process reached its conclusion.

Church did not address the court in a way that was reported publicly. She will serve her sentence at a Massachusetts correctional facility, convicted of killing a man she claimed to love - by poisoning him slowly, with a substance that left no immediate trace and took days to kill him.

References: Judy Church Gets Life Without Parole for Murdering Boyfriend With Antifreeze Ingredient in Massachusetts | Woman Fatally Poisoned Boyfriend’s Sports Drink Convicted of First-Degree Murder