Woman made haunting joke after fatally poisoning boyfriend's energy drink
A woman named Judy Church was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after being convicted of poisoning her boyfriend's energy drink.
On 11 November, 2022, the American woman had called for an ambulance for her boyfriend Leroy Fowler, saying he 'must have ingested something', 'could not stand' and was 'pulling the bedroom apart, with a bloody nose'.
Prosecutor AJ Camelio said that the 67-year-old woman only called for help after Fowler asked her to, and that she had filmed him in pain while she asked him: "Are you having fun?"
Fowler, 55, was taken to hospital where doctors found he'd ingested antifreeze which had seriously damaged his internal organs and he died two days later.
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Police investigating his death found a bottle of Powerade sports drink with Church's DNA on it and traces of antifreeze inside, meaning when she filmed him while he was in pain and joked about whether he was having fun she knew he'd been poisoned.
"That's the murder weapon," the prosecutor said of the bottle with the woman's DNA on it and traces of antifreeze inside, with him saying she was the only person who had access to Fowler during the time he was poisoned.
Antifreeze contains ethylene glycol, an odourless and colourless liquid with a sweet taste which is highly toxic if ingested and requires immediate medical attention if someone consumes it.
Church admitted that Fowler had also been in a relationship with another woman as well as her and was not happy about that, with prosecutors calling it a 'toxic and dysfunctional relationship'.
They also noted that Church had created a voodoo doll of the other woman, and that the 'arrangement was known to all parties and that neither woman was happy with it'.
NBC 10 reported that during the trial Fowler's sister testified: "Leroy had made a comment to her about, well maybe he thought that she may have put something in his shake she had made for him."
According to Court TV, Fowler's cousin alleged that Church had been heard to say 'if he ever cheats on me I will poison him'.
Her guilty verdict and being sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole means that the woman who poisoned her boyfriend will never be released.
It is among the most severe sentences that can be given out, and Church will not have a time limit on her sentence.
Joe Harker