Press Release  Salisbury woman held without bail in poisoning case

SALEM — A Salisbury woman was ordered held without bail Tuesday after being charged with first-degree murder for allegedly poisoning her boyfriend with a key ingredient in automotive antifreeze, Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker announced.

Judy Church, 64, is accused of killing Leroy Fowler, 55, also of Salisbury, by placing ethylene glycol in his Powerade bottle last November.

During a bail proceeding Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney A.J. Camelio argued Church was a flight risk because of the seriousness of the crime, as well the evidence against her.

It included, Camelio alleged, Fowler previously telling his relatives he thought the defendant was poisoning him, as well as a photo and video found on Church’s cellphone showing Fowler suffering from poisoning before she called 911 to get him emergency treatment.

He died several days later.

Church’s attorney, Timothy Connors of Haverhill, had requested her release, subject to GPS monitoring.

He told Superior Court Judge Thomas Drechsler that Church had spent 31 years as a 4^th-grade teacher in Middleton, lived in Salisbury for 29 years, had no passport and had both a restaurant job and housing with her sister waiting if she were released on bail.

Connors also said the alleged poisoning comment was in jest and not contemporaneous to Fowler’s death.

Drechsler cited the seriousness of the crime and the evidence outlined by Camelio in denying bail. She is next due in court on May 11 for a pre-trial hearing.

Earlier, Drechsler requested Church’s attorney provide a statement of financial condition so he can rule on Church’s claim of indigency. The judge said he believed she had the resources to partly contribute to her defense.

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