Murder of Heather Strong

In February 2009, Heather Strong was kidnapped and murdered in Marion County, Florida. Her killer, Emilia Lily Carr, was found guilty in December 2010 and sentenced to death by lethal injection in February 2011. Carr is one of five women on death row in the state of Florida.[1] Another suspect, Joshua Fulgham, Strong's husband, was also convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping in her death.[2] He received two consecutive sentences of life in prison.[3]

Background

Emilia Lily Carr was born Emilia Yera, on August 4, 1984.[4] She was the second of three sisters.[5] A psychologist estimated her IQ to be 125.[6] At the age of 15, she reported abuse by her father to her school, but withdrew her statement to officials.[7] In February 2004, Carr's father was convicted of attempting to solicit the murders of his family (Emilia, her mother, and one of her sisters)[5] and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Carr had been married twice and filed a restraining order against one of her ex-husbands for domestic violence. She was sentenced to two years of probation for her involvement in her ex-husband's grand theft of exotic birds.[5] Carr had three children at the time,[8] one of them with ex-boyfriend Jamie Acome.[5] At the time of the murder, she was eight months pregnant with a child presumed to be Joshua Fulgham's.[5]

In November 2008, Carr became engaged to Joshua Damien Fulgham, who instead married Heather Strong one month later. However, Carr maintained contact with them and babysat Strong's two children, according to Carr's family. In January 2009, Fulgham was arrested for threatening Strong with a shotgun, but was released after the charge of aggravated assault with a firearm was dropped. Investigators later discovered that Carr had threatened Strong with a knife to force her to withdraw her criminal complaint.[5] Carr and Fulgham re-established their relationship while Strong began seeing someone else.[9] Fulgham and Strong became involved in a legal battle over the custody of their two children.[10]

Murder

Florida Department of Corrections photo of Carr.
Heather Strong worked in Reddick, Florida, and was found dead in Boardman on March 19, 2009.

In February 2009, Heather Strong, then a 26-year-old resident of Citra, Florida, disappeared while employed at an Iron Skillet restaurant at a Petro gas station next to Interstate Route 75 in Reddick.[11] She was reported missing on February 15. Her remains were discovered on March 19,[9] in a shallow grave by a storage trailer in Boardman, near McIntosh, Florida. Carr was arrested on March 24, after investigators noted the frequency of her statements to authorities, ten in all without the presence of an attorney. Detectives also recorded undercover audio of Carr discussing details of the crime with Fulgham's sister. Carr, who at the time was seven months pregnant with Fulgham's child,[11] tricked Strong into the storage trailer behind the home of Carr's mother Maria and placed a plastic bag over her head after unsuccessfully trying to break her neck.[1] Strong eventually died of asphyxiation while bound by duct tape to a computer chair.[11][12] Strong's estranged husband Joshua Fulgham was arrested on suspicion of fraud for using her credit cards after she had disappeared.[9] Later in March 2009, Carr gave birth to her fourth child while in custody at Marion County Jail;[8] Her family gained custody of her 3 children and her daughter by Fulgham has since been adopted. Carr provided a confession to investigators, but claimed that she had only done so in the hope of being reunited with her children.[13]

Trials of Emilia Carr and Joshua Fulgham

Emilia Carr and Joshua Fulgham waived their right to a speedy trial during their arraignment for murder in April 2009. Prosecutor Rock Hooker immediately filed notice of his intent to pursue the death penalty because of the heinous nature of the crime.[9] In November 2009, State Circuit Judge Willard Pope declined Emilia Carr's request for a continuance of the trial because of her concerns over the preparedness of defense attorney Candace Hawthorne.[8] A jury found Carr guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping after two and a half hours of deliberations on December 7, 2010.[11] During the penalty phase of the trial, Carr's family testified on her behalf that she had been traumatized since her early childhood by sexual abuse from her father and grandfather.[6] However, the jury voted 7-to-5 on December 10 in favor of the death penalty for Carr.[14][15] She was formally sentenced to death by lethal injection on February 22, 2011.[1]

More than a year after Carr's conviction for the murder of Heather Strong, her co-defendant Joshua Fulgham went on trial for his alleged participation in the murder in April 2012. Carr, on death row at the Lowell Correctional Institution Annex,[16] would not testify at the trial. The prosecution detailed the gruesome aspects of the crime. Both the prosecution and Fulgham's defense attorneys agreed that the motives for Heather Strong's murder were jealousy and betrayal.[17] At the conclusion of his trial, Fulgham was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping.[2] Despite the death sentence of his co-defendant, Joshua's jury voted 8-to-4 to sentence him to life in prison with a chance of parole and the judge followed the jury's recommendation.[3]

Carr was placed in the annex at Lowell Correctional Institution in Marion County on February 23, 2011. She is one of five women on death row in Florida, the other four being Tiffany Cole, Margaret Allen, Ana Marie Cardona and Tina Brown. Carr also became the first woman to be sentenced to death in Marion County since the 1992 sentencing of Aileen Wuornos.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Martinez, Natalia (2011-02-23). "Emilia Carr Receives Death Penalty". WCJB-TV. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Persaud, Vishal (2012-04-12). "Jury finds Fulgham guilty of first-degree murder". Star-Banner. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Persaud, Vishal (2012-04-25). "Fulgham gets life sentence for wife's murder". Star-Banner. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  4. ↑ "Emilia Lily CARR". murderpedia. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Lee, Suevon (2010-03-14). "New facts in killing". Star-Banner. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Martinez, Natalia (2010-12-09). "Emilia Carr's Mother Speaks Out". WCJB-TV. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  7. ↑ Lee, Suevon (2010-12-09). "Carr's family members speak on her behalf". The Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lee, Suevon (2010-11-12). "Trial to start Nov. 29 in Boardman murder case". Star-Banner. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Lee, Suevon (2009-06-17). "Murder defendants waive speedy trial". Star-Banner. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  10. ↑ "Central Florida woman gets death penalty for killing lover's wife". The Republic. Associated Press. 2011-02-22. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Lee, Suevon (2010-12-07). "Guilty verdict for woman accused of first-degree murder and kidnapping". Star-Banner. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  12. ↑ Lee, Suevon (2010-11-30). "Jury seated in Emilia Carr murder trial". Star-Banner. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
  13. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: Fla. Woman Sentenced To Death". MSNBC. 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  14. ↑ Martinez, Natalia (2010-12-10). "Jury Recommends the Death Penalty for Emilia Carr". WCJB-TV. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
  15. ↑ Lee, Suevon (2010-12-10). "Carr jury votes 7-5 to recommend death penalty". The Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
  16. ↑ "Inmate Population Information Detail: Emilia L. Carr". Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  17. ↑ Persaud, Vishal (2012-04-06). "Fulgham trial begins". Star-Banner. Retrieved 2012-05-09.