Emilia Carr
Women on Death Row tells the stories of women who have been convicted of murder and sentenced to the ultimate punishment—the death penalty.
The series delves into the lives of those in prison and features exclusive interviews with the convicted, as well as witnesses and officials who recount the harrowing crimes and trials of those who have been accused.
One woman featured in the series is Emilia Carr who, in February 2011, was sentenced to death by lethal execution after being found guilty of first-degree murder. However, Carr is no longer on Death Row.
In this article, we take a look at her crime and ask the question: Where is Emilia Carr now?
What did Emilia Carr do?
Emilia Carr wasn’t the only person within her family to get in trouble with the law.
In 2004, her father was convicted of attempting to solicit the murder of Emilia, her mother, and one of her sisters. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
Murder clearly runs in the family as Emilia was later convicted of murder herself.
In February 2009, a woman named Heather Strong was kidnapped and murdered in Marion County, Florida. Emilia was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2011.
Emilia was engaged to a man named Joshua Damien Fulgham, but he instead married Heather Strong one month later. The reason for Joshua’s change of heart is unclear. But when speaking about it in a deposition, Emilia’s mother said:
“She just couldn’t believe it. She was hurt…Here he proposed to her, bought the ring for her, and in December, he came and took it and married Heather.” (source)
According to one of Heather’s cousins, the marriage was part of a plot to deceive Heather so Emilia and Joshua could kill her. (source)
We don’t know if that claim is correct but regardless, Emilia maintained contact with the couple and babysat their children. She later re-established a relationship with Joshua when Heather began seeing someone else. This was after Joshua had threatened his new wife with a shotgun only a few days into their marriage.
It’s alleged that Heather wanted to leave the state with her children. But in the end, this never happened. She was reported missing on February 15, 2009, and her remains were found in a storage park in March of that year.
According to reports, Emilia placed a bag over Heather’s head after unsuccessfully trying to break her neck. Heather’s cause of death was asphyxiation.
At her trial in 2011, Emilia was sentenced to death. A year later, Joshua also stood trial for his participation in the crime. He escaped the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison.
Where is Emilia Carr now?
After sentencing, Emila Carr was sent to Lowell Correctional Institution in Marion County. At the time, she was one of only five women on Death Row in Florida.
Emilia fought against her sentence, claiming ineffective assistance from her lawyer. During an earlier appeal, she also raised several other issues, including “possible errors by the trial judge and the proportionality of the death sentence.” (source)
It seems Emilia’s persistence paid off. In 2017, 5th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Willard Pope resentenced her to life in prison without parole.
As far as we know, she is still living out her sentence behind bars.
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