With a year having passed since Heather Strong was killed in gruesome fashion, previously unknown details about the case have emerged and shed new light on the relationships between and among the victim and her accused killers.
Strong's estranged husband, Joshua Fulgham, and his girlfriend, Emilia Carr, are charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder. They have pleaded not guilty; the state is seeking the death penalty.
Authorities knew Strong and Fulgham, who already had two children together, had married in December 2008. But it turns out that, a month earlier, Fulgham had proposed to Carr.
What prompted Fulgham's sudden change of heart is unclear. So is the effect it had on Carr.
"She just couldn't believe it. She was hurt," Carr's mother said in a deposition. "Here he proposed to her, bought the ring for her, and in December, he came and took it and married Heather."
The victim's cousin is less charitable. She said the marriage was a ruse, all part of a plot to deceive Heather Strong so Carr and Fulgham could kill her.
"Why else would Emilia let him marry her?" Misty Strong asked.
Also coming to light are details of a prior incident when authorities say Carr attacked Heather Strong.
In January 2009, just one month before the murder, Carr allegedly held a knife to Strong's throat, demanding she sign a letter that would lead to a dropped criminal charge against Fulgham and secure his release from jail.
That detail comes from one of the many reports that law officers prepared after the body was found. There is no indication that Strong ever reported the assault to law enforcement.
As the state continues its vigorous prosecution of both defendants, another interesting development has emerged: This marks the first time Marion County prosecutors have sought the death penalty against a woman since Aileen Wuornos in the early 1990s.
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The question is what would drive someone to suffocate the mother of two.
Fulgham, now 28, had been arrested and accused of fraudulent use of Strong's debit card during the time she was missing. Both he and Carr, now 25, provided statements to detectives implicating themselves and each other, providing details of how they lured Strong to the trailer, attempted to break her neck and, when that didn't work, suffocated her with a bag placed over her head.
The gruesome crime is made more unusual by the fact that Carr was eight months' pregnant at the time. She gave birth two months after she was taken into custody. The child is believed to be Fulgham's.
Fulgham, a native of Mississippi, had a history of domestic violence toward Strong, and his possessive behavior had long been observed by others.
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While she doesn't recall her cousin ever talking about Carr at length, Misty Strong believes the couple wanted Strong out of the picture, perhaps to rid of Fulgham's burden of child support payments.
"The only thing that makes sense is money," she said.
In depositions, both Carr's mother and sister said Carr didn't have any obviously strained relationship with Heather Strong. She would even baby sit her children from time to time.
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