Heather Strong

**Heather Strong** (March 23, 1982 – February 15, 2009) she was murdered by Emilia Carr and her ex-husband Joshua Fulgham

## Background

Emilia Lily Carr was born Emilia Yera, on August 4, 1984. She was the second of three sisters. A psychologist estimated her IQ to be 125. At the age of 15, she reported abuse by her father to her school, but withdrew her statement to officials. 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) 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. Carr had three children at the time, one of them with ex-boyfriend Jamie Acome. At the time of the murder, she was eight months pregnant with a child presumed to be Joshua Fulgham's.

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. Carr and Fulgham re-established their relationship while Strong began seeing someone else. Fulgham and Strong became involved in a legal battle over the custody of their two children.

## Events

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 75 in Reddick. She was reported missing on February 15. Her remains were discovered on March 19, 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, 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. Strong eventually died of asphyxiation while bound by duct tape to a computer chair.
Strong's estranged husband Joshua Fulgham was arrested on suspicion of fraud for using her credit cards after she had disappeared. Later in March 2009, Carr gave birth to her fourth child while in custody at Marion County Jail; Her family gained custody of her older three children while 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.

## News

*For news articles on Heather Strong, see here.*

## External links

* Emilia Carr • Murderpedia
* Emilia L Carr Inmate U24131 • RapSheetz
* Heather Jeannine Strong (1982-2009) • Find A Grave
* Joshua D Fulgham Inmate 134868 • RapSheetz
* Murder of Heather Strong • Wikipedia
* Strong family tree • Ancestry (paywall)

## In popular media

### Television shows

* Crime Files the Homefront S1E14: Deadly Love Triangle (1 Jun 2016)
* Swamp Murders S2E5: Love Squared (1 Jul 2014)

### Podcasts

* Small Town Murder: #099 - The Coroner's Waiting Room in McIntosh, Florida (27 Dec 2018)

### Books

* To Love and to Kill by M. William Phelps (25 Aug 2015)