Ex-deputy superintendent of Bibb schools accused of murdering wife in 2019, cops say
A former deputy superintendent of Bibb County schools was jailed Thursday evening in Macon, charged with murder in the suspicious death of his wife at their home in the Barrington Hall golf course community about a year and a half ago, authorities said early Friday.
Edward Judie Jr., 66, who a decade ago served under since-disgraced ex-superintendent Romain Dallemand, was being held without bond at the county jail.
In a statement to news outlets, Bibb sheriff’s officials said that sometime prior to her death in the wee hours of Nov. 29, 2019, Joyce Fox Judie, 60, ingested “many times the lethal dose of cocaine,” and that Ed Judie had himself “purchased cocaine that same night.”
When sheriff’s deputies answered a call at the couple’s home at 202 Greenwood Terrace, they discovered Joyce Judie dead in a downstairs bedroom, the statement said, adding that Ed Judie told them at the time that “he and his wife had been drinking and that he thought she was asleep.”
The statement went on to say that as sheriff’s investigators continued examining the case they learned that Joyce Judie had a lethal amount of cocaine in her system. It wasn’t clear from the statement when those findings became known.
But on Thursday, investigators questioned Ed Judie and “confronted” him “with the evidence they had collected, the statement said, noting that “during the interview, Edward’s story continued to change every time he was presented with evidence that conflicted with his prior statements.”
Further details about what may have led investigators to suspect Ed Judie in the death were not divulged.
Ed Judie was hired as deputy superintendent of student affairs in 2011 during the beginnings of the tumultuous leadership of ex-superintendent Romain Dallemand.
He came to Macon after serving as the head of student services for the Clover Park School District near Seattle.
More recently, in late 2015, after his departure from the county’s school system, he served in consulting capacity for Macon Charter Academy.
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 10:02 AM.