Judy Naylor

Summary

Snapped: Women Who Murder – Episode Summary: Judy Naylor Release Date: March 2, 2025

In this gripping episode of Snapped: Women Who Murder, Oxygen delves into the harrowing true story of Judy Naylor, a woman whose descent into desperation and addiction led to a series of heinous crimes. This detailed summary captures the key events, investigations, and courtroom drama that unfolded in Judy’s life, providing listeners with an in-depth understanding of her motivations and the consequences of her actions.

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1. Introduction

The episode begins by setting the stage for a dramatic tale of betrayal and criminality in rural North Carolina. Judy Naylor, an office manager and bookkeeper, becomes the focal point of an attempted murder and subsequent investigations that unravel dark family secrets and financial deceit.

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2. Background: Judy's Early Life and Relationships

Judy Naylor’s upbringing was marred by familial instability. Raised in Cumberland and Robeson Counties, Judy was the elder of two siblings, with a younger brother, Kenneth. Her parents' separation during her teens introduced her to a tumultuous household environment.

Key Quotes:

• Katherine Croxton (Judy’s stepmother):
  “She didn't graduate high school. She dropped out at 17. She had me at 19... I wanted to do better for me than what she had.”
  (08:03)

Judy’s relationship with her mother, Catherine, was fraught with tension, exacerbated by Catherine’s mental health issues and Judy’s own struggles with addiction.

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3. The Attempted Murder: January 12, 2004

On a late afternoon in Robeson County, Judy’s boss and a successful business owner returned from vacation only to be targeted in a drive-by shooting. The attack left the boss’s vehicle riddled with bullets, with limited physical injury to his hand.

Key Quotes:

• Investigator:
  "A successful business owner returns from a dream vacation only to be met with a hail of gunfire."
  (01:05)

• James Croxton (Judy’s stepfather):
  “Last thing in his mind is that somebody's attempting to kill him.”
  (01:13)

The victim, bewildered and injured, couldn’t identify the shooter, leading investigators to consider personal motives rather than random violence.

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4. Investigation: Embezzlement and Disappearance

As investigators delved into the case, they discovered unusual financial activities. The bus company owner found that numerous checks had been written to Judy and her husband, Donald McPhail, totaling $19,000 during his absence.

Key Quotes:

• Donald McPhail (Judy’s husband):
  “He finds his shotgun missing, and the weapon used to shoot at him is a shotgun.”
  (12:15)

The absence of forced entry suggested that the perpetrator had trusted access to Judy’s household, pointing suspicion toward individuals within the victim’s inner circle.

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5. Arrest and Interrogation

Two weeks post-incident, Judy and Donald were located at an Area Motel following a disturbance report. At the motel, Judy was found severely ill from consuming antifreeze, an apparent suicide attempt.

Key Quotes:

• Donald McPhail:
  “She was extremely sick... trying to harm herself, kill herself, you know, by drinking antifreeze.”
  (18:12)

Donald provided a candid statement, admitting their involvement in the attempted murder and the fraudulent checks, citing financial desperation as the primary motive.

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6. James Croxton's Death

In a tragic turn, Judy called 911 to report the sudden death of her stepfather, James Croxton, alleging he was unresponsive and died of natural causes. However, suspicions arose when Judy’s stepmother, Donna Naylor, accused her of being responsible for James’s death.

Key Quotes:

• Katherine Croxton (Judy’s son):
  “She showed it to me, and I said, chloroform. She's like, do you know what this is?... I left the house scared.”
  (35:13)

Subsequent autopsy results revealed the presence of chloroform and minor puncture wounds, leading authorities to rule James’s death as a homicide.

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7. Further Investigation: Evidence and Motive

The investigation uncovered that Judy had premeditated James Croxton’s murder to gain access to life insurance proceeds. Financial records showed purchases of chloroform and succinylcholine, a paralytic, weeks before James's death.

Key Quotes:

• Donald McPhail:
  “They stole a shotgun... followed him back to Lumberton. Donald fired the shotgun from the backseat of their car.”
  (22:43)

Documents found indicated Judy’s intent to eliminate James, facilitating her financial gains through a forged will and insurance policies favoring her.

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8. Legal Proceedings: Trial and Sentencing

Judy initially pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charges but was later convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and forgery. She was sentenced to 16 to 20 years in prison. Further charges were brought against her for the murder of James Croxton, leading to a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Key Quotes:

• Judy Naylor (in her own words):
  “I have a lot of regret and a lot of remorse for both of my crimes. Do I think that the time that I got was just? Of course it was. I took another man's life.”
  (45:43)

Despite Judy’s claims of being under the influence of drugs and lacking clear judgment, the court found sufficient evidence of her premeditated actions.

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9. Aftermath and Current Status

Judy Naylor is currently serving a life sentence at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh. Her husband, Donald McPhail, served over thirteen years in prison and was released in July 2014. The case remains a poignant example of how addiction and financial desperation can lead to tragic outcomes.

Key Quotes:

• Katherine Croxton:
  “I didn’t think my mother was capable of that, of doing something like that. Sorry things happened the way they did. Wish things would have been different.”
  (45:59)

The episode concludes by reflecting on Judy’s regret and the irreparable damage caused by her actions, highlighting the complexities of familial relationships and personal downfall.

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Notable Moments:

• Judy’s early financial prowess contrasts sharply with her later criminal activities, showcasing a complex character driven by addiction.
• The use of chloroform and a paralytic indicates a calculated approach to murder, challenging Judy’s claims of impaired judgment.
• Family testimonies reveal deep-seated issues and betrayal, adding emotional weight to the narrative.

Conclusion:

Judy Naylor’s story is a chilling exploration of how personal struggles and moral corruption can culminate in violence and deceit. Snapped: Women Who Murder effectively unravels the layers of Judy’s life, offering listeners a comprehensive view of the events that led to her life imprisonment. This episode serves as a stark reminder of the devastating impact of addiction and the lengths to which individuals might go when desperation takes hold.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Donald McPhail]

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[Investigator]

Thumbs up.

[Expert]

Subscribe, but only what we wanted to show.

[Donald McPhail]

I'm still recording a three part series event. She said the children were demonically possessed.

[Expert]

Get out.

[Judy Naylor]

That blew the powder keg.

[Michael Naylor]

Ruby crossed a line to psychotic nine. I'm on emergency.

[Judy Naylor]

Open the door.

[Donald McPhail]

Hulu stepped in the family the Fall of Ruby Frank all episodes now streaming on Hulu.

[Investigator]

A successful business owner returns from a dream vacation only to be met with a hail of gunfire.

[James Croxton]

Last thing in his mind is that somebody's attempting to kill him.

[Investigator]

His valued employee may be victim number two.

[Donald McPhail]

She's seemingly fallen off the face of the earth.

[Investigator]

But did he trust the wrong person?

[Judy Naylor]

Somebody had access to the house. Somebody he trusted?

[Investigator]

As the deadly plot unravels, alliances shift.

[James Croxton]

Are they going to stay loyal and true to each other? Or now is it all about me?

[Expert]

What point does blood loyalty stop and doing the right thing start?

[Investigator]

And investigators discover how one crime plants the seeds of another.

[Katherine Croxton]

She said, you know, your grandfather's not going to be here much longer. And I said, what do you mean?

[Investigator]

Rumors of a twisted seduction surface.

[Donald McPhail]

She's agreeing to have a sexual relationship with someone to be bailed out.

[Katherine Croxton]

I didn't really know how to take all that. It was a shocker to me.

[Expert]

That is a level of sociopathy that is fortunately not too common.

[Judy Naylor]

This wasn't brutal.

[Donald McPhail]

This was just sick.

[Investigator]

January 12, 2004. It's late afternoon in Robeson County, North Carolina, when dispatch receives a frantic 911 call reporting shots fired outside a local bus company. Sheriff's deputies and paramedics race to the scene.

[Kenneth Naylor]

This crime occurred in a rural area. It's so far out there that by the time the officers responded out there, the suspects were already gone.

[Investigator]

First responders arrive at the scene to find the owner of the bus company sitting in his car, which is now riddled with bullet holes. He's visibly shaken, but fortunately only his hand seems to be injured.

[James Croxton]

He just came back from the vacation. The last thing in his mind is that somebody is attempting to kill him.

[Judy Naylor]

First thing you want to do is secure the scene. And then investigators look for any shell casings, projectiles, skid marks from a vehicle. See if there's any witnesses nearby, anybody have any outside cameras.

[Investigator]

Authorities find a scattering of shotgun pellets that have pierced the vehicle and three plastic shell casings.

[James Croxton]

You want statement from the victim, get the story and even develop a timeline around the situation.

[Judy Naylor]

The victim says he goes on vacation after flying back into Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He makes his drive back home to Lumberton. He lives above his bus company that he owns. Upon arriving home and exiting his vehicle, he hears gunshots. He immediately falls back into the vehicle.

[James Croxton]

They're just rolling by and they're firing shots. They see a target and they're firing shots at target. There's an attempted murder here.

[Investigator]

The shooter sped off and that's when the owner of the bus company says he managed to dial 911.

[Donald McPhail]

He said it sounded like a shotgun that caused his injuries, but he was not able to see everything and everyone that was involved in that.

[Investigator]

The victim did not see the shooter and claims he has no idea who might want him dead.

[Kenneth Naylor]

Back in 2004, that area was known for a lot of robberies, drugs breaking into residents, homicides.

[Donald McPhail]

It's very common in the drug trade to have drive by shootings into the car of someone who's, who's dealing drugs.

[Investigator]

A quick background check tells investigators that the bus company owner's record is clean.

[Donald McPhail]

There was no evidence he was involved in drugs. He did not appear to be involved in any type of criminal activity.

[Investigator]

However, investigators don't believe this was just a random act of violence.

[Donald McPhail]

He was shot while getting out of his car. What made sense was it was somebody who knew his everyday activities, knew where he lived, when he would be pulling into his driveway, that sort of thing.

[Investigator]

Once the victim is transported to the hospital, the deputies check the bus company building itself to look for possible signs of a robbery. However, the door is locked and there are no signs of forced entry.

[Judy Naylor]

When there's no robbery attempt, there's no break in attempt. That really again, focus you back at the victim. Who in this victim's inner circle would gain if this victim should suddenly die?

[Investigator]

The next morning, the recovering owner of the bus company calls investigators in a panic. He is concerned about his employee, 38 year old Judy Naylor. He hasn't been able to reach her for several days.

[Judy Naylor]

He went on Vacation and left her with the business he entrusted her.

[Donald McPhail]

This is someone he looks to to run his business. And yet after he is shot, nobody can get in touch with her.

[Investigator]

Her boss is worried that whoever shot at him may have come for Judy Naylo.

[Donald McPhail]

Judy was born and raised in the Cumberland County, Robeson county area. Judy was the older of two siblings, her younger brother Kenneth. They had a close relationship.

[Investigator]

Judy's mother and father separated while she was in her teens.

[Katherine Croxton]

I know Willie, my grandfather, Papa Willie. He had a drinking problem and he could tell it was kind of a conflicting environment for her growing up. Definitely after the divorce, I think she.

[Donald McPhail]

Had somewhat of a troubled background. I know that her mother at times had some mental health issues.

[Investigator]

Eventually, Judy's mother Catherine remarried a man named James Croxton. And Judy decided to leave home in search of independence.

[Katherine Croxton]

She didn't graduate high school. She dropped out at 17. She had me at 19. You know, my dad was 24, he was in the Air Force. They met at a party in Fayetteville and obviously, you know, hit it off and, you know, that's when I came about.

[Investigator]

But Judy and Andrew San Miguel's marriage didn't last long.

[Katherine Croxton]

They separated when I was 2. I lived with my dad at a younger age and my mom only had me during the summer. My dad lived rough. It wasn't a very good environment. You know, he finally told me to go stay with my mom and so I did and I was happy. My mom was very supportive, playing sports in school. She was always there cheering me on.

[Investigator]

Judy worked hard to provide for her family, building what would ultimately become a decades long career in the automotive industry.

[Katherine Croxton]

She wanted to do better for me than what she had. She handled, you know, financing and accounts and I would say, you know, not graduating high school, you know, my mom really accomplished a lot.

[Investigator]

Although Judy left home at an early age, over the years, her mother Catherine and her stepfather became very involved in raising Michael.

[Katherine Croxton]

During the summer I would go to work with my grandfather, James Croxton. He was a big part of my life. He was a plumber and he would take me to work with him. You know, he showed me a lot. Anytime mom was leaving a relationship or in between relationships, however you want to call it, you know, we stayed there, so we were real Close.

[Investigator]

In 2002, Michael graduated high school and moved away to start his own family. It was around that time that Judy began dating 47 year old Donald Lee McPhail.

[Katherine Croxton]

Donald grew up in a lumber bridge area.

[James Croxton]

She felt that Donald was her soulmate and her true love.

[Investigator]

After six months, Judy and Donald married. And in 2003, Judy was hired as an office manager at a bus company business in Lumberton, North Carolina.

[Donald McPhail]

He was impressed by her, impressed by the work that she did. Eventually, she became the bookkeeper.

[Katherine Croxton]

When she started working there, you know, I felt I was happy for her.

[Investigator]

But after four months in her new role, that world is turned upside down on January 12, 2004, when a drive by shooting nearly kills Judy's boss. And Judy herself is nowhere to be found.

[Donald McPhail]

After this happens to him, he nor anyone else can get in touch with Judy.

[Judy Naylor]

They put out a BOLO for Judy Naylor, which is a be on the lookout. You got to worry whoever pulled the trigger, they could cause more damage. Now.

[Investigator]

Coming up, detectives learn Judy Naylor isn't the only thing that's vanished.

[Judy Naylor]

He finds his shotgun missing. Somebody had access to the house, somebody he trusted.

[Investigator]

Authorities in rural Robeson County, North Carolina, are investigating the attempted murder of a successful bus company owner when they discover his bookkeeper, Judy Naylor, is missing.

[Donald McPhail]

Nobody can get in touch with Judy for a couple of days. She's seemingly fallen off the face of the earth.

[Investigator]

The next day, police receive another frantic phone call from the victim to report something else is missing.

[Judy Naylor]

He finds his shotgun missing, and the weapon used to shoot at him is a shotgun.

[Investigator]

And that's not all.

[Judy Naylor]

He finds out that business checks have been stolen, and he finds no forced entry into his office, at his apartment upstairs.

[Investigator]

For investigators, that can only mean one thing.

[Judy Naylor]

Somebody had access to the house, somebody he trusted.

[James Croxton]

The only people that had access to where the shotgun was at was going to people that worked there in business. Judy is keeping the books for him, so she obviously has access. She works there, so she has access to the shotgun, other property that's there inside the business.

[Donald McPhail]

He then begins looking at his bank account. He finds that there's been 21 checks, company checks, written out to Judy and her husband, Donald, while he was out of the country.

[Investigator]

Judy's boss turns over company bank statements to investigators for them to.

[Judy Naylor]

They've been written to Judy and her husband on his account tolling $19,000.

[Donald McPhail]

That certainly was an important fact, but there was a lot more investigating to do because she was the bookkeeper. There could have been a valid reason for this, and we didn't know whether or not that was related to the shooting or not.

[Investigator]

Investigators try to track down a home address for Judy and Donald McPhail, but there's a problem.

[Judy Naylor]

They're living with either her mother, her father. They're bouncing around from houses, so there's no steady. Electricity is in my name here. I get mail here type thing.

[Investigator]

While investigators dig deeper into Judy's background, they quickly discover this unassuming bookkeeper has had her fair share of trouble.

[Donald McPhail]

When looking at her criminal record, she had some property crime and drug crime that dated back 10 or so years. Before this incident happened, My mom had.

[Katherine Croxton]

A crack addiction, and it was something I grew up with, you know, so I was exposed to it.

[Expert]

I did look at the records. She had a cocaine problem. And drug problems are frequently a motivation for theft.

[Investigator]

Judy's family members tell detectives that her history of bad behavior created a rift.

[Judy Naylor]

Long ago, she had a history of breaking into her own mother and father's house, stealing their jewelry, pawning their jewelry.

[James Croxton]

The relationship with her family appeared to be strained because of how Judy treated Catherine, her mother. Judy had always had a rocky relationship with her mother. From all accounts, there have been reports of physical assaults on her mother. And because of her drug habits and because of her stealing from the family.

[Katherine Croxton]

I was a teenager when I realized, you know, what she was doing. It had been an addiction that she'd kind of hid most of my life or tried to hide. She was battling demons, and, you know, of course, we didn't talk about it. You know, I didn't bring it up.

[Investigator]

As sheriff's investigators study Judy's file, one recent incident stands out.

[Expert]

She allegedly stole $7,000 in jewelry from her stepfather. Theft was reported to have taken place on December 30, 2003.

[Judy Naylor]

She was arrested, but charges eventually were dropped because her mother, Katherine, and her stepfather, James, didn't want to pursue charges.

[Expert]

The theft of the checks, the writing of the forged checks took place, like, in the first week or so of January 2004, shortly before the bus company owner came back from vacation.

[Judy Naylor]

When you have that drug issue fueling you, there's no telling what a person is subject to to do. Judy Nailo had access to the accounts Lee's Lumberton PD to realize she's been forging the checks and cashing them.

[Investigator]

When Judy's boss learns of her previous run ins with the law, he is stunned.

[James Croxton]

I'm sure he felt extremely betrayed because he hired her under good faith, thinking that she was going to do the right thing for him. And I'm sure it kind of caught him really off guard.

[Donald McPhail]

Judy is his bookkeeper, someone who is close to him. And it starts to be a lot of circumstantial evidence that Judy and her husband Donald, were involved in his Shooting. I mean, she's disappeared after the crime. We, as investigators needed to talk with her.

[Investigator]

Two weeks after the drive by shooting, the statewide search for Judy Naylor leads to an Area Motel.

[Judy Naylor]

January 26, 2004. A Motel 6 employee called the Robinson County Sheriff's Office in reference to a disturbance in one of the rooms. Upon arrival, deputies identified the two people involved in the disturbance as Judy Naylor and Donald McPhail. They signed into a hotel with their names. I mean, that wasn't the smartest move to make if you're on the run.

[Investigator]

When deputies enter the room, they find Judy is extremely sick.

[Donald McPhail]

She's tried to harm herself, kill herself, you know, by drinking antifreeze.

[Judy Naylor]

There's no reason for antifreeze to be in a motel room. So it's either one or both of them were thinking about committing suicide.

[Investigator]

Coming up, paramedics race to save Judy's life, while authorities demand answers from Donald McPhail.

[Expert]

The motive clearly was money. They got desperate, and then, I guess they felt they couldn't stop.

[Investigator]

And Judy's son receives some troubling news.

[Katherine Croxton]

I was out of town at the time, and my grandmother called me crying.

[Michael Naylor]

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[Investigator]

Quince.com snapd January 26, 2004 Investigators with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office locate Judy Naylor and her husband, Donald McPhail, at a rundown motel in Robeson County. Donald is taken in for questioning while Judy is rushed to the hospital after consuming antifreeze.

[Katherine Croxton]

I was out of town working in Atlanta at the time and my grandmother called me crying. My mother was in the hospital. I don't know if they were on a drug binge and you know, they were ready to end it. I don't know what their thoughts were.

[Donald McPhail]

We interviewed Donald. He goes ahead and gives a statement to law enforcement. In that statement, he's very forthcoming.

[Judy Naylor]

Donald admits to his involvement in the attempted murder. Judy's boss. He admits to stealing the gun. He admits to writing the fraudulent checks and admits that he's the one that pulled the trigger that almost killed the victim.

[Investigator]

On the morning of January 12, 2004, Donald says Judy contacted the airline to make sure her boss's flight was arriving on time.

[Expert]

They stole a shotgun from her boss's apartment at his business. They went down to Myrtle beach and watched him load his car to drive back to Lumberton, and they followed him back to Lumberton.

[Investigator]

As soon as he parked his car, Judy drove past him. While Donald fired a volley of shots.

[Expert]

The husband fired the shotgun from the backseat of their car. It hit him one and a half miles down the road. Donald got out and hid the gun near a guardrail.

[James Croxton]

It's attempted murder, so it's not like he's going to be going to prison for life. So his Best course of action is to be as cooperative as possible with them.

[Investigator]

Sheriff's Investigators recover the stolen 12 gauge shotgun in the weeds.

[Donald McPhail]

Besides, it appeared to be a accurate representation of what he and Judy did. Because he implicated himself, he didn't try to put all the blame on her. He said this was a shared idea. When someone is that forthcoming, it can be a mitigating factor that can be used in sentencing and so forth.

[Investigator]

Four days after Donald's arrest, Judy Naylor's condition has improved enough that she's allowed to leave the hospital. Deputies immediately bring her to the Robeson County Sheriff's Office for an interview.

[Expert]

Judy confessed pretty quickly to the attempted murder of her boss at the bus company. She said that she started writing checks for herself and for her husband, Donald McPhail, while her boss was on vacation. But the boss was coming home and they realized he's going to miss that money. The motive clearly was money she was stealing in order to pay for the drugs.

[James Croxton]

In order to keep going to jail over the embezzlement, her and Donald decided to kill him.

[Expert]

I'm not sure how much they thought through what they were doing. It didn't really feel very well planned. If he had died, the investigators probably would have noticed the checks written to Judy Naylor and to Donald McPhail and figured that there's motive for a crime right there and come looking for them.

[Donald McPhail]

They charge both Judy and her husband, Donald McPhail, with attempted first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, larceny of a firearm, then the fraud.

[Investigator]

Despite her initial confession, Judy pleads not guilty to the charges. The court grants bail, but with no one to pay it, Judy must remain in jail until her trial. And then, on February 7, 2004, only a week after Judy's incarceration, tragedy strikes again when her mother, Katherine Croxton, dies unexpectedly.

[Katherine Croxton]

Grandma Kathy had an aneurysm in her head. After my grandmother passed, I would check on my grandfather. He had onset Alzheimer's and he was having trouble paying bills and so I would come over there to help him.

[Donald McPhail]

Soon after that, Judy's stepfather, her now deceased mother's husband, James Croxton, began visiting her in jail. In the months after Katherine's death, James Croxton eventually received her life insurance proceeds, which was approximately $43,000. Judy became aware of this and she began trying to encourage James to bail her out of jail while she was awaiting trial. And In May of 2004, he did put up approximately $4,500 to get her out of jail.

[Kenneth Naylor]

Judy ended up moving in with James and his residence out in Hope Mills.

[Investigator]

While Judy's husband, Donald McPhail, remains behind bars at the Robeson County Jail, Judy enjoys life as a relatively free woman in her stepfather's home. Only Judy's life isn't destined to stay peaceful for long.

[Expert]

On November 14, 2004, Judy Naylor called 911 to report that when she tried to get James Croxton up for breakfast, that he was unresponsive in bed and she couldn't wake him up.

[Donald McPhail]

She sounded distraught on that 911 call. She was sobbing. She was upset. She explained that she just found him this way, that he didn't appear to be breathing.

[Investigator]

Paramedics race to the scene, but it's too late.

[Donald McPhail]

It appeared that he had died while he was sleeping.

[Investigator]

Judy says that her 62 year old son, stepfather had been in poor health.

[Donald McPhail]

She said that he had had several cardiac events. There were no injuries, there was no obvious trauma to the body.

[Investigator]

Less than an hour later, as medical personnel are preparing to transport the body from the home, one phone call stops everything.

[Judy Naylor]

Call is placed to the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office to the watch commander from Judy's stepmother, Donna Naylor.

[Investigator]

Donna Naylor is married to Judy's father, Willie. She claims to have information about James Croxton's death.

[Donald McPhail]

The EMS were still there on the scene. Apparently what had happened is Judy had called a neighbor before she even called 911, and that neighbor had called Donna, which then caused Donna to call the sheriff's office. Donna said, you need to look at Judy. She's responsible for this.

[Kenneth Naylor]

She said if James Croxton was deceased, that Judy Naylor did it.

[Donald McPhail]

But it was very unusual that they get this type of call from a relative.

[Investigator]

Donna quickly fills detectives in on Judy's relationship with her stepfather, James.

[Donald McPhail]

Donna told him that Judy put herself in a position to take advantage of Mr. Croxton. She had moved in with James Croxton, that she had lived rent free, that she had had an intimate relationship with him, bragged that that intimate relationship was in her mother's bed. This was very troubling and surprising to hear. Not only is she making this type of arrangement where she's agreeing to have a sexual relationship with someone in order to be bailed out and live with them, but this is her stepfather.

[Investigator]

When deputies in Cumberland county run a background check on Judy Naylor, they discover she is currently awaiting trial for the attempted murder of her former boss.

[Kenneth Naylor]

We found out that Judy was on a bond from the Robinson County Detention Center. It brings up a lot of red flags.

[Investigator]

Authorities immediately locked down the home as a possible crime scene and work to preserve any evidence.

[Donald McPhail]

They wanted the body preserved in the same position and wanted somebody to keep their eyes on Judy the entire time. Investigators with the sheriff's office confronted Judy with Donna's allegations. Her demeanor did not change. She simply denied that allegation and was cooperative.

[Investigator]

Right away. Judy gives investigators permission to search the home. They study James Croxton's body before moving to other areas of the residence.

[Judy Naylor]

They don't find trauma or anything like that, but what they do find is printed material from a computer that shows that somebody was researching autopsies, death investigations, poisoning. There was sample copies of wills around.

[Donald McPhail]

They also found documents that had Jane Croxton signatures traced over several times, as if someone was practicing signatures or something like that. So this was all very suspicious.

[Investigator]

Coming up. To catch a killer, family's secrets must be revealed.

[Expert]

What point does blood loyalty stop and doing the right thing start?

[Donald McPhail]

He said that she referred to her plan to kill Mr. Croxton as the remodeling job.

[James Croxton]

She is confined, fighting in the people that she trusts most, you know, the people that she thinks aren't going to ever give me up.

[Investigator]

Less than a year after making bail for the attempted murder of her former boss in Robeson County, North Carolina, Judy Naylor finds herself at the epicenter of an even more hidden, heinous crime when her stepfather and alleged lover, 62 year old James Croxton, is found dead in a neighboring county.

[Expert]

If she did indeed seduce her stepfather and then plotted to kill him, I mean, that is a level of sociopathy that is not too common.

[Donald McPhail]

An autopsy was performed on November 15. There did not appear to be a heart attack, a stroke, a simple explanation like that for Mr. Croxton's death. @ this point, his death was undetermined. There was more testing that needed to be done.

[Investigator]

In the meantime, Judy's stepmother, Donna Naylor, hands over some damning information to detectives.

[Donald McPhail]

About a week after Mr. Croxton is found deceased in his home, we get a break in the case of Judy's brother. Kenneth was in the Department of Corrections. He had wrote letters to Donna, and in these letters he talks about how Judy was planning to kill Mr. Croxton. Judy referred to her plan to kill Mr. Croxton as the remodeling job.

[Judy Naylor]

She had made it known to Kenneth that the remodeling job was how she described the killing of James. Two days before James is killed, she writes a letter to Kenneth and tells Kenneth, I can't take it anymore. The remodeling job is going to happen this week. He gets the letter after James is dead. And Kenneth and Donna never believed that Judy was capable of doing it.

[Investigator]

After reading the incriminating letters, investigators sit down with Kenneth Naylor.

[Expert]

Kenneth Naylor was serving a kind of a long prison sentence for robbery and being a habitual felon.

[Judy Naylor]

According to Kenneth, Judy communicated a lot with her brother in prison.

[Kenneth Naylor]

Judy told him that the reason that she wanted to get rid of James Croxton was because she wanted to go ahead and get her mother's insurance money.

[Judy Naylor]

She had made it known to Kenneth that she has chemicals that she's going to use. She tells Kenny, in a few months, he's going to be dead.

[Investigator]

One of the chemicals is a powerful paralytic.

[Judy Naylor]

I did some research. You know, it was painless, odorless, put you to sleep.

[Investigator]

19 days after the death of his grandfather, Judy's son Michael also reaches out to detectives.

[Katherine Croxton]

It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. At the time, I felt like I didn't really have a choice in the matter. My mom kind of put me in a situation where, you know, I ultimately had to say something.

[Investigator]

Michael tells detectives, only a week before James death, Judy had made an unsettling comment.

[Katherine Croxton]

She said, you know, your grandfather's not going to be here much longer. And I said, what do you mean? And she went back in the back room, and she reached up in the closet and pulled out a box. And inside the box was a brown bottle. And she showed it to me, and I said, chloroform. She's like, do you know what this is? I'm like, yeah. I was like, that's the stuff you see in movies and TV shows. They put on a rag and, you know, they knock people out. I was like, what are you doing with that? And she's like, oh, don't worry about it. And she put it back. I left the house scared. Didn't know what to do. You know what I mean? Should I take it seriously? So I left. A week or two later, I got the phone call. Your grandfather's dead. And immediately I was like, holy. She killed him.

[James Croxton]

Kenneth. And Michael, too, is, you know, when she told him about some of the plans and the chloroform, both of these folks saying, nah, she's not serious about this thing. She's not gonna do that. She is confiding in the people that she trusts the most, you know, the people that she thinks aren't gonna ever Give me up.

[Expert]

What point does blood loyalty stop? And doing the right.

[Investigator]

Armed with this new information, the medical examiner runs more tests.

[Donald McPhail]

Approximately a month later, they came back and told us that not only was chloroform present, that it was present in a fatal amount. They also found two small puncture wounds in one of his arms. And at that point, the death was ruled as a homicide.

[Investigator]

From there, detectives follow the money.

[Kenneth Naylor]

We knew that the motive was going to be financial gain. So that's why we started looking at her financial records. James Croxton financial records.

[Donald McPhail]

What they discovered is that in October 5th of 2004, James Croxton's credit card had been used to purchase chloroform and succinylcholine. The succinylcholine is a paralytic. We knew that Those products were delivered by UPS to the home of Judy and James Croxton just a couple of weeks before his death on November 14th.

[Investigator]

Investigators also revisit the legal documents found in James home.

[Expert]

They found out August of 2004, he changed a will to basically give all of his assets, all of his money and his insurance to Judy and make her the executor of the will.

[Judy Naylor]

I directed one of my homicide guys to find the notary that notarized this, and that happens to be another relative of Judy Nail that lives in South Carolina. We found evidence of an email from the notary to Judy with sample signatures. And then Judy wrote those signatures on the will as witnesses, had detectives go to South Carolina to interview the witnesses, and the witnesses admit, I did not sign that.

[Investigator]

Faced with the evidence, the notary comes clean. She claims she was just trying to do Judy and James a favor.

[Kenneth Naylor]

She told us the truth, that she did notarize that document and that there was no witnesses, but she said she didn't know what was happening.

[Investigator]

As for James signature, investigators suspect Judy forged it while out on bail in August of 2004.

[James Croxton]

For at least three months, three plus months, this is in the works.

[Expert]

She goes online and she buys the poison, and then in November, she uses.

[Judy Naylor]

The poison, it put him out. So Judy can then put the chloroform on a rag and just stand over his face with it and he wouldn't be able to move. Paralyzed.

[Investigator]

For the second time in less than a year, Judy Naylor is arrested for her role in an alleged murder plot.

[Expert]

She outlined her plans ahead of time. You set out to kill somebody and then you do it, and she did that. This, by definition, is first degree murder.

[Investigator]

Coming up, Judy tells her Side of the story, when you've got two people.

[Judy Naylor (in her own words)]

Who are on drug, your minds don't work well together.

[Donald McPhail]

She was coerced, that she was threatened. This was not her idea.

[Judy Naylor]

Because of the evilness of the case, it qualified for the death penalty.

[Investigator]

In a shocking turn of events, while awaiting trial for the attempted murder of her boss in North Carolina, Judy Naylor is charged with the murder of her stepfather and alleged lover, 62 year old James Croxton.

[Katherine Croxton]

I didn't really know how to take all that and, you know, accept it because James Croxton, you know, I looked up to him.

[Judy Naylor]

Judy was arrested and she lawyered up and would not talk to us.

[Investigator]

While Judy awaits trial for the murder of James Croxton, her husband, Donald McPhail has his day in court for the embezzlement and attempted murder of Judy's boss. A year earlier.

[Donald McPhail]

Donald McPhail actually pled guilty to attempted first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, larceny of a firearm, fraud. And Donald McPhail received 10 to 13 years in prison.

[Investigator]

In April 2005, Judy heads to court for her role in the same crime.

[Donald McPhail]

The theory that she proceeded with at trial was to try to blame it all on Donald, that she was coerced, that she was threatened. This was not her idea.

[Investigator]

On April 27, 2005, Judy is convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and forgery. She is acquitted of the attempted murder of her boss.

[Donald McPhail]

Judy received a 16 to 20 year sentence for her role in the crimes. I guess because she didn't pull the trigger.

[Investigator]

To this day, Judy claims she and Donald were not in their right minds.

[Judy Naylor (in her own words)]

As far as my former boss is concerned, that was all about drugs. At that point in time I had been on drugs from probably real strong, probably from whenever I met Donald Lee. And when you've got two people who are on drugs, your minds don't work well together. There was periods of time when I went as many as four to five days at a time with no sleep whatsoever. So to tell you that I was in the right state of mind or that I was thinking clearly at all with no sleep and with drugs in my system, I can't.

[Investigator]

On April 2, 2007, Judy is back in court, this time for the murder of James Croxton.

[Expert]

To avoid possibly getting the death penalty, she chose to plead guilty to first degree murder, which has a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

[Donald McPhail]

She received a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. This sentence not even to begin until after the 16 or 20 year sentence that she had received for the shooting.

[Investigator]

While Judy admits to his murder, she still denies that she had a sexual relationship with her stepfather.

[Judy Naylor (in her own words)]

I never, never, ever, never had sex with Mr. Croxton. It wasn't until my mother died that he actually revealed his true feelings to me. And that was that he had been in love with me since the first time that he danced with me when I was 17, whenever we would talk from county jail and he was revealing all this to me. I found the perfect opportunity, of course, to play on those feelings and reciprocate on his feelings to get bonded out of jail. So I led. I led Mr. Croxton to believe that I could be his girlfriend. I never slept with the man, and that was just something I could not do.

[Investigator]

Those close to the case believe Judy's need for money to fuel her addiction led her to do the unthinkable twice.

[Donald McPhail]

She had manipulated this whole situation and her punishment was just and deserving. And Judy is where she needs to be.

[Judy Naylor (in her own words)]

I have a lot of regret and a lot of remorse for both of my crimes. Do I think that the time that I got was just? Of course it was. I took another man's life.

[Katherine Croxton]

I didn't think my mother was capable of that, of doing something like that. Sorry things happened the way they did. Wish things would have been different.

[Michael Naylor]

Judy Naylor is currently serving her life sentence at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for women in Raleigh, North Carolina. Donald McPhail served 13 years and five months in a North Carolina state prison. He was released in July of 2014.

[Narrator]

Imagine this. You help your little brother land a great job abroad, but when he arrives, the job doesn't exist. Instead, he's trapped in a heavily guarded compound, forced to sit at a computer and scam innocent victims. All while armed guards stand by with shoot to kill orders. Scam Factory, the explosive new true crime podcast from Wondery, exposes a multi billion dollar criminal empire operating in plain sight. Told through one family's harrowing account of sleepless nights, desperate phone calls and dangerous rescue attempts, Scam Factory reveals a brutal truth. The only way out is to scam their way out. Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app or wherever you get your popcorn podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Scam Factory early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus.