Boyer gets life without parole for Farwell murders

By Pat Maurer
Correspondent

Judy Marie Boyer, 55 of Farwell, will spend the rest of her life behind bars after she was sentenced Monday by Circuit Court Judge Roy Mienk. She was sentenced for both first-degree and second-degree murders committed in October, 2021 when she shot her grandfather Henry Boyer and her mother Patricia Boyer, hid their bodies in a shed, and then shot Zachary Alan Salminen and Wade Harlon Bacon, friends of her nephew, Ryan Beatty, who were at the Harrison Avenue home of Henry Boyer with Beatty to fix the roof.
Judge Mienk sentenced Boyer while family and friends in the courtroom watched the proceedings. She was ordered to spend life in prison without parole on the first-degree murder conviction and 60 to 100 years for the second-degree murder conviction. The sentences will run concurrent with one another. She was also ordered to pay $1,266.00 in associated fines and costs.
Prosecutor Ambrozaitis stated that “no words can adequately describe the devastation, trauma, and heartbreak that Ms. Boyer has caused the family and friends of Henry, Patricia, Zach, and Wade. However, it is a small measure of comfort to know that she will spend the remainder of her life in prison.”
Boyer had pled guilty September 21 to murder in the first degree (premeditated) of her father Henry Boyer and her sister Patricia Boyer, and to second-degree murder for the deaths of
Beatty and Judy’s son, Henry Green were also at the home at the time of the murders of the two men.
 At her arraignment, Judy Boyer was originally facing eight counts, the four for murder and four counts that were dismissed including the use of a firearm in a felony shooting, a two- year charge. Ambrozaitis had also put Boyer on notice that she was going to seek enhanced sentencing as a habitual 4th offender. The bond set at her arraignment last year was $1 million.
Court proceedings were slowed by two psychiatric evaluations, one by state doctors and a second requested by her attorney.
As was reported last year, police enforcement including Clare County Deputies, Clare City Police and Michigan State Police Troopers all responded to the report of a shooting at the home on South Harrison Avenue south of Surrey Road around 4 p.m. October 20, 2021.
When deputies arrived, they found two men in the home had been shot, an initial release from the Sheriff’s Office said. A later release from Sheriff Wilson said both men had been shot in the head by a small caliber firearm, later identified as a .22 caliber rifle.
Salminen was pronounced dead at the scene, an October 22 joint release from Clare County Sheriff John Wilson and Clare County Prosecutor Michelle Ambrozaitis said. The other victim, Bacon, was transported to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
In an investigation at the scene, the bodies of Boyer’s father and sister were found in an outbuilding. And subsequently identified as Judy Boyer’s father, Henry Lee Boyer, 85 and her sister Patricia Ann Boyer, 61.
Witnesses placed Judy Boyer and her nephew Ryan Beatty on the scene. Beatty, who was reportedly unaware Henry and Patricia Boyer had been shot earlier in the day, said he was in another part of the home when Salminen and Bacon were shot. He was initially charged for aiding Boyer and helping her dispose of the weapon she used in the murders but the charges against him were dropped (see related article).
Boyer fled the scene and was found and arrested the next day in Wexford County.
Prosecutor Ambrozaitis would also like to commend the Clare County Sheriff’s Department, Michigan State Police, Wexford County Sheriff’s Department, Cadillac Police Department, and TNT drug enforcement team for all of their investigative efforts and ultimate capture and arrest of Boyer.