Sunday, June 4, 2023

73-year-old Holden Beach man sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering wife

Phillip Brock, 71, has been charged with first-degree murder of his wife. (Port City Daily photo/Courtesy Brunswick County Sheriff's Office)
Phillip Brock, 73, has been charged with first-degree murder of his wife. (Port City Daily photo/Courtesy Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office)

HOLDEN BEACH — Phillip Brock was sentenced to serve at least 20 years in prison for the March 2019 murder of his wife, Judy Patricia Brock.

Phillip Brock, 73, pled guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday in Brunswick County Superior Court.

Related: Modern technology meets old school: How law enforcement investigated the suspected Holden Beach murderer

Brock initially called in his wife as a missing person. Investigators searched the couples’ Holden Beach home and collected evidence that eventually led detectives to suspect Brock.

Brock disabled the GPS device on his phone and unsucessfully disabled the GPS device on his Ford F-150, investigators found.

Forensics from the truck’s location data revealed Brock had recently been in Sampson County — an area he told investigators he hadn’t visited in months. Judy Brock’s body was recovered from the woods in Sampson County.


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