JAMES “Jamie” Harold Baldwin staged his wife’s death, leaving law enforcement officers to believe she died in a car accident when his Jeep drove off a rural road and landed in an embankment on December 14, 2016.

Judy Orr Baldwin’s murder, and the attempted cover-up by her husband, a former police officer and dispatcher, is the subject of a classic Dateline true-crime exposé, The Black Box, airing on NBC and streaming on Peacock on Saturday, July 6, 2024, at 10 pm ET.

Where is James Harold Baldwin Jr. now?

James “Jamie” Baldwin Jr. is currently serving a life sentence with no eligibility for parole.

He is incarcerated within the South Carolina Department of Corrections, though his exact prison location is unknown.

He began serving his sentence on August 14, 2018.

According to his prison record, he has faced no disciplinary actions while incarcerated, and he has made no attempts to escape.

On March 10, 2020, he began working as a Wardkeeper Assistant, helping out in the day-to-day operations of a housing unit.

Per his prison records, he has stopped working periodically only due to a hospital stay, lateral transfer, and two custody reviews.

He resumed his prison job on September 17, 2023, and has continued working without any additional terminations since.

As of July 6, 2024, Baldwin Jr., now 64, has not pursued any additional education credits, certificates, or other programs offered by the prison.

When was Baldwin Jr. sentenced for Judy Orr’s murder?

Jamie Baldwin Jr.’s trial began in October 2019, just over a year after he was arrested in connection with Judy Orr’s murder.

The trial lasted just over a week, and on Tuesday, November 5, 2019, a jury found Baldwin Jr. guilty of murder.

Prosecutors said Baldwin Jr. beat Judy Orr on the night of December 14, 2016, giving her a skull fracture.

He then placed her in his Jeep, which he crashed into a creek on his way to a nearby hospital.

When questioned about whether something “happened in that house,” Baldwin said, “I’d never lay a hand on my wife,” as reported by WBTV News.

Baldwin, who maintained his innocence even after the guilty verdict, was sentenced to life in prison.

In December 2022, a South Carolina appeals court panel upheld the murder conviction.

Baldwin Jr. had appealed his case, claiming a picture of him with a convicted former sheriff, Alex Underwood, posted on Facebook had “tainted the trial,” per The Herald Online.

“The trial court erred in admitting a Facebook photo of Baldwin and the Sheriff of Chester County that was not relevant to a pertinent issue, but the error was harmless because it did not affect the verdict,” the appeals court stated in the document.

Baldwin Jr.’s arrest and conviction were previously the subject of an NBC Dateline true crime episode in 2020.

Dateline is once again airing the episode, with additional footage and information from Baldwin’s rejected appeal, on Saturday, July 6, 2024.

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How was Baldwin Jr. caught?

Jamie Baldwin Jr. initially told law enforcement officers that his wife, Judy, was hanging Christmas decorations at home the night of December 14, 2016.

He claimed to have found her bleeding in the garage and told police he assumed she had fallen off a ladder.

Baldwin Jr. told officers he tried to clean up and stop the bleeding himself, before taking Judy to the hospital.

On the way to the Piedmont Medical Center, Baldwin Jr. recalled swerving to avoid a crash with an oncoming truck, which resulted in his Jeep going down a nearby embankment.

Baldwin told a Carolina Highway Patrol trooper he briefly lost consciousness, and when he awoke, he found his wife thrown out of the vehicle, dead.

The trooper later told investigators he believed some parts of Baldwin Jr.’s story didn’t add up.

Judy Orr’s family and friends also had their suspicions, which grew after Baldwin Jr. moved into a home with a woman named Teri King less than two months after the crash.

Baldwin Jr. was finally caught after the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) took over the investigation.

SLED found that it would be improbable for Judy to be conscious and talking to Baldwin Jr. during the drive, as he had alleged, due to her head injury.

They also found that Baldwin Jr. had taken out an accidental death policy in Judy’s name a few months before the crash, leaving him as the sole beneficiary of $25,000.

SLED’s investigation also revealed several incriminating text messages between Baldwin Jr. and King, suggesting the two were more than just friends, and potentially having a romantic affair.

SLED also found inconsistencies at the crash site, locating clear tire marks that indicated Baldwin Jr. had complete control of the vehicle before the alleged crash.

In August 2018, investigators arrested Baldwin Jr. in connection with Judy Orr’s murder case.

They accused him of murdering Judy, and then staging the car crash to make her death appear to be an accident.

Baldwin Jr. was previously a police officer for the York and Columbia Police Departments.

He was also a dispatcher for the Chester County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators – and later at his trial, prosecutors – alleged that he used this experience to help stage the crime.