Justin Sales sentenced to Life plus 38 years
- Amber Drumheller
- Oct 26, 2025
- 8 min read
On June 25, 2019, Doris Puleio was murdered and Trudy Goetz was shot, both while inside their home in Amherst County. The Amherst County Sheriff’s Office, led by Inv. Robbie Oliver, began its investigation initially by collecting evidence at the scene. Assistance from the Virginia State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was provided upon request. With information gathered, search warrants were obtained for two homes in Amherst County. These search warrants were executed by sworn officers of the ACSO, VSP, and ATF on July 2, 2019. A firearm suspected to be used in the shootings was seized along with other items. The ATF quickly confirmed that the seized firearm had fired the shots that killed Doris Puleio and wounded Trudy Goetz. On July 10, 2019, Justin Jay Sales was arrested for multiple charges including murder in the first-degree and malicious wounding. He was held with no bond.
On October 15, 2019, a preliminary hearing was held in the Amherst County General District Court and the charges were certified to next term of the Amherst County Circuit Court. On December 10, 2019, a grand jury returned true bills for 1 count of murder in the first-degree, 1 count of aggravated malicious wounding, and 2 counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The cases were scheduled for a multi-day jury trial to begin on March 2, 2020.
On January 14, 2020, the defendant filed a motion to continue the trial citing inadequate time to prepare. On January 16, 2020, the Court granted the defendant’s motion and continued the multi-day jury trial to begin on August 4, 2020.
On July 14, 2020, the defendant filed a motion to continue the trial citing the recent receipt of a report from the ATF dated June 25, 2020, and the inability of the ACSO to provide information due to being a “victim of internet ransom wear.” A hearing was held this same day and the Court granted the defendant’s motion and continued the multi-day jury trial to begin on March 29, 2021.
On February 17, 2021, the Amherst County Circuit Court entered an order, due to the COVID pandemic, suspending all jury trials from March 1, 2021, to April 15, 2021. The court rescheduled the multi-day jury trial to begin on August 30, 2021.
On August 20, 2021, the Commonwealth filed a motion to continue the case citing the Supreme Court of Virginia’s “26th Order Extending Declaration of Judicial Emergency in Response to COVID-19 Emergency,” and a recent outbreak at the ACSO and within the Commonwealth’s office. The court held a motion on the issue on August 24, 2021, and granted the motion to
continue citing numerous reasons including the quarantine of material witnesses, specifically lead investigator Oliver, and the Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney, the risk on spread of the virus to the public, and the possible quarantine of additional witnesses and/or those law enforcement officers necessary to facilitate a jury trial. The court rescheduled the multi-day jury trial to begin on January 31, 2022.
On November 24, 2021, a meeting was held in our office, with officers from the ACSO and ATF, in an effort to resolve a chain of custody issue with the firearm seized on July 2, 2019, and to discuss the possibility of presenting the case to a jury without the involvement of the lead investigator (Oliver) as he had been out of work since August 2021 suffering from COVID with no return date given. After this meeting, and after consultation with the Commonwealth Attorney Services Council, the decision was made to request that the court enter a nolle prosequi on the charges. A motion detailing the reasons for the request was filed on December 8, 2021. A hearing was held that same day and the court dismissed, without prejudice, the four charges then pending before the Court.
A meeting was held in our office on December 8, 2021, with the victim of this crime, Mrs. Goetz, and her husband. The meeting took place prior to the hearing in which the charges were dismissed by the Court. On December 13, 2021, with coordination by the Victim/Witness Advocate, a meeting was held in the Amherst County General District Courtroom so that all family members and other interested parties to the case could discuss the dismissal. Members of our office were present, along with the victim/witness advocate, investigators from the ACSO, and Sheriff Viar. Additionally, the victim/witness advocate assisted the victim in obtaining a protective order and extending it on multiple occasions.
After the dismissal on December 8, 2021, the case was referred back to the investigations division at the ACSO. It was first assigned to Inv. Jones, then to Inv. Cindrick, and finally to Inv. Persons on January 11, 2023. Within days, Inv. Persons was able to determine that GPS data placed Justin Jay Sales at the home of Puleio and Goetz on the night of June 24, 2019, and June 25, 2019. The GPS data placed Sales at the home approximately 14 minutes before the call to 911 was made.
On May 30, 2023, our office filed a petition requesting that a special grand jury be empaneled pursuant to Virginia Code §19.2-206. The next day, the Court entered an order empaneling a special grand jury and appointing Honorable Judge M. Doucette to preside. The special grand jury concluded its investigation on October 18, 2023, and the foreperson signed the following indictments as true bills:
- Aggravated murder
- First degree murder
- Attempted robbery – Residence with use of a gun
- Malicious wounding – Victim permanently impaired
- Discharge firearm, missile in/at occupied building, maliciously
- Firearm use in commission of felony (first offense)
- Firearm use in commission of felony (subsequent offense)
Our office, along with investigators from the ACSO, had been in contact with counterparts in New Hampshire, as Sales had been arrested and confined there since September 2022. We received confirmation on October 7, 2024, that all the pending matters in New Hampshire had been resolved by the court on October 4, 2024. Our office notified the ACSO to assist with transportation and began to coordinate Sales return to Virginia via the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (IAD) with the assistance of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office.
On January 8, 2025, our office was notified by the ACSO that they would not be transporting Sales back to Virginia and we would need to coordinate this process with the Virginia State Police. On February 3, 2025, the Virginia State Police successfully transported Sales from New Hampshire to the Lynchburg Adult Detention Center.
On February 5, 2025, Sales appeared before the Honorable M. Doucette for his advisement. He was found to be indigent and appointed P. Scott Debruin and Rebecca L. Wetzel as his defense counsel. The court also scheduled the jury trial to begin on June 20, 2025, with pretrial motions hearings scheduled for March 24 and May 16, 2025.
On March 24, 2025, the court heard argument by both counsel regarding a Motion to Change Venue filed on behalf of the defendant. The defense argued that the defendant could not receive a fair trial in Amherst County due to the high volume of publicity the case had received. The defense called three witnesses to support the motion. The first witness, Noreen Turyn, was an anchor from WSET. Sheriff Ayers was called second, and then Claudia Tucker, a member of the Board of Supervisors from Amherst County, testified. All three witnesses were questioned regarding their dissemination of information, and the validity of such information, from June 25, 2019, to present. At the end of the hearing, the Judge denied the defendant’s motion to change venue.
On May 16, 2025, the court heard numerous pretrial motions, the first of which involved body-worn camera footage by Chief Watts from the Amherst Town Police. The parties agreed that only the first 12:30 minutes from the video footage would be admissible at trial. Secondly, the defense had filed motions in limine regarding photographs from Facebook. The parties agreed that the Commonwealth would provide the defense with a list of the photographs it wished to introduce at trial prior to June 12. Another motions hearing was added to the docket on June 12, and the motions in limine concerning Facebook were continued to it.
The last motions taken up on May 16, 2025, involved the admissibility of a firearm and the associated forensic examinations. Defense counsel proffered, and the Commonwealth agreed, that there was a gap in the chain of custody from when the firearm was seized in Madison Heights to when it was placed into a temporary evidence locker at the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office. The court, in overruling defense’s motions, stated that 99% of the reported cases “dealing with breaks in the chain of custody deal with drugs” and that “this pile of cocaine looks the same as that pile of cocaine.” The court took “judicial notice of the fact that a serial number is unique to each and every firearm” and therefore overruled the motions.
The last motion the court dealt with on this day was a motion to compel filed by the defense. In argument, the defense attorney stated that “[t]he issue that we have run into is that the Sheriff’s Department is not turning over things to the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.” The court, after admonishing command staff from the ACSO that were present in the courtroom, requested that counsel ensure a discovery order was in place and that all evidence be turned over twenty-one days prior to trial.
On June 18, 2025, voir began and a jury was selected in the Amherst County Circuit Court. All jurors were instructed to return on June 23, 2025, for commencement of the trial.
On June 23, 2025, prior to the start of the trial, a pretrial motion was heard regarding the admissibility of Verizon records and the use of those records by the Virginia State Police. The court sustained the motion filed by the defense and determined that without additional testimony from Verizon, the records would not be admissible.
Trial began with opening statements by Mr. Carver for the Commonwealth and Ms. Wetzel for the defense. The Commonwealth called ten witnesses on the first day of trial and six witnesses on the second day of trial. The Commonwealth introduced over 120 pieces of evidence in total. The Commonwealth rested its case in chief, and the defense did not present any evidence. The court then released the jurors to return at 9:00 a.m. on June 25, 2025. Court remained in session to discuss jury instructions and verdict forms.
On June 25, 2025, the jury found the defendant guilty of the following:
- Aggravated murder
- Attempted robbery – Residence with use of a gun
- Malicious wounding – Victim permanently impaired
- Discharge firearm, missile in/at occupied building, maliciously
- Firearm use in commission of felony (first offense)
- Firearm use in commission of felony (subsequent offense)
The court dismissed the charge of first-degree murder as it found it to be a lesser-included offense of the greater charge of aggravated murder.
On October 27, 2025, the victim, Trudy Goetz, was given the opportunity to speak at the sentencing of the defendant. After she gave her statement, argument was given by counsel for both sides.
In total, Sales was sentenced to LIFE in prison plus an additional 38 years.
EDIT: A notice of appeal was filed on November 10, 2025. The Defendant has a right to appeal under Virginia law.
