An investigation into a Peachtree City woman accused of juggling two marriages at the same time came to a head last Thursday as a neighbor questioned the safety of the woman’s 9-year-old child who was kept home from school that day, according to police reports.
Lucy Caudill did not answer the front door of her home in the Centennial subdivision when an officer knocked, so a neighbor’s key was used to enter the home where Caudill spoke with the officer, who confirmed the child was indeed safe, reports said.
Caudill, 39, of Revolution Drive, is charged with bigamy and forgery in the first degree. She is accused of leading two separate lives in the same town: one with her pilot husband of 15 years in their Centennial home and another with her second husband, with whom police say she lived at a residence on Boxwood Court.
Police said Caudill married her second husband, Josh Copeland, April 26 in a ceremony at Starr’s Mill park.
Caudill was arrested Thursday, charged with bigamy and forgery in the second degree, the latter charge being related to the use of a fake driver’s license to apply for a marriage license.
According to police reports, Caudill bought the fake license online in part to prove to her second husband, Josh Copeland, that she was 29 years old, younger than her actual age of 39, police said. Caudill would tell Copeland that she had to be out of town often for work as she was employed with a production company affiliated with the New Kids on the Block musical group, a police report said.
Police determined that Lucy Caudill and Copeland met each other October 2011 at the Tavern on 74 bar in Peachtree City.
The investigation began May 2 when a neighbor of the Caudills called police and reported that other friends had found out about the marriage license Lucy Caudill filed for her second marriage with Copeland, police said.
Another neighbor on May 3 reported that Caudill kept her 9-year-old daughter out of school that day, expressing concern that Caudill might harm the child; at the time Caudill’s husband Boone was out of town on business.
Police ultimately used a neighbor’s key to enter the Caudill home in the Centennial subdivision after Lucy Caudill declined to answer the front door, according to a police report. Lucy Caudill told the officer she kept her daughter home because she (Lucy Caudill) was not feeling well, according to the report.
Mrs. Caudill agreed to have a neighbor look after the daughter until her husband Boone could return home, since she was being arrested, reports said.
Caudill admitted that she and her husband had had some martial issues, and she alleged that he harmed her physically once back in the fall, according to the police report.
The officer who interviewed Caudill also noted that she at times appeared near a complete breakdown but she also tried to speak quietly the whole time to not draw her daughter’s attention to the matter.
