9 Investigates speaks with psychotherapist if Lake County woman will face a jury

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — The woman accused of assaulting her neighbor and setting off the series of events that led to the murder of Lake County Deputy Bradley Link made her first court appearance Tuesday morning.

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Julie Sulpizio was denied bond, and there are growing questions about her mental competency.

Investigative reporter Karla Ray sat down with two of the suspects’ only friends, who described the Sulpizios as having extremist, survivalist views. The couple claims that Julie and Michael Sulpizio, who was found dead inside the home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, asked them to go in on a pallet of MREs and to help them build a bunker.

The friends say the now-accused killers believed the government was tracking all of us.

Read: Woman charged in ambush attack on Lake County deputies makes first court appearance

From an isolation cell at the Lake County Jail, Julie Ann Sulpizio knew her name and was calm in front of a judge; a far cry from the person described by the Lake County Sheriff, who told investigators Friday night that ‘Julie’ was dead and that the person they were putting in handcuffs for a Baker Act, was actually ‘Helen,’ speaking on behalf of God.

“That woman is not crazy,” Linda Ahlers said.

“No, she’s not,” Butch Ahlers said.

Read: UCF partners with Lake County to provide mental health support to deputies

Linda and Butch Ahlers tell 9 Investigates they befriended the Sulpizios about a decade ago after meeting Michael on a job site. They started to distance themselves during the pandemic when they said the couple started showing extremist, survivalist views.

“About three years ago, they started really getting into wanting to stock up on food and other things, get the bunker built, and that’s when I said, man, these people are nuts,” Butch Ahlers said. “We have got to get away from them. They’ve got issues.”

There’s a fine line between having extreme views and having a mental illness. Licensed psychotherapist and adjunct professor Faith Sills thinks Sulpizio’s is a case of extreme fixed delusion, something that’s hard to treat with medication.

Read: How to help Lake County deputies’ families following deadly ambush

“It sounds like she was just so entrenched in her delusion that she really and truly has devoted her life to it, as did her husband and her children,” Sills said. “That doesn’t happen overnight.”

Sills works in the Public Defender’s Office for the 9th Circuit, covering Orange and Osceola Counties, and says before Sulpizio can even face a trial, she’ll have to be deemed competent. Sills does not believe that will happen without some sort of treatment.

“If she thinks she’s Helen, and Julia’s dead, I don’t think she’s competent before we even get into an insanity plea,” Sills said.

But after today’s first appearance before a judge, in which Sulpizio clearly knew her real name, the Ahlers believe she’s acting.

“Yes, I know she is. God knows she is,” Linda Ahlers said.

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