Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 43 - Neal - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[music playing] NARRATOR: A spring morning, a little girl begs her neighbor for help.
NARRATOR: As emergency operators listened, the gruesome details worsened. NARRATOR: What has happened to 1200 Green Springs Road?
Her mother lies dead. Nearby, her father, too. Her husband is on the run. NARRATOR: Who has killed Mrs. Jessica Miller?
[theme music] [music playing] [beeping] ANNOUNCER (ON RADIO): KZ 106. Right now, traffic on the big show.
[music playing] NARRATOR: Jessica Miller-- a familiar, friendly face in Dalton, Georgia.
She was really well liked. Young, about 27 years old. Blonde, tan. NARRATOR: Born one of five children in Atlanta, Georgia
on September the 11th, 1984, Jessica was a single mum after having her baby Maddie at the age of 18.
She was really close to her daughter. And they just had a wonderful relationship, it sounds like.
NARRATOR: Not long after having Maddie, Jessica met Adolph Neal, known as Sonny.
They had met while she was a contestant in, like, a pageant, like, a beauty pageant.
NARRATOR: Sonny let everyone know he was smitten. 22 years older than Jessica, he was a property developer
embedded in the community. He had a lot of friends. He had an adult daughter from a previous marriage,
and they were very close. Sonny was not known as an unfriendly guy. Sonny had friends.
Sonny had associates. Sonny had people that cared about him. NARRATOR: At first, Jessica's family
were concerned about the age difference, but Sonny succeeded in charming them, as well as Jessica, still a teenager when they met.
Her parents told me that he was real charismatic, real charming. There was a large age gap between the two.
When they married, Jessica was 19 years old. Sonny Neal at the time was around 41 years old.
NARRATOR: Sonny also got on well with Jessica's young child. And in 2004, it looked like the family was complete.
Sonny adopted Jessica's daughter after they got married. And they seemed to have a really good relationship.
Sonny loved Madeline. Treated her very well, had actually adopted Madeline. You know, it seemed to say something,
I guess, about his character that he was willing to treat her like his own. NARRATOR: Sonny, Jessica, and Maddie
moved to a new home in Green Springs Road, Dawnville, which they shared with an extended family.
SCOTT MCALLISTER: Jessica's grandfather, Donald Shedd, lived at the residence with Jessica and Sonny.
NARRATOR: The family home needed to be big. Sonny's elderly grandfather, who suffered with Alzheimer's, soon
had to be cared for here, too. Despite the challenges, this appeared a happy home.
SCOTT MCALLISTER: From the outside, the marriage of Sonny and Jessica Neal appeared to be a solid marriage.
They appeared to be happy together. They would go out a lot. They would post photos on social media
where they were out at local establishments, you know, winding down, having a good time together.
Friends would say, you know, he was really known for making her laugh. They were real close.
SCOTT MCALLISTER: Their marriage seemed to be well for a long time. Sonny was very fond of his wife.
He was very almost-- some of the friends described him as almost being obsessed with her.
NARRATOR: With Sonny's help, Jessica set up a business on Cleveland Highway, just 10 minutes away
from their home. She and Sonny owned a tanning salon. And that was their business that they had together.
JOY LUKACHICK SMITH: Jessica's friends and family said that she was very outgoing.
She was kind of the face of their business. And so anyone who went into their tanning salon knew her.
She was the life of the party as well wherever she went and just had a real love for life.
NARRATOR: Meanwhile, Sonny continued to expand his own interests. They were looking at going into business with Jessica's
father, who was going to open to a sports bar and grill here in Dalton. Sonny had multiple rental properties
that he owned and managed. And he, of course, dedicated some of his time to that as well.
NARRATOR: A happy house, a striving business couple, wedded bliss. But few know what goes on behind closed doors.
Fault lines were appearing in the marriage. They kind of portrayed themselves as this perfect couple, no problems.
But I think there was a lot going on below the surface. He was prone to become very angry
and was very possessive over Jessica. He definitely seemed controlling and jealous
and wanted to kind of keep a tight grip on her. NARRATOR: Whenever they went out socializing,
Sonny seemed to tighten that grip. SCOTT MCALLISTER: When they would go out to local establishments together, he and his wife,
there was several times that it was reported he had gotten into fights with other men, supposedly over them flirting
with Jessica or he had took something as meaning something that maybe it wasn't, in
regards to his wife. NARRATOR: Sonny and Jessica's perfect picture was proving to be an illusion.
Things were definitely going downhill. Their relationship had hit a rocky patch.
They had begin to differ in which direction that they wanted to go individually.
He had started acting differently, was just not acting his self. Sonny seemed to change.
NARRATOR: Friends and family began noticing odd things. They were on the phone with Jessica,
and they could hear Sonny in the background. And they could hear them arguing. SCOTT MCALLISTER: They admitted that Sonny had changed,
that he wasn't acting himself. That he was saying things that were unlike him to say,
things that were out of his head. And that he had made statements that concerned them that he was-- they were worried about Sonny.
They were afraid that he might try to do something to himself. When I spoke with Jessica's mother,
she told me things really changed for the couple. And, you know, he went from seeming charismatic
to controlling and that, really, in her words, he was a charismatic, narcissistic sociopath.
NARRATOR: Strong words from an anxious mother, had the family's initial concerns about Sonny
been right all along. The atmosphere inside the family home in Green Springs Road
began to deteriorate. Donald Miller, Jessica's grandfather, noticed. Sonny and Donald did not get along.
And this was mainly due to the fact that Donald being Jessica's grandfather would take Jessica's side when there was the argument.
Sonny's possessiveness stepped up to new levels. Friends said he became very controlling.
He didn't like her to go to the bathroom without him. I mean, she was always, like, looking over his shoulder.
Sonny had, on a couple of occasions, been violent towards Jessica. NARRATOR: In early 2012, eight years into their marriage,
Sonny Neal discovered that his worst fears had materialized. Jessica was having an extramarital affair.
And Sonny knew about it. SCOTT MCALLISTER: We learned that he had discovered that his wife was having a relationship
with another man. NARRATOR: Jessica didn't try to deny the affair. Instead, she suggested that her marriage to Sonny was over
and that the couple should divorce. Jessica told her stepmom that she was going to leave Sonny,
even though he had begged her to stay, give him another chance, work it out. She was insisting that, you know, it was over.
NARRATOR: Despite all his efforts to control his wife, Sonny Neal was staring at the prospect
of losing the perfect family life that he'd felt he had created. The effect on him appeared to be devastating.
Sonny did not want a divorce. He wanted things to work out and had actually told one of his friends that all he wanted
was for his family to get back together. Sonny was very unhappy. And his range of emotions over those weeks
begin to deteriorate. He had been drinking a lot and had been on some medication, prescribed medication,
but was drinking about every day. Sonny had lost a considerable amount of weight.
I believe one friend had said it looked like he had lost 30 or 40 pounds. NARRATOR: Criminologists point to this moment,
when a woman decides she's leaving, as very dangerous. In 2020, 41% of women murdered by their partners
were killed once they had tried to leave. Had Jessica signed her own death warrant with the revelation
that she was leaving Sonny? [music playing] NARRATOR: 2012, Sonny Neal's marriage is on the rocks.
And his businesses were in trouble, too. SCOTT MCALLISTER: Sonny and Jessica were having some financial problems,
which was causing additional strains on the marriage. NARRATOR: In the spring of 2012, Sonny
was hit by a personal tragedy. On top of that, Sonny's brother, who we were told he was very fond of, had passed away.
NARRATOR: It was one more blow to his crumbling life. He was drinking heavily, had been prescribed alcohol
addiction pills. He was depressed not only about his marriage, but he was also depressed about his brother dying.
So all these things had caused the relationship to become very rocky. NARRATOR: On the night of May 23, 2012,
the storm that had been brewing for Sonny and Jessica Neal finally broke. With the stress on the marriage,
the financial problems, his brother's death, the alcohol, prescription pills, we believe it just exploded.
NARRATOR: At around 9:30 that evening, Sonny put his adopted daughter, Maddie, to bed at their Green
Springs Road home. She recounted how her father came up and tucked her into bed.
Sonny hugged Madeline and told her that he loved her and that he wanted her to have a good night's sleep.
NARRATOR: For some reason, Jessica wasn't around to put Maddie to bed that night.
She said her mother did not come up that night to do that. NARRATOR: In fact, Jessica was out by the pool,
where she had made contact with her father. According to Chattanooga crime reporter
Joy Lukachick Smith, who covered the story, she sounded terrified. She texted her father.
He showed me the text later and said-- I believe it said, all hell is breaking loose, is what she told him.
And so he asked her, do you want me to come over? What do you want me to do? She told him no.
She had it handled. NARRATOR: Could Jessica really handle her obsessively jealous husband?
The couple was spotted together. SCOTT MCALLISTER: The last physical contact with Sonny and Jessica Neal was around 10 o'clock that night
by a neighbor, who was outside and waved to Sonny, as he and Jessica were walking out toward the swimming pool.
Sonny waved back and motioned as if asking the neighbor to come down with them, which he had done before.
However, he was wanting to watch a ball game, so he declined and went back in his house.
NARRATOR: Instead of chilling with their neighbor by the pool, Sonny and Jessica got
into another fight and not one of their standard fights either. Sonny Neal's rage and jealousy exploded into violence.
[dramatic music] Jessica was stabbed and bludgeoned with a medieval-looking knife that had
a handle in which you inserted your hand into the handle. Combat style knife with a grip that had metal spikes
coming out from the grill. And the blade was probably six, eight inches long. That was the instrument that was used to murder Jessica.
NARRATOR: It was a frenzied, merciless attack. Any time that you have a murder in which
the victim is stabbed or beaten to death, that's a very personal murder. In order to kill somebody with a knife,
you've got to be right there, face-to-face with them, up close and personal. And it is very, very indicative that it is a murder of passion.
It's a murder of anger and incited by those very things. JOY LUKACHICK SMITH: You know, it seems like a textbook
crime of passion. It's beyond what you can imagine that someone supposedly who loved, you know, her and took her grandfather in,
in his own home would be so up close and personal like that and commit that kind of an act.
It was hard to stomach. NARRATOR: Barefoot, leaving a trail of bloody footprints
behind him, Sonny went into the house to face the man who had pushed back on his granddaughter's
behalf against Sonny. He went inside the residence and found Jessica's grandfather
in the kitchen. NARRATOR: Armed and covered in his wife's blood, Sonny launched a furious attack on Donald Shedd.
And beat him to death in the head with a hammer. DAN SIMS: Once he had killed Jessica,
then there was no downside to killing her father, Donald. He probably was first impacted upright
and then hit the ground, and the beating continued from there. At the location of Donald's body was voluminous amount
of blood spatter that was low to the ground, which would indicate that Donald was beaten
while he laid on the floor. NARRATOR: Sonny Neal's nine-year-old adopted daughter
and others in the house lay sleep, just yards away from the bloody scene. DAN SIMS: And that would have been fairly close to Maddie's
bedroom and Robert's bedroom, which were right across from one another. However, neither one of them recounted hearing anything
during that night. NARRATOR: 7 o'clock the following morning, Maddie makes the horrific discovery.
Madeline was the one that had awakened on May the 24th and had found her grandfather beaten to death in the kitchen.
When she saw him, she ran immediately to a neighbor. The neighbor told me that she said, somebody killed my papa.
NARRATOR: The neighbor in Green Springs Road listened to her extraordinary, chilling story.
And then the 911 call was made. NARRATOR: As emergency services are called into action,
the operator keeps Maddie's neighbor on the line. NARRATOR: With the neighbor relaying questions to Maddie,
the operator finds out more about what has happened at the Neal home. NARRATOR: Within minutes, police officers
arrive in Green Springs Road. Lieutenant Scott McAllister was one of the first detectives
to be called to the scene. I was putting [inaudible] at the house, and I got a phone call from my supervisor,
who asked me to be en route to 1200 Green Springs Road, which was only about a five-minute drive from my home.
I've been in law enforcement for 25 years. And to this day, this crime scene was the most brutal crime
scene that I have been to. NARRATOR: Officers from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
were not far behind the police. DAN SIMS: My name is Daniel Sims, and I'm a special agent in charge of the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation. The job of the GBI is to assist local agencies and county
agencies in the apprehension of fugitives, the investigations of criminal events that happen that may
cross jurisdictional lines. It was in the early morning hours that I got called by a captain from the [inaudible]
County Sheriff's Office requesting the help of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
in what appeared to be a double homicide at 1200 Green Springs Road in Dalton, Georgia.
NARRATOR: A double homicide and someone missing, Maddie's stepdad, Jessica's husband, Sonny Neal.
Where was he? [music playing] One of the immediate jobs that Dan Sims had to undertake
was talking to little Maddie Neal. DAN SIMS: Madeline was my first interview shortly
after I got on the scene. And what I saw was something that a 9-year-old girl should
never have to go through. She was distraught. She was visibly shaken. She was crying.
And in a perfect world, I would have never interviewed her on that day. But she was the only person that could
lead me toward a truthful path. NARRATOR: As expected from the 911 call, they found the smashed up corpse of Donald Shedd
in the kitchen of the family home. But worse was to come. They had discovered a second body, a deceased white female,
that was laying in the pool house, and that she appeared to have been stabbed multiple times.
NARRATOR: There was a wealth of evidence at the scene, which all pointed in one direction.
It became apparent very early that Sonny was going to be the focus of the investigation.
And when you look at a bare bloody footprint, it leads you to the quick conclusion
that whoever was there committing this murder was comfortable enough to have their shoes off while they're
committing this murder. There was a bloody patent fingerprint found on the door that would have
matched Sonny's fingerprints. And the knife that was used during the murder had a box that was found in Sonny's master bedroom closet.
So that weapon was associated very quickly with Sonny. NARRATOR: Agent Sims was also able to collect
vital information from Sonny's adopted daughter. DAN SIMS: During our interview with Madeline,
she stated that her dad was wearing swimming trunks and a T-shirt when he came to tuck her into bed.
During the crime scene examination, we found wet, bloody swim pants or swim shorts at the scene,
also T-shirts with blood stains in them, also water tinged blood here and there within the marital bedroom.
So we believe that after he killed Jessica, that he jumped in the pool to cleanse himself off,
which sort of made a watery bloody mess, instead of-- it's hard to clean yourself up after a murder like that.
NARRATOR: There was more than enough evidence in the house and around the pool for homicide detectives
to arrest Sonny for the murder of his wife and her grandfather. We were suspecting him, had plenty of probable cause
to point the finger at him, to the point where we secured murder warrants on day one.
The evidence that we obtained at the scene the day of the incident confirmed that Sonny Neal was our offender.
Our issue at that point was to find Sonny Neal. NARRATOR: Sonny Neal had disappeared.
There's plenty of cover for a fugitive in this part of Georgia. DAN SIMS: He didn't leave in a car to our knowledge.
He did not carry his wallet away. He did not take his cell phone with him. So as far as we knew, he had no financial means.
He had no transportation means that we knew of, and that he had actually left the residence on foot.
SCOTT MCALLISTER: We realized that we had a fugitive that was on the loose in our county, which is uncommon.
DAN SIMS: Sonny obviously either left in a panic, taking nothing with him, or Sonny left, leaving
everything behind on purpose. NARRATOR: Police launched a manhunt, but Sonny fleeing the scene without his phone or anything
else created a problem. DAN SIMS: In today's world, all the conventional ways of tracking somebody may go out the window
when those things happen. And you find yourself back in a more old-fashioned day and age,
where you're looking for somebody that is not only in the wind somewhere, but they're in the wind
without telecommunications. They're in the wind without cellular telephone signals.
NARRATOR: Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents were working on the basis that there
are certain patterns that criminals on the run tend to follow, not good ones. DAN SIMS: Where somebody is in fugitive status,
usually, they're going to commit further crimes. They're going to commit a burglary in order to eat.
They're going to commit a robbery in order to get some money. They're going to commit a carjacking or an auto theft
to get some transportation. None of that was happening in this case. NARRATOR: So what had happened to Sonny Neal?
Was the hunch that he was still in the area correct? Or had he somehow managed to escape the scene altogether?
When we didn't hear from him on day two or day three or day four or day five, we begin to really wonder,
has Sonny slipped underneath the radar screen? Has he had somebody help him get out of town?
There was, I think, over 100 police from all over the region that spent a week, just combing
the area, looking for him. SCOTT MCALLISTER: Until we knew for sure that we had him
captured and in custody, we had a community that we needed to look out for and to prepare.
NARRATOR: Reporters from Georgia's newspapers and television stations told the state it was on high alert.
One of the upsides of this investigation, we were able to utilize the local media
out of Chattanooga and Atlanta. And the media really helped us in this investigation.
JOY LUKACHICK SMITH: And they put out his picture everywhere. We had him in the newspapers, on television, trying
to get everybody to help. They did not relent. They were on this case every day because they
knew that Sonny was at least dangerous, if not armed. We had a lot of people trying to help us.
We were getting all sorts of telephone tips. We were getting a lot of leads that we'd follow the leads
and they'd sort of end in a dead end. NARRATOR: Six days into the manhunt, a breakthrough.
A customer from Jessica Neal's tanning salon spotted someone near to the Dollar General store
at the junction of Highways 2 and 201 in Varnell, about 10 miles north of Dalton.
JOY LUKACHICK SMITH: That area of north Georgia is a pretty small town. And so most people knew, you know,
Jessica and Sonny in that area. We got a call from a citizen to the Sheriff's office.
And she claimed I've seen Sonny. JOY LUKACHICK SMITH: And she, you know, like, jumped up and was like, you
know, started shouting at her husband and, you know, could barely grab her phone because she was so--
you know, just couldn't believe that she was seeing him. NARRATOR: It was the strongest tip-off
the police had received so far. But was it right? DAN SIMS: Now we've got to decide what to do
with this investigative lead. How do we respond to this? Because we had had other potential sightings of Sonny
that led nowhere. Manhunts are labor intensive. And they take up a lot of personnel.
They take up a lot of manpower and man hours. We decided to take it ultra seriously.
NARRATOR: With a command post set up in a nearby parking lot, the GBI focused their search on the area.
And we quickly assembled every man we could. We had roving patrols. We had dogs.
We had helicopters with infrared sensors. We were really pulled out all the stops,
trying to find Sonny. NARRATOR: Were law enforcement officers about to get their man?
DAN SIMS: We were really hopeful that the infrared camera would find Sonny somewhere in the woods.
And it just didn't happen that evening or night. NARRATOR: Despondent and worried, Special Agent Dan Sims
and his team began to wonder if their tip-off had been a mistake. The next morning, they got a call from the local police.
Varnell Police Department is in very close proximity to that location. DAN SIMS: I got a call that Sonny had been sighted
in a wood line in that same area and had been apprehended by local police officers.
SCOTT MCALLISTER: So units with Varnell PD and deputies with the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office
responded and was able to take Sonny Neal into custody without any incident. NARRATOR: When police finally picked him up,
Sonny Neal was a physical wreck. DAN SIMS: Sonny was in the woods and in the wilderness
for seven days. And that he had not drank much water, if at all. And he had not eaten anything.
He had not robbed anybody or did a burglary to eat. He had not walked into a convenience store
and shoplifted something to subsist on. He was very dehydrated and had scratches and cuts on his legs
and his body from being out in the elements. DAN SIMS: I was astounded at what I saw.
Sonny looked decimated. He was eat up from head to toe with insect bites. He looked-- and I'm no doctor, but he
looked visibly dehydrated. And I said, Sonny, are you sick? And he nodded his head yes.
And I immediately asked for an ambulance to take him to the hospital. NARRATOR: The fugitive was in police custody,
being treated for exposure and injuries that he had sustained whilst hiding out in the woods.
It turned out he was found just a few miles from where he'd murdered his wife and her grandfather.
Detectives finally had the chance to question their suspect. NARRATOR: Was Sonny Neal about to confess
to the double homicide? Or did he have one more card to play? [music playing] NARRATOR: If they wanted their suspect to talk,
Special Agent Dan Sims and Lieutenant Scott McAllister were going to have to play a cat and mouse game of diplomacy.
Agent Sims and I attempted to interview Sonny Neal after his arrest. When we approached Sonny Neal about speaking with him
about these incidents, he began to cry, and his legs were shaking uncontrollably.
NARRATOR: Sonny was going to need delicate handling. NARRATOR: As the interview goes on,
the officers try a number of tactics to get him to talk. DAN SIMS: And whatever you tell me,
I'll make sure it's documented exactly. NARRATOR: Nothing convinces Sonny Neal to open up
about the night of the murders. And then-- NARRATOR: It was the end of the line for the investigators'
interview. He realized that he was in big, big trouble. And he realized he needed an attorney.
And I agreed with him. He did need an attorney. And to this day, he's never spoken to law enforcement
about any details of this double murder. DAN SIMS: I just think it was one of those cases
where Sonny knew it was over. And he was going to have to face the consequences of what he did.
NARRATOR: Nine months after the double homicide in Green Springs Road, Sonny Neal appeared before a judge.
When they brought Sonny in, he was shackled and was wearing, like, a jumpsuit. And he didn't look as much like his picture.
I remember being surprised by that. I think he had put on some weight and looked older.
But he really didn't have any emotion as far as I remember. He just sat there. SCOTT MCALLISTER: Speaking on behalf of Sonny
was his attorney, Marcus Morris. Mr. Morris stated during the plea that the combination of Sonny's recent discovery of his wife's
infidelity, the death of his brother, his financial problems, his marriage crumbling,
and his recent drinking and use of prescribed prescription medication had ultimately resulted in his actions.
His attorney read a statement in court that said, you know, that he was sorry for what he had done,
and this isn't a person that just decided to kill two people. And that was it. SCOTT MCALLISTER: I tend to disagree with his statement
simply because regardless of what may have been going on in Sonny's life, regardless of issues and problems
that he may have been having, nothing justifies what I saw on May the 24th, 2012.
Sonny is one of these people that is in prison because he could not control his temper.
In Georgia, he probably could have gotten the death penalty. NARRATOR: But he did not.
In fact, the case never went to trial. A deal was struck. Sonny Neal entered a guilty plea.
They accepted the prosecutor's decision to give Sonny a plea deal for two counts of murder
without the possibility of parole. They were shielding Jessica's daughter. They didn't want her to testify.
And they just didn't want her to have to relive that and, you know, the distress that it would cause her.
They were protecting her. He got life without parole for the killing of Donald Shedd.
And he got life for killing Jessica. So Sonny will spend the rest of his life in prison.
JOY LUKACHICK SMITH: While Sonny didn't show any emotion, his family showed a ton of emotion.
It was really, actually, a dramatic moment in court. SCOTT MCALLISTER: Sonny Neal's attorney
during the plea agreement stated that Sonny Neal was remorseful for his actions.
At the end of the day, I don't know whether he was remorseful for his actions or not.
That's something that will probably remain between him and God. NARRATOR: Since clamming up at his interview,
Sonny has never spoken about what drove him to kill his wife and her grandfather.
I never really got a good sense of, you know, what made a person who seemed fairly
normal and likable just, you know, snap and commit, you know, an extremely heinous crime.
There's only three motives for murder-- sex, anger, and greed. This was certainly a sexual motive.
It was certainly an anger motive. It certainly appeared like a crime of passion.
I mean, in the moment. DAN SIMS: Jessica's murder was one that was incited by passion.
It was incited by anger. It was almost like when a pressure cooker goes off and releases its steam.
He had definitely crossed the line in a spontaneous moment where he just lost it and attacked Jessica.
NARRATOR: And what about Donald Shedd, Jessica's grandfather, who shared the family home with them?
DAN SIMS: The question of how Donald was murdered and the motive, why Donald was murdered,
was an answer that we sought for quite a while. And we believed that Donald's murder was a motive of anger.
He was very angry at Donald. NARRATOR: Sonny Neal will spend the rest of his life in prison
for killing his wife, Jessica, and her grandfather, Donald Shedd. Sonny gave his nine-year-old daughter, Maddie,
a life sentence of her own. One of the most stunning parts of this case was the fact that
Sonny Neal had brutally murdered his wife and Donald Shedd there at the residence and then had left the residence,
knowing that his adopted nine-year-old daughter was still there in the residence, sleeping, and would
wake up and would find this. These murders had occurred. I still have a hard time with the fact
that Maddie discovered the crime scene. I really haven't thought about this case since because I can't.
It's not something, you know, especially having children now, it's not something
you want to think about. SCOTT MCALLISTER: The rage, the heinous actions that were involved in the brutal stabbing of his wife
and the beating to death of Donald is an unacceptable way to handle any situation.
That amount of rage can never be excused, regardless of the circumstances. There was a 9-year-old girl in the middle of all this.
She didn't just lose her mother. She didn't just lose her grandfather. She lost her dad, too.
[music playing]

With the 22-year age gap, Jessica thought Sonny would be her carer and protector. Little did she know he would be her killer.

Though wedded couples vow to stay together until death do they part, this new true crime series looks at what happens when a groom or bride causes their beloved's death.

Brief Summary

Sonny Neal murdered his wife Jessica and her grandfather Donald in a fit of rage after discovering her affair.

Key points

The Charming Couple. Jessica and Sonny's relationship appeared perfect, but beneath the surface, tensions brewed.
The Affair. Jessica reveals her affair to Sonny, leading to a devastating confrontation.
A Night of Horror. On May 23, 2012, a violent confrontation leads to a double homicide.
The Aftermath. Maddie discovers the gruesome scene the morning after the murders.
The Manhunt Begins. Sonny Neal goes missing after the murders, prompting a massive search.
The Manhunt Intensifies. After a strong tip-off, law enforcement ramps up their search for Sonny Neal.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What has happened to 1200 Green Springs Road?

NARRATOR introduces the scene of the crime.

0:48WatchJun 8, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Files

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.