Killer Couple: Judith & Alvin Neelley

Background

Judith Ann Adams was born on June 7, 1964 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  Judy’s mom was a housewife and her father worked as both a carpenter and construction worker.  She had two older siblings, a sister named Dottie, and a brother named James, but everyone called Jimbo.  Then after she was born, two more brothers followed, Bill and Davey.  

The Adams family (sing it, Tori, I know you will) was not considered a rich nor a poor family and the children didn’t want for anything.  The kids all had a good childhood and after attending school each day, would have the opportunity to play outside with the neighborhood kids.  In 1973, her father started his own construction company and the family’s income increased.  It is noted that her father drank a little bit, but never abused or spoke harshly to Judy.  The Christmas of that year, Judy received a dolly with a string to make it speak named Drowsey and a red toy keyboard.  These two items stayed with Judy as the years passed and she refused to part with them as her father helped her open and play with them that Christmas morning. 

When Judy was nine, in March of 1974, Judy’s father hopped on his motorcycle after drinking and drove into a guardrail on the highway.  He rode it for a hundred feet before he was spun into the air and came back down hitting the pavement.  After her father’s death, the family life that Judy had known deteriorated.  Her mother started meeting men over a C.B. radio and would invite them over for sex. 

Alvin Neelley was born on July 15, 1953 in Trion, Georgia.  He had two older siblings who were immediately charmed by him.  As he grew up he was not only charming, but also a jokester and a prankster.  He was a popular kid and everyone in the neighborhood wanted to play with him.  He was in the Boy Scouts and enjoyed hunting, fishing, and learning how to tie knots.  He was the class clown from the very start of his school days and particularly liked to pick on the girls.

As Alvin grew up, he turned into a petty criminal.  He had a habit of stealing cars.  Alvin was described as someone not wanting to live a regular life and his life of petty crime was exciting.  Alvin met his first wife, Jo Ann Browning in 1973.  

When Judy was 15, she met Alvin during one of her sexual encounters.  Alvin has said that he absolutely fell in love with her the minute he saw her and the same seemed to be true for Judy.  Alvin was married with children at the time he met Judy, but he quickly divorced his wife and left his family behind for her.  

Judy saw Alvin’s criminal lifestyle as exciting and the couple quickly fell into a life of crime together.  Very early on in their relationship, Judy became pregnant with Alvin’s child.  Then, on July 14th, 1980, just a day before Alvin turned 27, he married the then 16-year-old Judy in Georgia.  According to findlaw.com, the legal age to marry in Georgia used to be 16 with parental consent, but is now 17 if the person is emancipated, has completed a marital course, and is not marrying a person that is more than four years older than them. 

Once the couple married, they continued with their life of crime.  They would go town to town robbing convenience stores and living in motels.  The couple had no one to tell them that their lifestyle wasn’t okay, so they did as they pleased.  They became addicted to the thrill.  

What Happened?

As the couple continued on their journey of crime together, the fall of 1980 came and they were finally on the police’s radar.  Judy and Alvin were in Rome, Georgia, and decided to commit an armed robbery.  Judy was still only 16 years old and pregnant when she was arrested for trying to pass off a stolen check, the day after the armed robbery occurred.  Because of her age, she was put into the custody of the Rome Youth Development Center (YDC).  Just two days after the robbery, Judy gave birth to twins who were immediately put into the custody of Alvin’s mother. 

Alvin was also arrested for this crime.  He was charged with accessory to armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, check fraud, accessory to check fraud, and conspiracy to commit check fraud.  He was sentenced to up to five years in prison. 

While the two were separated, Judy wrote letters to Alvin from the YDC.  She would write to him with complaints about the staff there and that she detested them.  She claimed that she was being sexually assaulted and raped, and that the staff wasn’t allowing her to write to him (even though she was clearly writing to him?).  In response, Alvin promised her that they would seek revenge when she was released.  

In November of 1981, Judy was released from the YDC.  Once released, Judy lived with Alvin’s parents, and her two children, in Cleveland, Tennessee.  It was only a short time without her husband, though, because he was released from prison in April of 1982.  

Despite having been arrested and separated, the couple immediately picked up where they left off.  They would drive around in two separate cars – Alvin in his red Ford Granada and Judy in her brown Dodge.  They would communicate via a C.B. radio.  He was referred to as “Nightrider,” and she was, “Lady Sundown.” 

Now that the couple was back together, it was time that Alvin made good on his promise to get revenge on the YDC.  

One evening in September of 1982, Ken Dooley was home alone while his wife and son were at the local theater in Rome.  Robby, his son, was auditioning for a part in the next production.  At 7:00 pm, the phone rang and there was a woman on the other end of the line.  When he picked up, she asked if it was Ken Dooley’s house that she was calling.  He confirmed that it was and she then told him that her name was Susan and she was a friend of Cherie’s, his wife from back when she lived in Kentucky.  She told him that she was going to be in town and wanted to stop by to see Cherie.  He told her that that would be fine and gave her directions to his house when she asked.  He let her know that a red Volkswagen and a green and white Buick would be in the driveway. 

At about nine that night, Cherie and Robby made it back home and Ken let Cherie know that her friend had called and was planning on stopping by.  But the strange thing was, Cherie didn’t have a friend named Susan from Kentucky.  

A few days later, on September 10th, Ken returned home from work at the YDC.  Upon arrival, Cherie told him that he had gotten a phone call from a girl that didn’t identify herself, but was asking if he was home.  Both Cherie and Ken assumed that it was somebody from the YDC and they would worry about it later, because she said that she would call back. 

As Ken was getting ready for bed that night, the phone rang and Cherie answered it.  It was the same girl from before, but when Ken picked up the phone, he heard a man’s voice and he said, “You’ve screwed the last girl you’re going to screw.  And you’re going to pay.”  Ken demanded to know who it was on the other line, but instead was hung up on.  Cherie asked who it was but Ken didn’t know. 

Ken then made his way to the bedroom, popping in on both 11-year-old Robby and 3-year-old Carrie who were both sleeping soundly.  After making it to his room, he heard four loud pops that sounded to him like a car backfiring on the street outside their home.  But then he heard Cherie screaming that someone was shooting at their home.  

Ken ran outside to see what was going on, but all he saw were red taillights driving down the road away from their home.  He immediately went back inside to call the police.  While waiting for the police to arrive, Ken walked through his home and found that two bullets had entered the house through the den walls.  The other two shots hit the roof above the window of the den. 

When the police arrived, they collected the bullets and canvassed the area, but found no witnesses.  They advised Ken to sleep somewhere else that night, but he decided against it because both of his children were still sleeping soundly in their beds and had not been awoken by the gunfire.  The next day, he told his supervisor at the YDC about what had happened, but was advised to keep it to himself and not worry the rest of the staff. 

The next day, Saturday, September 11, 1982, Linda Adair, another YDC employee, returned home with her husband around 10:00 pm after doing some last minute shopping for their daughter’s upcoming wedding the next weekend.  The couple stretched out on the couch to watch some TV before bed when the phone rang.  

Linda’s husband, Gary, got up to answer the phone and a girl asked for Linda.  When she picked up the receiver, no one said anything and she hung up the phone.  At about 11:30 pm, Linda got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen to prepare a roast for Sunday dinner while Gary was in the shower getting ready for bed.  

While she was preparing the roast, the phone rang and at the same time, she heard the noise of someone beating at her back door.  She didn’t know which noise to attend to first and as she looked out toward her dining room, she saw yellow flames enveloping their carport.  

Then she realized that someone was still pounding on her back door and she saw a little boy there.  Then the phone rang again and she answered it this time.  It was her neighbor, Susan, telling her that somebody had just thrown a bomb at her house.  She shouted for Gary and he came running through the house in his robe.  The couple was then standing outside their home with the young boy who had come over to help.  Then the police were called.  

The police questioned the Adairs and their neighbors and learned that the young boy had just dropped his date off and saw the bomb explode just as a car flew past him going the opposite direction he was.  He told the police that it was a brown car, with white or silver stripes that ran from the rear to the front of the car and thought it was possibly a Dodge Demon from the 70s.  He said that there were two people inside, a white woman with long, reddish-brown hair in the driver seat and a man in the passenger seat. 

As Linda was still being questioned, the phone rang, and when the caller confirmed it was Linda who answered, she said, “I’m calling about the shooting at Ken Dooley’s house last night and…” Then Linda cut her off and asked, “What shooting?”  Before hanging up, the caller continued on and said, “And the attempted firebombing of your house tonight and you both will die before the night’s over.” 

She told the police about the call and connected this crime with the shooting at Ken’s house.  Linda went back inside and called Ken and neither of them knew what or who this could be about. 

After hanging up with Ken, the police played a 911 dispatch call where a woman said that she was calling about the shooting at Ken Dooley’s house and the firebombing at Linda Adair’s house.  She stated that it was for the sex abuse she went through at the YDC.  Linda was able to confirm that the voice on that call was the same as the calls she had received.  Before the officers left, she was told that they would like both her and Ken to go to the station the next day. 

After Ken and Linda both listened to the call, the investigators confirmed the connection to the YDC and looked into the caller’s abuse claims, but couldn’t authenticate any abuse and the case went cold. 

Alvin and Judy weren’t quite finished with the YDC, though, and after the shooting and firebombing, they hit the road again, in their separate cars, making their way toward Macon.  Apparently, several months earlier someone had referred to them as Bonnie and Clyde and since they are so fun, they decided that they were a more comical version and decided to call themselves Boney and Claude.  

As they made their way to Macon, they stopped at a drugstore to pick up some Liquid Drano and Liquid Plumr along with some syringes because while in prison, Alvin had been told that if you gave people certain kinds of shots, the police wouldn’t be able to tell that someone had been murdered.  Judy was still wanting to seek revenge on the YDC. 

The couple made it to Macon and rented a motel room to stay in.  They were still thinking up some great ideas for revenge while there, but there was one that they decided was a good place to start.  Judy called a woman, Mrs. Allen, and told her that her husband was beating her up and she needed help.  She asked her if she would meet her at her motel and Mrs. Allen agreed to meet her at 5:30 the next day. 

While they waited for 5:30 to roll around, they drove around Macon looking for John Brownlee’s house – he was on the security team at the YDC, and they had a plan to “deal with him” once they’d finished up with Mrs. Allen.  However, at about 5:00 pm, Judy received a call from the YDC saying that Mrs. Allen had to go out of town and would not be meeting her at the motel.  

They didn’t believe this so the next day, they drove to the YDC and saw her car there.  Since the plan with Mrs. Allen didn’t work out, they decided to focus on John Brownlee.  She called him up and flirted with him saying that she wanted to meet him, but unfortunately for her, he had gotten married just a few months before.  He told her that maybe they could meet up another time so long as he could bring his wife.  

After hanging up with John, Alvin and Judy decided that Alvin would drop her off at John’s home when no one was home.  She would go in through a window and let Alvin in after gaining entry.  They planned to wait for the Brownlees to return and once they did, they would knock John out and when he came to, Alvin would rape his wife in front of him and then they would kill them.  They both agreed that this was a great idea, but it never ended up coming to fruition.  They decided it was time to leave Macon and head back to Rome. 

Once back in Rome, Judy started approaching young women and girls as they were leaving the shops.  She would approach them and ask if their name was Phyllis and if they wanted to go for a ride.  She had done this a few times with no success. 

Unfortunately, though, the couple was finally able to lure a 13-year-old girl on September 25, 1982.

Lisa Ann Millican was born in 1969.  She loved music and her sister-in-law, Cassie, married to her brother, Calvin, said that when Lisa’s little sister was born, her mom said that she thought the baby was hers and took care of her.  She was loving and enjoyed “mommying” her siblings.  Even though Lisa was extremely nurturing, she was also said to be a “tomboy” who could hold her own with all of her boy cousins. 

Lisa’s short life wasn’t an easy one.  She had been abused by her father starting at the age of 11.  She was removed from her family home just a month before meeting Judy and Alvin and losing her life.  She was initially placed in a home in Rome, but was then transferred to the Harpst Home in Cedartown, Georgia.  She wasn’t placed there because she was a delinquent, but because there was nowhere else for her to go.  Lisa had been sexually abused by her father and the family’s living conditions were poor.

Lisa was described as being a loner, but it was she who persuaded the house parent to take the girls to the Riverbend Mall in Rome on September 25, 1982.  

Gail Henderson brought the girls to the mall and upon arrival, took one of the youngest girls with her and advised the other five girls to stay together while shopping.  They had an hour to roam around the mall and were to meet back at Radio Shack once the hour was up.  All of the girls made it to the meeting spot, except one – Lisa.  Henderson questioned the other girls about where she was and they told her that Lisa had gotten separated from them. 

They waited a little while longer in the hopes that Lisa would show up, then Henderson divided them into teams of two to look for her throughout the mall.  After twenty minutes, all of the teams made it back to Radio Shack without any sign of Lisa.  It was then that Henderson decided to call the police.  

The police arrived and did another search of the mall with no luck.  They expanded the search to the surrounding areas and an official missing persons bulletin was sent to all officers.  Police did believe that Lisa was a runaway at one point because of her living situation, but the search for her was still on. 

The Investigation

Three days later, on Tuesday, September 28, an anonymous call came into the Rome Police Department.  The woman who called asked if they were still looking for the missing girl, Lisa Ann Millican.  She told the officer that she could tell them where to find her.  She told him, “Go up to Little River Canyon in Alabama.  Just as you cross the Little River Canyon Bridge, turn to the left, go up into the national park.  You’ll see on the left some, uh, picnic tables, and a big rock parking area, and look off the side of the canyon – where there is a, uh, power line going across it, and look straight down the canyon, and you’ll find where I left her.”

Police in Rome notified the police in Alabama and they dispatched several deputies along with an Alabama State Trooper to the canyon.  During the initial search, they didn’t find anything so they notified the police in Rome and left the scene assuming it was a prank.  

Not only had the woman called the Rome Police Department, she had also called Jenny West, the News Director for WRGA Radio in Rome.  The woman told Jenny that she had a news tip for her.  She said that the girl who had run away from the Harpst Home had been killed and the Rome police were covering it up.   She told Jenny that Lisa was killed by a female juvenile officer from the Harpst Home and her body was in Little River Canyon in Alabama.  When Jenny asked how she was killed, she was told that she was shot.  She wouldn’t tell Jenny who she was. 

Jenny immediately went over to the Rome Police Department and told the officers in the day room about the call she had just received.  The officers were not impressed with her information and told her that they had just heard the same thing and that nothing had been found.  They confirmed that a girl from the home was missing and that she was likely a runaway and they were not covering up a murder. 

However, the next day, the DeKalb County police in Alabama received a call.  The woman asked if they had found a body in the canyon and when she was told that they hadn’t, she hung up.  But a little bit later, she called again.  She said, “If you’ll go out to the canyon where the power lines go across and look off, you’ll find a body with a bullet in it.”  Then she hung up. 

The dispatcher then called a deputy with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and was describing the call he received when the phone rang again.  It was the same caller and she said, “If you want to know where a young girl’s body is at, I’ll tell you.”  When asked where it was, she gave very precise directions.  Once the call was over, four officers from the sheriff’s office headed back to the canyon.  On the way, they requested that State Trooper Tommy Brock meet them there. 

The men searched the canyon and initially didn’t see any sign of Lisa.  But then, State Trooper Brock held his flashlight over the edge of the canyon and saw the back of a young girl.  Lisa Ann Millican’s body was found on September 29, 1982, 35 miles from the mall where she disappeared. 

There were puncture wounds visible on her neck, along with a bullet hole in her back.  About fifty feet from where her body was found, officers found a white hand towel with a few hypodermic needles wrapped inside and a pair of jeans with blood on them.  These items were collected for evidence and sent to the lab for testing while an autopsy was being performed on the young girl’s body.

The Rome Police Department and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s office then joined forces to find out what had happened to Lisa and who had done it to her.  They confirmed that it was the same woman that had called both departments as well as the radio station and as they continued working the calls, they determined that it was the same caller from the YDC shooting and firebombing. Because of this connection, they began looking into the girls that had been at the YDC that were maybe angry and had an ax to grind. 

As the police were searching for who it could be, the results of the syringe testing came back.  The substance found in the syringes was a combination of sodium, hydroxide, and hypochlorite.  These are the main ingredients in liquid drain cleaner.  They also got the results of the blood stains on the jeans.  The blood was found to be Lisa’s, but they were too large to be her jeans.  The assumption was that they belonged to the killer.

Lisa’s autopsy report determined that she was tortured prior to her death with six injections, in her neck, arms, and both buttocks of the liquid drain cleaner.  The autopsy also showed that Lisa had been raped.

Police were questioning the staff at the girls’ home looking for any clues into Lisa’s life and if it was likely that she did run away.  They were also still looking into who at the YDC could have been angry enough to go on this crime spree.  After looking through files, one girl stood out to investigators, and that was 18-year-old Judith Neelley.  The police were now looking for Judy and her husband, Alvin. 

Then on October 3rd, 1982, the Rome Police Department started receiving calls about a woman matching Judy’s description attempting to pick up young women and girls.  

She approached a woman named Diane asking if she was Patricia and when she had said no, the woman said that it was okay and she was wondering if she wanted to go riding around with her because she was lonely.  Diane politely declined and the woman eventually left her alone.  

Undeterred by Diane’s refusal, the woman continued approaching girls until, at last, someone agreed to go driving around with her.  Janice Chatman, a 22-year-old Rome native and her 26-year-old fiance, John Hancock, were walking home from visiting Janice’s mother when Janice was approached.  John had seen some nuts and bolts on the ground and bent down to collect them when the woman came up to Janice. 

The woman had said that she was from out of town and lonely and was just riding around.  She was hoping that the couple would like to ride around with her.  John told her that they were just walking home and she offered to drive them.  After going back and forth for a while, the couple finally gave in and told the woman that they would go riding with her.  

Once they were all in the car and on the road, the woman contacted someone named Nightrider over the C.B. radio.   They decided that they should all meet up and hang out.  When they met up with the man, John went in his car with him, while Janice stayed with the woman in hers.  They decided they were going to go look for some moonshine to liven up the night.  The girls followed the boys until John let the man know that he needed to use the bathroom. 

They all pulled over and when John stepped out of the car to relieve himself, the woman stepped out of her car and shot him.  Meanwhile, Janice was restrained in the car.  Then both the man and the woman got into their respective cars and drove off. 

However, John was not dead.  He waited until he knew they were both gone, then he got up and ran toward the nearest road.  He flagged down a truck driver and told him that he had been shot and needed help.  He took John to the Gordon County Medical Center where he was treated for his wound. 

John was questioned by the Gordon County police about what had happened, and they were initially very skeptical of his story, but the next day, October 4, two officers from Gordon County took him to the police department in Rome.  As John was walking by the detective squad room, he heard audio of a tape they were playing and he said, “That’s the damn woman that shot me!”  

The Rome police then sat down with John to get as much information from him as possible about the incident the night before.  After listening to his account, Rome detectives asked if he would be able to identify the two people and he said that he could.  They also asked him for his help in making composite sketches. 

On October 6, Rome police had a photo lineup ready, and John Hancock, along with Diane and another woman who had called about Judy, were asked to identify them.  After the ID had been made, the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) joined in the search for Judith and Alvin Neelley. 

Now that they knew for sure that they were looking for the couple, an officer went to Cleveland, Tennessee with a warrant in hand to search for the couple at Alvin’s mother’s home, but there was no sign of them.  On October 9, a detective knocked on the door of a motel just outside of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a woman answered the door and when asked if she was Judith Neelley, she said she was.  She was told that he had a warrant for her arrest for passing bad checks.  Pregnant again, Judy was arrested.  Three days later, Judy’s husband showed up to visit her at the Rutherford County Jail and was promptly arrested as well.  

On October 14, the Rome police department was informed that the Neelley’s were in custody in Murfreesboro.  Several officers then went up to Tennessee to search both cars as well as the home of Judy’s mother where the couple had been staying.  They found guns, handcuffs, C.B. radios, motel receipts under fake names, and the letters that Judy had written to Alvin while at the YDC.  But there was still no sign of Janice.  

Before we talk about Judy and Alvin’s interrogations, let’s talk about who Janice Chatman was.  Janice Kay Chatman was born on September 24, 1959 to Fred and Betty Morrow.  John described her as having an easy-going manner and rarely spoke about her life.  When John met her, she was divorced and had two children who were in the custody of their father.  John said that Janice was gentle and childlike and he loved to play games with her.  For fun they would either drive or walk around Rome.  

Back to the investigation.  Once in Murfreesboro, Rome investigators questioned Alvin and Judy separately.  During her interrogation, Judy was cold and showed no emotion, but she admitted to picking John and Janice up, and to shooting John.  She then described what she did with Janice.  She said that they took Janice back to their motel in Rome where she shot her in the back.  She said that while Janice lay on the floor, she was “hollering” so she shot her two more times in the head.

She also admitted to killing Lisa.  She said that they had taken her to a motel where they spent the night with her.  She watched as Alvin raped the 13-year-old girl.  Judy said that she tried to kill Lisa seven times with drain cleaner, but it didn’t work.  They took her out to the canyon where Judy had her stand at the edge.  Then she shot her in the back.  Lisa didn’t go over the edge, though, so Judy had to get on her knees and push her over.  That was when Lisa’s blood got on her jeans, so she took them off and threw them over the edge along with the syringes she had used to inject her.  

When Alvin spoke with police, he initially told them that he didn’t commit any murders, but that he would like his lawyer.  Once his lawyer arrived, they agreed that it was best that he make a statement.  He corroborated Judy’s story and admitted to raping both Lisa and Janice.  

On October 16, 1982, Judith and Alvin Neelley were extradited to Alabama to face charges for the murder of Lisa Ann Millican.  When she was being questioned in Alabama, Judy said that when she was driving around with Lisa, her two kids were in the car with her.  Judy was indicted on three charges of abduction with intent to harm, abduction with intent to terrorize and sexually violate, and murder.  She then applied for youthful-offender status in the hopes of avoiding a potential death sentence.  If this was granted, the max sentence would be three years.  

With her past criminal history and the shocking details of Lisa’s murder, the court denied this motion on December 17, 1982.

Arrest & Trial

Judy’s trial began on March 7, 1983 in DeKalb County for the murder of Lisa Ann Millican with jury selection.  Then opening statements began on March 9.  The media was given specific instructions on reporting and were granted the first three rows in the courtroom.  All other courtroom rules were as they had always been, except that anyone passing through to sit in on the trial had to walk through metal detectors – with no exceptions.  This was a first for the county.  Even a high school history class sat in to listen to the region’s most famous case.

When Judy walked into the courtroom, the prosecution was shocked at what they saw.  She was put together with nice clothes and her hair and makeup done.  They also found that her story had changed – she was now blaming everything on Alvin.  Her defense strategy was that he was the mastermind and she was being controlled by him.  

Judy took the stand in her own defense and the prosecutor said that she bowed her head and sounded like she was crying and when the judge ordered her to lift her head, there were no tears to be seen.  

After closing arguments, the judge ordered the jury to deliberate at 4:30 pm on Monday, March 21, 1983.  It was 10:45 the next morning when the jury returned with a verdict.  Judith Neelley was found guilty on all charges.  In a vote of 10-2, the jury recommended a sentence of life imprisonment.  However, the judge rejected this.  He said to Judy and the court, “The court finds by any standard acceptable to civilized society this crime was heinous, atrocious, and cruel to a degree beyond that which is common to most capital offenses.”  Then after advising Judy to stand he said, “Accordingly, Mrs. Neelley, the court hereby fixes your punishment as death.”

At 18, Judith Neelley was the youngest woman ever sentenced to death. 

She was then sent to Georgia, where Alvin was awaiting his trial, to face abduction and murder charges in the death of Janice Kay Chatman and the kidnapping and attempted murder of John Hancock.  

To avoid another death sentence, Judy agreed to testify against Alvin in exchange for the state dropping the murder and attempted murder charges against her and allowing her to plead guilty to kidnapping.  She was given a life sentence before returning to Alabama’s death row. 

Alvin Neelley pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and murder of Janice Chatman and was given two life sentences in 1983.  In 1984, he filed a habeas corpus action where he stated that he had been suffering from high blood pressure and other medical problems and hadn’t been feeling well during his confession.  He said that because of this, his confession had not been given freely.  He also claimed that he had been coerced into entering pleas when, due to his medical conditions, he was unable to resist the coercions.  He said he was under the influence of Darvon and had not been fully cognizant of the effects of his waiver of a trial by jury and he added that his lawyer had not interviewed or subpoenaed witnesses as well as didn’t file for a change of venue.  This motion was denied on July 16, 1984.

Judy and her attorneys filed for a new trial in April of 1983 on the basis that the jury foreperson wasn’t paying attention, allowing the facts of the Hancock and Chatman shootings in, the testimony of potential kidnap victims in Georgia, and several other ridiculous factors.  This was denied on September 6, 1983.

Judy filed several appeals in the years following her conviction, but all were denied.  Then in 1999, Alabama’s then governor, Fob James, commuted her sentence to life with the eligibility for parole.  He has reportedly given no reason as to why he did this.  

In May of 2023, Judith Neelley was eligible for parole.  Governor Kay Ivey sent a letter to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles strongly opposing her release.  She was denied parole and remains in prison. 

Alvin Neelley died in prison on October 24, 2005 due to complications during a surgery.

The Aftermath

Judith and Alvin’s children, April and Jeremy, the twins, were legally adopted by Jesse Lee Neelley, Alvin’s mother, and lived in Murfreesboro.  Jason Alvin, who was born while Judy was incarcerated in Alabama, and was living in Nashville but I was unable to find anything else on him now. 

Lisa Millican’s family fought for a law to be passed preventing felons in Alabama from profiting off of their crimes.  Lisa’s Law was passed in 2019 and doesn’t allow for criminals to profit from books, movies, TV shows, or podcasts.  Cassie Millican, married to Lisa’s brother Calvin, was the one leading the way for the bill and worked with Representative Proncey Robertson and Senator Cam Ward.