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Ronnie
Joe NEAL
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Rape
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
November 22,
2004
Date of arrest:
2 days after
Date of birth: January 18,
1971
Victim profile: Diane Allison Tilly,
58
Method of murder:
Shooting
Location: Bexar County, Texas, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on May 4, 2006
Name
TDCJ Number
Date of Birth
Neal, Ronnie
999510
01/18/1971
Date Received
Age
(when
Received)
Education
Level
05/04/2006
35
10
Date of
Offense
Age
(at
the Offense)
County
11/22/04
33
Bexar
Race
Gender
Hair Color
Black
Male
Brown
Height
Weight
Eye Color
6 ft 0 in
250
Brown
Native County
Native State
Prior
Occupation
Wichita
Texas
welder, forklift
operator and laborer
Prior Prison
Record
TDCJ-ID #525256 on four ten year sentences for robbery,
unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and burglary of a
habitation.
TDCJ-ID #833215 on
two five year sentences for burglary of a habitation
Summary of
incident
On November 22, 2004 in Bexar County, Texas, Neal and
codefendant entered the private residence of the victim, a 58
year old white female, and forced her to have sexual intercourse.
Neal and his codefendant then escorted the victim to a vehicle
where she was shot 5 times.
Co-defendants
Pearl Ann Cruz
Race and
Gender of Victim
White Female
Summary of Events - Diane Allison Tilly Murder
Summer
1998
Ronnie Joe Neal is in Rusk County jail awaiting trial on
charges of forgery and burglary of a habitation.
June 16,
1998
Local jailers caught Ronnie Joe Neal with a concealed weapon.
July 17,
1998
Ronnie Joe Neal pleads guilty to concealed weapon charge
while in Rusk County Jail.
September
9, 1998
Ronnie Joe Neal is indicted on possession charges while in
jail.
November
17, 2000
Court of appeals dismisses charges of carrying a concealed
weapon while in jail. Neal files a claim against Rusk County
in a civil-rights suit and receives a judgment of $6,000. He
is subsequently released from prison.
November
17, 2004
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reverses the judgment of the
court of appeals and affirms the trial court's judgment. An
arrest warrant is issued for Ronnie Joe Neal.
November
22, 2004
During the rainy evening Diane Allison Tilly is packing for
a trip to New York over the Thanksgiving holidays. She hears
a knock at her door and opens it to find Pearl Cruz, an
acquaintance, who asks for help stating she has car trouble.
She enters Diane's house followed by Ronnie Joe Neal.
November
23, 2004
Co-workers report Diane missing to the Bexar County
Sheriff's Department when she doesn't show for work.
November
24, 2004
Diane's car is found near Cibolo Creek in Guadeloupe County.
It is totally burned. Ronnie Joe Neal (33) and pregnant
daughter, Pearl Ann Cruz (15) who is suspected of bearing
her own father's child, are arrested at a San Antonio motel
in connection with the disappearance of Diane Tilly. Items
belonging to Diane are in their possession at the time of
their arrest.
December
3, 2004
Memorial celebration of life service is held at Alamo
Heights Methodist Church in San Antonio.
December
4, 2004
Diane's body is recovered from under a brush pile in a muddy
field as a result of information obtained from Pearl Cruz
after she makes a deal with the Bexar County DA. The deal
limits her jail time to no more than thirty years. She
admits by affidavit that she was a party to the abduction,
rape, and murder of Diane by Ronnie Joe Neal and agrees to
testify against him as a condition of the deal.
December
8, 2004
Ronnie Joe Neal accuses Bexar County sheriff's deputies of
beating him.
December
11, 2004
Funeral service is held for Diane Allison Tilly in hometown
of Waxahachie, Texas.
December
13, 2004
Ronnie Joe Neal is indicted on capital murder charges in
connection with the murder of Diane Allison Tilly.
January
12, 2005
Ronnie Joe Neal is denied bail by Judge Sid Harle in the
capital murder charge of Diane Allison Tilly.
April 1, 2005
Diane posthumously receives the prestigious San Antonio Bar
Association Peacemaker Award.
July 14,
2005
Evidentiary hearing is held to exclude evidence and
statements obtained at time of arrest of Ronnie Joe Neal.
All requests are denied by Judge Sid Harle. Jury selection
in the capital murder trial of Ronnie Joe Neal is scheduled
to begin on January 9, 2006.
July 21,
2005
Associate Judge Richard Garcia orders DNA testing to
determine paternity of boy born on July 8 to Pearl Ann Cruz.
Cruz had identified her father, Ronnie Joe Neal, as the
father of her child at the time of their arrest. Results
prove Neal is the father of the child.
October
3, 2005
Judge Sid Harle appoints lawyer Joel Perez to represent
Ronnie Joe Neal when Cornelius Cox withdraws as his attorney.
November 22, 2005
Butterfly garden and bronze
plaque dedicated in Diane's memory at Robbins Academy, the
Alamo Heights High School alternative school where she was
lead teacher.
January
13, 2006
Jury selection begins in 226th District Court, San Antonio.
Judge Sid Harle presiding.
February 3, 2006
Texas Association for
Alternative Education dedicates its
16th Annual Conference in memory of Diane. The Alternative
Learning Center of the Austin ISD presents a handmade mosaic tile bench
in her memory to Robbins Academy.
February
21, 2006
Trial begins in 226th District Court San Antonio, TX (Bexar
County).
March 1,
2006
Jury finds Ronnie Joe Neal guilty of capital murder. Defense
attorneys request a continuance to allow for psychiatric
testing stating that Neal is mentally retarded and should
not receive the death penalty.
April 3,
2006
Punishment phase of trial begins. Neal chooses to be absent
from the court room during this phase of the trial.
April 5,
2006
Ronnie Joe Neal attempts suicide while in the Bexar County
jail by overdosing on a prescription medication. How he
obtained the medication is uncertain.
April 6,
2006
After almost five hours of deliberation the jury sentences
Ronnie Joe Neal to death by lethal injection for the capital
murder of Diane Allison Tilly.
April
13, 2006
Judge sentences Pearl Cruz, Ronnie Neal's daughter, to 30
years in prison for her part in the murder of Diane Tilly.
May 1,
2006
After a month of uncertainty as to Ronnie Neal's competency,
Judge Sid Harle officially accepts the jury's decision and
sentences him to death by lethal injection.
May 2, 2006
David Galban, 2006 Waxahachie High School graduate, receives
the Diane Allison Tilly Memorial Scholarship at awards
presentation.
February
6, 2008
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals hears oral arguments.
June 18,
2008
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously affirms Ronnie
Neal's death sentence.
January
26, 2009
US Supreme Court refuses to review Neal's case.
Killer of Alamo Heights
teacher loses appeal
By Michael Graczyk -
Associated Press
Mysanantonio.com
January 26, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to
review the conviction of a man sent to death row for the rape-slaying
of a San Antonio high school teacher.
Ronnie Joe Neal, 38, was condemned for the 2004
fatal shooting of Diane Tilly, 58. She was missing from her San
Antonio home for nearly two weeks when police found her body in a
rural area of Bexar County.
The Supreme Court refusal is an early stage of
Neal’s appeals. His lawyers could file another round of appeals.
Neal does not have an execution date.
Neal’s then 16-year-old daughter, Pearl Cruz,
also was involved in the slaying. Testimony showed she knocked on
the victim’s door under the pretense of needing to use the phone,
and when Tilly let her in both she and her father barged in. Neal
raped the teacher while the teen held a gun on her.
They also robbed the woman of jewelry, forced
her to divulge the password to her ATM card so they could take
money from her bank account and then took her away in her own car,
which later was set on fire. Evidence showed Neal shot Tilly six
times.
Cruz testified against her father in exchange
for a maximum prison sentence of 30 years. She testified her
father had sexually abused her for years before the murder and
sold her to other men for cash and drugs. Cruz gave birth to a son
and her father was the father of the child.
At his trial, Neal’s attorneys argued he was
mentally retarded and should be spared the death penalty. A Bexar
County jury disagreed.
Evidence showed Neal tried but failed to use a
condom when he raped Tilly, then doused her with hydrogen peroxide
in hopes of destroying his DNA. He also used Tilly’s .357-caliber
pistol for the murder weapon instead of his own gun, which would
have discharged casings.
The pair was arrested after using the victim’s
credit cards.
