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Angela M. SIMPSON

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Torture - Dismemberment
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: August 5, 2009
Date of arrest: August 19, 2009
Date of birth: November 29, 1975
Victim profile: Terry Neely, 46 (confined to a wheelchair)
Method of murder: Strangulation with a television cable
Location: Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, USA
Status: Pleaded guilty on March 29, 2012. Sentenced to natural life in prison plus 14 additional years on April 2, 2012
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Woman who confessed to torturing, dismembering man gets natural life in prison

By Catherine Holland - AZfamily.com

April 3, 2012

PHOENIX -- The woman who freely admitted in jailhouse interviews to committing of one of the most gruesome murders in Phoenix history will spend the rest of her natural life in prison.

Judge Paul McMurdie on Tuesday sentenced Angela Simpson to natural life in prison for first-degree murder plus 14 additional years on the remaining charges.

Detectives called the murder of Terry Neely one of the worst crimes they've ever seen.

According to police, Simpson, now 36, lured Neely to her apartment with promises of drugs and sex. Once there, she tortured, killed and dismembered him. Simpson made Neely, who was confined to a wheelchair, watch in a mirror as she beat him, stabbed him and pulled out his teeth. The torture went on for three days.

According to autopsy results, Neely sustained multiple blunt-force head injuries and a 3-inch nail had been driven or hammered into his brain. He was also stabbed approximately 50 times, his throat was sliced and he was dismembered.

"I beat him to death. ... I killed him and cut him up," Simpson told 3TV in a jailhouse interview shortly after her arrest in 2009.

The day she was sentenced, Simpson said she would have preferred to have kept Neely alive and tortured him for a week.

Neely's body was found in a burning trash can in the parking lot behind a Phoenix church in early August 2009. Detectives arrested Simpson two weeks later. A grand jury indicted her charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping on Aug. 27.

Simpson, who was already in jail when detectives talked to her about Neely, was articulate and straightforward in that jailhouse interview, calmly explaining that Neely, 46, was a snitch and got "what he deserved."

She said that while she was "kind of relieved" when police arrested her, she also had one regret, and it was not killing Neely.

"I'm a little upset that I won't be able to, you know, kill more snitches, but I have no remorse about killing him [Neely]," she said.

Last month, Simpson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. She also was charged with kidnapping and abandonment of a body.

The sentence of natural life means Simpson will die in prison.

"A defendant who is sentenced to natural life is not eligible for commutation, parole, work furlough, work release or release from confinement on any basis," reads Arizona Revised Statutes 13-751, the section defining life and death sentences in the criminal code.

When 3TV's reporter asked her in 2009 why she killed Neely, the answer, to Simpson, seemed simple.

"I don't want my children or the people I consider family to be in a place where there are snitches," she said.

Simpson also implied that Neely was not her first victim.

"I believe informants and child molesters should be killed ... period," she said.

In a jailhouse interview the day of her sentencing, Simpson said her earlier implications that she had killed before were false.

"So, that was just talk?" 3TV reporter Mike Watkiss asked.

"Right," Simpson answered. But she also said she regretted not killing a second victim, an alleged arm robber.

"I just didn't have time. I had to go somewhere," she said. "I should have killed him when I had the go."

Watkiss went on to ask Simpson how she felt about spending the rest of her life in prison.

"You know I've got  a lot of family in prison ... I'm OK with that," she answered. "I'm OK with that. I've got many sisters in prison. I can't wait to see 'em. It's really not that much of a punishment to be sentenced to spend my life with my family."

Simpson explained that she has a history of mental illness going back to when she was just 10 years old, but insisted that she does not want or expect sympathy. She also said she believes she deserved the death penalty but is happy with her sentence.

"I prefer to spend my life with my sisters," she said. "I do believe that [the death penalty] would have been justice."

"Will you kill again?" Watkiss asked.

"If the opportunity arises, I hope so," Simpson answered without hesitation.

 
 

Angela Simpson sentenced

Abc15.com

April 2, 2012

Angela Simpson, the Phoenix woman who impaled, stabbed, strangled, beat, and extracted the teeth from a disabled man -- then dismembered him and set pieces of his body on fire -- was sentenced today to life in prison for the 2009 murder.

Simpson pleaded guilty on March 22 to first-degree murder for killing 46-year-old Terry Neely, in what Phoenix police called "one of the most heinous homicide cases the department has ever seen."

Among other things, Simpson pulled Neely's teeth out, drove a nail into his head, bashed him with a tire iron, stabbed him around 50 times, and strangled him. Then she chopped up his body and threw the pieces in a trash can, which she lit on fire.

Simpson was already in jail on an unrelated armed robbery charge in August 2009 when she was interviewed by police, and admitted that she killed Neely.

Neely had been missing for about three days after he left an assisted-care facility in his motorized wheelchair on August 2, 2009.

On August 5, 2009, the fire department was called to a residential trash bin on fire, which was holding Neely's charred remains.

"Angela Simpson told investigators that she lured Terry Neely into an abandoned apartment and once inside, attacked, dismembered and placed him in a trash can," Phoenix police said at the time of her arrest on the murder charge. "Her detailed description matched the injuries that were found during the autopsy examination."

Simpson told the cops she thought Neely was a "snitch" for police, which wasn't true.

Simpson was sentenced by Judge Paul McMurdie to natural life in prison, plus 14 years for other charges.

 
 

Black woman dismembers disabled white man

MyFoxPhoenix.com

March 30, 2012

A Phoenix woman accused of stabbing and dismembering a wheelchair-bound man before burning his body has pleaded guilty in the case.

Maricopa County prosecutors say 35-year-old Angela Simpson pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder and armed robbery.

She originally was indicted on first-degree murder, kidnapping and abandonment or concealment of a dead body.

Phoenix firefighters discovered the body of 46-year-old Terry Neely in a lit trash can on Aug. 5, 2009.

Neely lived in an assisted care facility. Autopsy results showed multiple injuries, including a three-inch nail that had been hammered into Neely’s skull.

Simpson already was in jail on an unrelated armed robbery charge when she was interviewed by police and admitted that to Neely’s murder.

Police say Simpson claimed she killed Neely because he was a snitch.

 
 

Woman who confessed to torture killing to appear in court

By Tess Rafols and Catherine Holland / azfamily.com

September 8, 2009

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix woman who confessed last month to the torture killing of a Valley man is slated to appear before a judge today.

Detectives have called the murder of Terry Nelly one of the worst crimes they've ever seen.

Angela Simpson, the woman who confessed in a jailhouse interview with 3TV to killing and dismembering Neely will appear in Maricopa County Superior Court today.

Neely's body was found in a burning trash can in the parking lot behind a Phoenix church in early August. Detectives arrested Simpson two weeks later. A grand jury indicted her charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping on Aug. 27.

When she spoke with 3TV's Marissa Wingate, Simpson said she did not feel at all guilty about killing the man she believed to be a "snitch."

"I'm a little upset that I won't be able to, you know, kill more snitches, but I have no remorse about killing him [Neely]," she after, after coldy explaining what she did to the wheelchair-bound man, all while making him watch in mirror.

"He needed to see what he deserved," she said when asked why she made him watch.

Simpson's video arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Police also arrested Edward McFarland, believing he helped Simpson dispose of Neely's body.

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Grand jury indicts Phoenix woman in torture killing

PHOENIX -- A Phoenix woman accused of stabbing and burning a man whose body she dismembered has been indicted by a grand jury.

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said Friday that Angela Simpson has been charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and abandonment or concealment of a dead body.

Police also arrested Edward McFarland, 36, for allegedly helping Simpson get rid of the body.

For two weeks Phoenix police pieced together clues in the gruesome murder mystery after finding a man's dismembered body burned inside a trash bin earlier this month.

On August 18, they announced the arrest of the person who they believe is his killer, 33-year-old Angela Simpson.

According to court documents, Simpson lured 46-year-old Terry Neely to a vacant apartment on the 9600 block of N 12th Ave for sex, and when she got him inside Simpson turned violent.

She's accused of hitting Neely with a tire iron and stabbing him at least 50 times with multiple knives. His body was found with a coaxial cable wrapped around his neck, and a 3 inch nail pounded into his head with a hammer.

Neely's arms and legs were also removed from his torso before he was dumped in a trash bin which was left burning near 9th and Peoria avenues.

Authorities found the body on August 5. Neely was last seen leaving an assisted living facility on August 2.

Court paperwork indicates Simpson thought he was a police snitch, but Phoenix authorities said Neely did not work with them as an informant.

Authorities said they identified Neely by his fingerprints.

Witnesses called police after finding Neely's motorized scooter at a nearby apartment complex.

Investigators searched apartments at the complex and in one of them found the carpet had been removed and bloodstains around the apartment.

A blood sample from the apartment matched one taken from the victim.

A witness told police that he had seen smoke coming from the apartment at one point and when he went to check saw a City of Phoenix trash can in the kitchen.

Reportedly Simpson and a man known as "Cracker" asked to borrow the witness's vehicle.

When they returned the car she told the witness she had killed Neely and cut him up. They threatened to kill the witness if he said anything about what had taken place.

The County Attorney will decide at a later date to seek the death penalty.

*****

Phoenix woman admits torturing, killing disabled man

PHOENIX -- In a jailhouse interview with 3TV's Marissa Wingate, a Phoenix woman admitted killing a man confined to a motorized wheelchair after torturing him for days because he was a "snitch."

Angela Simpson, 33, told 3TV she promised Terry Neely sex and drugs in order to get him to come to her North Phoenix apartment.

Once there, Simpson said she beat Simpson with a tire iron, hammered a nail into his head, pulled his teeth and strangled him with a television cord.

"You made him watch it through a mirror?" Wingate asked.

"Yes, I did," Simpson replied calmly. "He needed to see what he deserved."

Wingate describe Simpson as articulate and straightforward. When Wingate asked her why she killed Neely, the answer, to Simpson, seemed simple.

"I don't want my children or the people I consider family to be in a place where there are snitches," she said.

Neely lived in an assisted-living home not far from Simpson's apartment and often rode around in his motorized wheelchair. Simpson admitted that she barely knew Neely, but she did consider him a snitch.

"He told on a righteous person years ago," she said. "He told me that."

"I beat him to death. ... I killed him and cut him up," she said.

Simpson told Wingate she dismembered Neely's body and stuffed it into a trash can, which she then torched. The burning trash bin was found outside a North Phoenix church on Aug. 5. Police arrested Simpson for the murder on Aug. 19.

Simpson, who was already in jail when police caught up with her, told Wingate this is not the first time she's killed.

"I believe informants and child molesters should be killed ... period," she said.

Simpson said she was "kind of relieved" that police arrested her. She also said she takes medication and might be considered mentally ill.

"I think something's wrong with the world that I live in, but, according to other people, yes, somethiing is wrong with me."

Wingate asked Simpson if she felt guilty about Neely's death.

"Guilty? For ridding the world of a snitch? No, I don't feel guilty," she answered.

*****

Police make arrest

PHOENIX -- Phoenix police say they have made an arrest in the brutal murder of a man whose body was dismembered and stuffed into a trash can that was then set on fire.

Investigators say Angela Simpson, 33, was behind the killing of Terry Neely, whose body was found on Aug. 5.

Simpson reportedly thought Neely was a snitch working with law enforcement.

She told police that she lured Neely inside an apartment near Peoria and 12th avenues by offering sex.

Once inside the apartment, police say Simpson began beating Neely with a tire iron and hammer. She also pulled out his teeth and strangled him with a television cable.

She said she tortured Neely for three days.

According to autopsy results, Neely sustained multiple blunt-force head injuries and a 3-inch nail had been driven or hammered into his brain. He was also stabbed approximately 50 times, his throat was sliced and he was dismembered.

Simpson admitted that she dismembered Neely and placed him in a trash can. She borrowed a car and drove to a church at Ninth and Peoria avenues and set the trash can on fire.

Simpson allegedly committed a robbery along with Edward McFarland, better known as "Cracker" last week. He reportedly told his apartment complex manager about the gruesome murder but threatened to kill him if he told polilce.

*****

ORIGINAL STORY

PHOENIX -- Phoenix police have released the name of the murdered man whose body was found in a burning trash can in the backyard of a Phoenix church earlier this week.

According to investigators, Terry Neely, 46, was living at an assisted-living facility. With the help of surveillance video, detectives have determined that the last time Neely was seen alive was when he left the facility in his motorized wheelchair on Aug. 2 at about 8 p.m.

Police have confirmed that Neely's body had been paritally dismembered when it was found stuffed in the trash can in the area of Ninth and Peoria avenues Wednesday morning. He was later identified through fingerprints.

Neely's motorized wheelchair was not found at the scene. At this point, police do not know where it is.

Phoenix Police investigators are asking for assistance in finding the motorized wheelchair -- -- and any information regarding his death. If anyone has any information about this incident or saw Mr. Neely with someone on Sunday evening they are encouraged to call the Phoenix Police Department, Violent Crimes Bureau at 602-262-6141 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS. For Spanish, call 480-TESTIGO.

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Man's body found in burning garbage can at Phoenix church

PHOENIX -- Investigators have identified a body found in a burning garbage container early Wednesday morning.

Fire crews were called out to the Covenant of Grace Church at Ninth and Peoria avenues at about 5 a.m. to deal with a garbage can that was burning in the back parking lot.

As they were dousing the flames, firefighters spotted a badly charred body stuffed inside the garbage can.

So far, investigators only say the victim is a 46-year-old white male. There is the possibility that the body had been dismembered. Police, however, have not yet confirmed that.

Church officials are stunned by the gruesome discovery made on their ground.

"It's upsetting to us," said Pastor Leonard Griffin. "We are sad for the family of the victim. We have no idea who the person was or what the situation was. We're here as a lighthouse for the community to try to help spread the peace of God here. We just hope we can take this tragedy and try to turn it into something positive and good for the community."

According to church officials, there was an event last night at about 9:30, but everybody who was there has been accounted for.

It's very early in the investigation and at this point, detectives have very little to go on. They're not even sure how long the body might have been in the garbage container. Investigators are trying to determine if the body was dumped at the scene or if the victim was actually killed there. His name has not released pending next of kin notification.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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