Jay Wesley Neill
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Jay Wesley Neill (born April 9, 1965 - December 12, 2002) was a convicted murderer who was executed for his part in a bank robbery that left 5 people dead.
In 1983, Neill joined the US Army. He met Robert Grady Johnson in February 1984 at a bar and became romantically involved. Neill was discharged in the summer of 1984 after disclosing that he was homosexual and quickly began having financial difficulties.
Neill and Johnson shared an apartment in Lawton, Oklahoma and a joint checking account at the Geronimo bank. The account had frequent checks returned due to insufficient funds. They were frequently at the bank to work out their money problems. The Geronimo Bank was a small facility, housed in a prefabricated building. It usually had only two tellers and no surveillance cameras or security guards. Neill commented on more than one occasion on the absence of the security measures and how easy he thought it would be to rob the bank.
On December 12, 1984, Neill shopped for guns at a local pawnshop but he was informed that a buyer must be at least 21 years old and Neill was only 19. On December 13, Johnson applied for a gun permit. That same morning, Neill went to a travel agent and tried to purchase flights to Nassau leaving at 6pm the next day. On December 14, Neill and Johnson returned to the pawn shop and purchased a revolver seen on Neill's previous visit.
Shortly after 1pm on December 14, Neill entered the First Bank of Chattanooga in Geronimo, and forced the 3 tellers to the back room where he had them lie face down on the floor and stabbed them to death. The three employees (Kay Bruno, 42; Jerri Bowles, 19; Joyce Mullenix, 25) were stabbed a total of 75 times. Mullenix was six months pregnant.
Three customers entered the bank while Neill was attempting a decapitation of one of the tellers. The customers were taken to the back room and shot in the head. Ralph Zeller, 33, died from his wounds becoming the 5th and final murder victim. Bellen Robels, 15 and her husband Reuben Robels, 20 would recover from their head wounds. Neill attempted to shoot the couple's 14 month old daughter, Marie, but the gun was out of bullets.
Neill and Johnson were arrested on December 17 in San Francisco. Marked bills were used to pay for hotel rooms, limousine rides and shopping excursions. $3,700 were left on Neill and in the hotel room. Johnson was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Whether Johnson was in the bank at the time is in dispute. Neill testified that Johnson was at home waiting on him during the robbery. However, he had previously maintained that Johnson was with him in the bank. Marilyn Roach testified to hearing the voices of two men inside the bank.
Neill was the 54th person executed in Oklahoma since the state resumed executions in 1990.
