A parole hearing for a woman who helped brutally rape, torture, and murder two girls in 1982 is scheduled for a parole hearing on Wednesday in Montgomery, Alabama, but the Governor, along with families of the victims and supporters who vividly remember the crimes, are pushing for her to stay behind bars indefinitely.

Al.com reports that Judith Ann Neelley, 18 at the time, along with her then-husband, Alvin Howard Neelley, Jr.,  then 29, held the victims agains their will for numerous days and took turns raping and molesting them, before killing them.

On September 25, 1982, the couple kidnapped their first victim, 13-year-old Lisa Ann Millican, of Cedartown, from a mall in Rome, Georgia. The pair of convicts took the little girl to a hotel in Scottsboro, Alabama, where they both raped her repeatedly. According to court documents, the couple had two children of their own, who were present at the time their parents tortured the young girl.

Several weeks later, Judith Neelley attempted to kill Lisa Ann by injecting Drano into her neck with a syringe, followed by Liquid Plumber in the other side of her neck. When Lisa Ann didn’t die, Judith shot her in the back with a gun, then tossed the little girl’s lifeless body off of a cliff at the Little River Canyon in Fort Payne, Alabama.

On October 4, 1982, the convicts spotted a young couple, John Hancock, then 26, and Janice Chapman, 23, in Rome. They invited the victims to a party but after the couple agreed and followed them, the felonious couple lured the unsuspecting victims into the woods, where they shot John and left him for dead, then abducted Janice. The Neelleys brought Janice back their hotel room where they raped and tortured her repeatedly before murdering her. John survived the incident and is one of the many people currently protesting Judiths’s parole hearing.

 

Police caught up with the couple in October 1982 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, after they were busted for writing bad checks. While in custody, investigators pieced evidence together that linked the couple to the murders.

Alvin eventually took a plea deal and was given life in prison for the murder of Janice Chapman. He was never convicted for the murder, rape, and torture of Lisa Millican.

Judith Ann Neelley vs State by Leigh Egan on Scribd

Judith, pregnant with her third child at the time, was initially given death after an Alabama judge sentenced her to the “electric chair” for her participation in the crimes. In 1999, however, her sentence was commuted to life with parole possibility.

“The court finds that the defendant [Judith Neelleey] was not brainwashed and that she retained her will and her capacity to make independent choices,” court documents read.

Judith, now 53, initially waived her right to the hearing after learning of the recent outpour of rage toward her, but she never signed the formal waiver, which means the hearing is still scheduled.

“Under no circumstances should Judith Ann Neelley be granted parole. Her crimes…include acts of unspeakable brutality. And her character includes a disturbing tendency to manipulate others toward her own, violent ends,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said.

Check back with CrimeOnline as we continue to provide updates.

[Feature Photo: Judith Neelley/Alabama Department of Corrections]