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The Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole denied parole for 59-year-old Judith Ann Neelley. She was convicted of murder in the notorious 1982 case involving the abduction, s*xual assault, and killing of 13-year-old Lisa Ann Millican. Neelley's original death sentence had been commuted, allowing her to become eligible for parole consideration.
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of the s*xual assault and death of a young girl. Discretion is advised.
Judith Ann Neelley and her husband, Alvin Neelley abducted Lisa Ann Millican from the Riverbend Mall in Rome, Georgia, in 1982. Millican was on a trip with other girls and boys from the Ethel Harpst Home, a facility for neglected and abused children. After luring her from the arcade, the couple took the teen to a motel located in Scottsboro, Alabama where they repeatedly abused her.
The Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole firmly stated their decision not to release Neelley, ensuring that she remains incarcerated. This is her second parole request that was denied after her first one was denied in May 2018. Neelley will have another opportunity for parole consideration in 2028.
Judith Ann Neelley and her husband Alvin Neelley committed multiple crimes
Judith Ann Neelley committed a series of horrifying acts against Lisa Ann Millican on September 28, 1982. The accused handcuffed the victim to a tree in Little River Canyon, Fort Payne, Alabama while the couple's twin children were having breakfast.
In a twisted attempt to end her life, Neelley injected bleach, Drano, and other harmful substances into multiple parts of Millican's body. When this failed to kill her, Neelley resorted to shooting Millican in the back. The husband and wife then callously disposed of the teen's body by dumping it over a nearby cliff before they fled the scene.
Over the course of the following 24 hours, the accused made three separate calls to law enforcement. In the calls, they brazenly informed authorities that they had dumped the lifeless body of a 13-year-old girl at the bottom of the canyon.
Following this incident, they went on a brutal crime spree characterized by s*xual torture and violence.
They abducted Janice Chatman, 23, and her fiancé John Hancock, 26, both from Rome, Georgia on October 4, 1982. Chatman became another victim of r*pe and murder, while Hancock survived the ordeal and later identified the Neelleys as his captors, according to Law&Crime.
A few days after their crimes, the Neelleys were apprehended. They had committed several acts of violence against multiple women. Alvin Neelley pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated assault in Georgia, resulting in two life sentences, and died in prison in 2005. Surprisingly, he was never tried for Millican’s murder.
Judith Ann Neelley was found guilty of Lisa Ann Millican's murder and later pleaded guilty to the death of Janice Chatman. Initially sentenced to death, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1999.
Neelley's parole hearing lasted only 23 minutes
Back in 1983, at the conclusion of Judith Ann Neelley's trial, which spanned 16 days, a jury from DeKalb County found her guilty in less than 23 minutes of deliberation. They recommended a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. However, Judge Randall Cole disagreed with the jury's recommendation and instead imposed the death penalty on Judith Ann Neelley, ordering her execution by electric chair.
After spending more than a decade on death row, Governor Fob James commuted Judith Ann Neelley's death sentence to life imprisonment in 1999, which caused a lot of stir. In 2003, state legislators passed a law specifically aimed at keeping her in prison, but it was later overturned as unconstitutional.
In 2019, Alabama passed "Lisa's Law," named after Lisa Ann Millican, to prevent killers from profiting from their crimes. A companion law to this statute was enacted as a state constitutional amendment in 2022.
Clay Crenshaw, an attorney with the Attorney General's office, expressed his belief that Neelley should have been executed two decades ago, labeling her as "pure evil."
At her recent parole hearing, former District Attorney Mike O'Dell called her "evil and depraved," stating that she "killed for simple sport." The parole hearing lasted for 23 minutes, with the board taking only three minutes to unanimously deny Judith Ann Neelley's request for release.
Judith Ann Neelley had no advocates or attorneys representing her, while eight individuals testified against her. Due to Alabama law, she was not present at the hearing.
Among those who testified against Neelley was Tina Millican, the sister of Lisa Ann Millican. Deborah Callahan, the daughter of Janice Chatman, also attended the parole hearing, where she referred to Judith Ann Neelley as a "monster."
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey also expressed her strong opposition to Neelley's potential release in a letter addressed to the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Governor Ivey emphasized, "Quite simply, Ms. Neelley should not be allowed to set foot outside of an Alabama prison."
