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For years, Sally McNeil captivated audiences as the bodybuilder known as “Killer Sally.” Yet, in a tragic twist, this stage persona would eerily foreshadow a grim reality.
On Valentine’s Day in 1995, Sally McNeil shot and killed her husband, Ray McNeil, in what she asserts was an act of self-defense. Despite her claims, skepticism lingers, with some suggesting the act was premeditated rather than impulsive.
Reflecting on the harrowing incident, Sally shared with Rx Muscle that she feared for her life during that fateful confrontation. “On that final night, I felt as though I would not survive that choking or throughout the night,” she recounted. “I panicked.”
Sally’s journey began long before that tragic evening. She was serving as a U.S. Marine and was a divorced mother of two when she crossed paths with Ray, a fellow Marine and bodybuilder, in the 1980s. Their connection was intense and immediate, as she later recalled in the 2022 Netflix docuseries Killer Sally, describing their bond as “lust at first sight.”
Sally was a U.S. Marine and divorced mother of two when, in the 1980s, she first met Ray, a fellow Marine and bodybuilder.
She later described in the 2022 Netflix docuseries Killer Sally that their relationship was “lust at first sight.”
“He looked like the statue of David,” she remembered. “He seemed beautiful.”
Together, the couple found success on the body building circuit, becoming the first husband and wife duo to win the Armed Forces Bodybuilding Championships in 1990.
But the relationship was also plagued with problems. Sally told Rx Muscle the marriage turned violent just three days into their union, alleging that Ray beat her “unmercifully.” According to her account, the violence escalated from there with Ray punching her in the face, throwing her from a bathtub, choking her and repeatedly beating her.
“Looking back I realize I was a classic case of Battered Wife Syndrome. I was in denial that Ray was abusive to me,” she told the outlet. “My self-esteem was so low. I didn’t think I could attract another man like Ray. I felt lucky to have him.”
Both Ray and Sally also reportedly used steroids, according to court records, and Sally had her own record of violence.
At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Sally hit Ray and once threw a VCR out a second-story window as he walked below. She also had “several violent altercations” with others, per court records, including women she believed Ray was having an affair with, bouncers at the bar and even the police.
When Was Ray McNeil Killed?
The violence turned deadly on the night of Feb. 14, 1995. Ray told his wife he was going to go out to buy chicken for dinner, but he didn’t return for hours, according to the court documents.
Sally suspected that her husband had met with another woman and a fight broke out between the couple.
“[Sally] told police that Ray then slapped her, pushed her down on the floor and started choking her,” the court records stated. “[Sally] squirmed away, ran into the bedroom and took her shotgun out of its case in the closet.”
After grabbing the gun, Sally shot Ray twice, once in the face and once to the stomach.
She then called 911 and told the dispatcher, “I just shot my husband because he just beat me up.”
Ray could be heard moaning in the background of the call, per the court records, as he asked,“Why did you shoot me?”
Sally allegedly replied, “I told you that I wasn’t taking your s–t anymore.”
Ray was rushed to the hospital, where he died from his injuries later that night.
Sally McNeil Argues Self-Defense in Court
At her 1996 trial, prosecutors argued that the fatal shooting was an act of murder.
However, Sally’s defense team maintained that she killed her husband because she was in fear of her own life. They presented a witness who testified that Sally “would definitely qualify to be a battered woman” and suffered from Battered Women’s Syndrome, according to the court records.
Although prosecutor’s own expert agreed that Sally was a “battered woman,” the expert argued that Sally was “not the typical person with battered woman’s syndrome” because of her assertiveness and aggressiveness.
The jury found Sally guilty March 19, 1996 of second-degree murder. The next month, she was sentenced to 19 years to life behind bars.
Sally was released on parole on May 29, 2020.
Where is Sally McNeil Today?
Following her release from prison, Sally lived in a Veterans Transition Center, where, according to People, she met new husband Norfleet Stewart.
“She’s out in the world, she has a job, and she’s married to a really good man,” Killer Sally director Nanette Burstein told Newsweek in 2022. “She’s currently in touch with her children and just trying to forge new paths.”
Sally’s case and subsequent conviction came into the spotlight once again after the #MeToo movement as new questions arose about Sally’s culpability in the shooting.
Burstein told Oxygen that she was drawn to the story herself because Sally wasn’t the “perfect victim.”
“That’s what makes this story so complex,” she said in an interview at the time. “We hope for perfect victims and when they’re not perfect, we get angry, but nobody’s perfect, especially in situations of domestic abuse.”
Burstein also believed that Sally’s “Killer Sally” persona in the ring and her violent history may have impacted how the jury viewed the bodybuilder.
“This hurt her both in the media as well as in the trial it was brought up in,” she said, “even though it was the silly stage name and had nothing to do with her propensity towards violence.”
Sally addressed her own thoughts on her conviction in Killer Sally.
“I didn’t deserve the sentence I got. But I don’t care anymore,” she said. “I’m free.”
