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A MURDER victim’s family was forced to hunt down their loved one’s killer themselves after cops overlooked stab wounds on his body.
For five years, Ray Neal’s family carried the weight of unanswered questions and unresolved grief over his death.
The mystery seemed insurmountable until a recent breakthrough brought long-awaited clarity.
It was Ashli Haynes, Neal’s niece, who discovered his lifeless body in July 2019 at his home in Norcross, Georgia.
“I was there with my mom. He had his arms up over his face, his arms shielded in a defensive way,” Haynes told local ABC affiliate WSB.
Despite the position his body was found in, Neal’s death was initially ruled as natural by the Gwinnett County medical examiner.
But at the funeral home, staff found stab wounds on Neal’s corpse – and his death was reclassified as a homicide.
Neal’s family refused to let the matter rest. Just months ago, they urged cops to investigate Carmen Marie Hunt, a 50-year-old woman who was already in custody for a similar crime.
Their determination would ultimately crack the case wide open.
The case was reopened by the lead investigator, who revisited the crime scene in search of overlooked evidence.
“He went back and looked at crime scene photos and did some more interviews of associates and ended up locating a bloody fingerprint,” Corporal Ryan Winderweedle, the Gwinnett County Police Public Information Officer, told WSB.
Investigators found that the bloody fingerprint matched Hunt’s.
Hunt was formally accused of Neal’s murder and will now face felony murder and aggravated assault charges.
“I prayed, I thanked God because I didn’t think this day would come,” Haynes said.
Following Neal’s 2019 murder, WSB interviewed his sister, Michelle Small, as she grappled with the devastating loss of her brother.
Small died two years ago, leaving behind an unfinished battle for justice.
Haynes said she took up the fight in her mother’s honor.
I was there with my mom. He had his arms up over his face…his arms shielded in a defensive way.
Ashli Haynes, Neal’s niece
“For us to be able to finish it out for my mom is the biggest thing that I’ve accomplished in life,” Haynes said.
Neal’s case is now closed but Haynes is still fighting for the truth.
“I would love to one day know why [he was killed],” said Haynes.
As of September 2023, there were 240,000 unsolved homicides in the US, according to the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
FBI’s Uniform Crime Report data showed nearly 346,000 cases of homicide and non-negligent manslaughter went unsolved from 1965 to 2023.
