Deprecia Neelon, a 23-year-old African-American woman, tragically lost her life on August 6, 2015, in Omaha, Nebraska. On that Thursday, police and firefighters were dispatched to a house fire in the northeastern part of the city. Upon their arrival, they discovered Neelon's body outside of her home. It was determined that she had been fatally shot.
Investigators pieced together a chilling narrative of her final moments.
They believe a fire was deliberately set on the back stoop of her residence to lure her outside. When Neelon stepped out to address the small blaze, she was shot and killed. Authorities theorized that she was targeted because she had witnessed a crime the day before. Specifically, investigators believe she saw Preston Pope fire a gun at a man.
The investigation into Neelon s death led to the arrest of Preston Pope. He was subsequently convicted of her first-degree murder in 2018. Pope was also found guilty of killing Garion Johnson, who was shot to death in his car three days after Neelon s murder in what was described as an ambush. For these crimes, Pope received two life sentences.
Following his conviction, Pope appealed the court's decision, arguing against the jury instructions and the methods used by police to collect his DNA. In May 2020, the Nebraska Supreme Court denied his appeal, upholding the original murder convictions. The court determined that his arguments were either without merit or had not been raised during the initial trial.
