In the spring of 2019, the life of 40-year-old Terrance L. Mitchell of Flatbush, Brooklyn, was tragically cut short. On the morning of May 30, 2019, a sanitation worker in Wyandanch, Long Island, made a grim discovery on the side of Spruce Street – the body of a man who was later identified as Mitchell. An autopsy would reveal that he had been shot multiple times, with a. 22 caliber bullet recovered from his body.
Homicide Squad detectives believed from the outset that Mitchell had likely been killed at another location before his body was left in the wooded area.
The investigation into Mitchell's death led authorities to his lifelong friend, Gerald Neal, a 50-year-old man from Pennsylvania. Investigators determined that two days before his body was found, on May 28, 2019, Mitchell was seen getting into the passenger side of a maroon Honda associated with Neal in Brooklyn. He was reportedly wearing the same clothes he was found in. A significant break in the case came on June 5, 2019, when U.S. Marshals and the NYPD apprehended Neal while he was driving in Queens. A search of his vehicle uncovered a. 22 caliber pistol in the back seat, a spent. 22 casing on the driver's side floor, and blood stains.
Following a lengthy investigation, Gerald Neal was indicted for the murder of his friend. On September 22, 2025, Neal was arraigned on charges of Murder in the Second Degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney stated that the passage of time did not diminish their commitment to seeking justice for Mitchell and his family. If convicted on the top count, Neal faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. The court ordered him to be remanded during the pendency of the case.
