On September 25, 1982, 13-year-old Lisa Ann Millican, a female resident of a home for neglected children in Cedartown, Georgia, was on an outing to the Riverbend Mall in Rome, Georgia. While at the mall's arcade, she became separated from her group and was abducted by a married couple, Alvin and Judith Ann Neelley. The couple lured her into their vehicle and took her to a motel in Scottsboro, Alabama.
For three days, Lisa was held captive and subjected to horrific abuse, including being repeatedly sexually assaulted by both Alvin and Judith Neelley. On September 28, in an attempt to murder her, Judith Neelley injected the young girl multiple times in her neck, arms, and buttocks with liquid drain cleaner. When the caustic fluid failed to kill her, Judith shot Lisa in the back. Her body was then thrown over a cliff into the Little River Canyon in Fort Payne, Alabama. Judith Neelley later made anonymous calls to the police, directing them to the location of the body. An autopsy confirmed that Lisa had been tortured and sexually assaulted prior to her death.
The investigation into Lisa's murder led police to Alvin and Judith Neelley. A survivor of another one of their attacks, John Hancock, was able to identify them as his assailants. Judith Neelley was arrested on October 9, 1982, and Alvin was taken into custody a few days later. Judith was charged with the capital offense of murder during a kidnapping. During her trial, which began on March 7, 1983, she claimed to have acted under the duress of her abusive husband.
A jury found Judith Neelley guilty and recommended a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, the presiding judge overruled the jury's recommendation and sentenced the 18-year-old to death. Alvin Neelley was not tried for Lisa's murder but pleaded guilty to other crimes, including the murder of Janice Kay Chatman, and received a life sentence. In 1999, just days before he left office, Alabama Governor Fob James commuted Judith Neelley's death sentence to life in prison, making her eligible for parole. She has been denied parole on multiple occasions, most recently in May 2023. Alvin Neelley died in prison in 2005.
