Howard Monteville Neal

Serial Killer

Howard Monteville Neal: Murders in Mississippi and California

Overview

Howard Monteville Neal is an American convicted murderer and self-confessed serial killer whose known crimes occurred in California and Mississippi between 1980 and 1981. He was convicted in Mississippi for the murders of his 13-year-old niece, Amanda Joy Neal, and his half-brother, Bobby Clifford Neal. Evidence and court records also established his responsibility for the murder of 12-year-old Melanie Sue Polk during the same violent episode. Decades later, Neal confessed to killing two young travelers whose bodies had been discovered in a shallow grave in the Mojave Desert in 1980. Neal's crimes were marked by abduction, sexual violence, shootings and attempts to conceal the victims in remote locations. Three members of the same Mississippi family were murdered during a single night in January 1981. The earlier California case remained largely unresolved for decades because the victims could not be identified. Advances in forensic genetic genealogy eventually restored their names and strengthened the connection between Neal and five known victims.

The Mojave Desert Double Murder

During 1980, Neal lived in or near Ludlow, a small desert community in San Bernardino County, California. At some point that year, he encountered two young travelers later identified as Pamela Dianne Duffey and William Everette "Digger" Lane. The pair were reportedly hitchhiking together when Neal offered them transportation and brought them to his residence. According to the confession Neal gave investigators in 2017, he attempted to sexually assault Pamela. William intervened, and Neal attacked and killed him. Neal then sexually assaulted Pamela and killed her. Both victims suffered gunshot wounds and blunt-force injuries. Their unclothed bodies were placed together in a shallow grave in an isolated area of the Mojave Desert near Ludlow. On November 17, 1980, an archaeologist working in the desert discovered the grave. Investigators found no clothing, identification or personal belongings that could reveal the victims' identities. Their physical descriptions were entered into missing-person and unidentified-remains databases, but repeated efforts to identify them were unsuccessful. For approximately four decades, they were known only as an unidentified young woman and man. Neal became a person of interest because he had lived in Ludlow during the period when the murders occurred and had departed the area before committing the Mississippi killings. Investigators were initially unable to question him fully about the California case. When detectives interviewed him in prison in November 2017, Neal confessed to killing the couple and described circumstances consistent with evidence from the crime scene. He claimed that he had never learned their names. The victims were finally identified through forensic genetic genealogy. Pamela's daughter, Christina Salley, had been searching for information about her biological mother and submitted DNA during that effort. Investigators established that the unidentified woman was Pamela Dianne Duffey, who was born in 1959. DNA supplied by William Lane's family subsequently confirmed the identity of the male victim. Authorities announced the identifications in 2021, more than 40 years after the bodies were discovered. ...

Confirmed Victims: (3)

Bobby Clifford Neal Age: (41), Date of Death: 1981-01-24

Suspected Victims:

William Everette Digger Lane Age: (20), Date of Death: 1980-11-17

Pamela Dianne Duffey Age: (21), Date of Death: 1980-11-17

Howard Neal - Wikipedia