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Neal Jennings

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Neil jennings

Neal Jennings

Real Name: James Neal Jennings
Nicknames: Neal
Location: Odessa, Texas
Date: February 28, 1988

Case[]

Details: At 9pm on Sunday, February 28, 1988, firefighters in Odessa, Texas, were called to the scene of an untended trash fire in the parking lot of an abandoned bar at 7517 Andrews Highway. Within minutes, they discovered that, in reality, they had been called to the scene of a grisly murder. Buried in the ashes was the charred body of a man who had been beaten and shot twice in the back before being set afire. The victim was identified through dental records and fingerprints as fifty-nine-year-old Neal Jennings. He was a Dallas RV dealer and owner of Western RV Center who dabbled in restoring classic cars. He was divorced and had five grown children.
As the Odessa police began to look into Neal’s death, a macabre scenario began to unfold. They found themselves faced with one of the most bizarre homicide cases they had ever investigated. The key was a thirty-five-year-old man named Bill Roberts, an enigmatic drifter who worked for Neal and was apparently the last person to see him alive. At the time, the two were living in a travel trailer parked in the backyard of Neal's friend's house in Dallas.
On Friday, February 26, 1988, Neal and Bill stopped off at Neal’s brother Alvin’s house in Grapevine, just outside of Dallas. Eight weeks earlier, Neal had hired Bill to do the finish details on his latest project, a 1959 Ford Thunderbird. He showed off the car to Alvin. In private, Neal let on that he was having financial problems. Due to the recession, he had lost his RV businesses in two cities. In fact, he could not even pay Bill the $50 weekly salary he had promised him. Alvin agreed to let Neal leave the Thunderbird at his house while Neal and Bill went to the oil town of Odessa. Neal planned to meet an old friend there the following night.
That Friday evening, Neal and Bill drove 300 miles across the barren Texas prairie to Odessa. Along the way, they dropped off the empty trailer at a warehouse Neal rented in Abilene. At 8:30pm, they arrived in Odessa and checked into a motel at the edge of town. That would be the last time anyone ever saw Neal, not so Bill. Over the next forty-eight hours, he was all over Odessa, engaged in a number of suspicious activities.
An hour after arriving in town, Bill showed up at the home of a man named Jack, who had introduced him to Neal a few months earlier. Jack noticed that Bill was very nervous and sweating profusely. Bill asked for a glass of water and Jack got him one. Jack asked him where Neal was; he said that he had dropped Neal off at a girl friend’s house. Jack asked him why he was out of breath. He said that he had to walk from a bar down the street because the battery in Neal’s Ford pickup truck died. He asked Jack for a jump.
Jack agreed to jump start Neal's truck. Bill parked it in Jack’s backyard and went to sleep in the cab. The next morning, Saturday, February 27, Jack noticed that the truck bed was covered with a tarp. He also noticed that Bill was circling the vehicle in a strange manner, his eyes fixed on the cargo bed. At 10:30am, Bill stopped at a rundown motel where he attempted to sell the truck for $1,200 in cash. When he found no buyer, he asked the residents if he could park it in the back of the motel, hidden from view. They agreed to it.
About six hours later at 5pm, Bill returned to the motel. He asked if anyone had a pick and a shovel that he could borrow. He said that he needed to fix a broken water line for an old lady. However, the residents told him that they did not have either item. He then left and drove the truck to a convenience store less than a mile away. Store manager Saul Garcia said that Bill came in and asked if he could park the truck behind the store because it was overheating. Saul told him to go ahead and do it.
Fifteen minutes later, Saul heard two gunshots in the distance. Another forty-five minutes passed, and Bill was back, this time flashing a large wad of cash. Later, he was again seen at the motel, where he again spent the night in Neal’s truck. According to one of the motel residents, when Bill came back, he said that he had “done done [sic] the job.” He acted really nervous when he said that. He also acted nervous when he went over to get something out of the truck that was under the tarp in the truck bed.
The next morning, Sunday, February 28, another odd encounter occurred when Bill asked the same motel resident if he could use their washing machine. She noticed blood on Bill’s shirt. However, she did not think anything about it at the time; she just assumed that he had cut himself and wiped the blood off on the shirt. She then took him to the washing machine and showed him how to use it. A few minutes later, another resident noticed a small amount of blood on the back bumper of Neal’s truck. One of the residents, suspicious of Bill, wrote down his license plate and called the police.
Around noon, Bill left the motel and never returned. Eight hours later, the police were on the scene of the trash fire. Investigators discovered two pools of blood. They also found shotgun shell casings and waddings. There were drag marks leading from the parking lot over to the concrete slab where Neal was found on fire. Inspector Mark Donaldson said that there is no doubt in his mind that the fatal shots happened in the parking lot. An autopsy showed that Neal had been shot twice in the back with a 12-gauge shotgun. He also had a head wound from a "blunt instrument".
Sheriff’s deputies now believe that Bill shot Neal on Saturday night and hid his body in a trash heap. For some unknown reason, he waited twenty-four hours and then returned to set Neal’s body on fire. His apparent motive: to murder Neal so that he could steal his truck and sell it.
Inspector Donaldson says that the thing that makes the case so strange is the timeline of events. They know Neal arrived in Odessa with Bill on Friday night. However, Neal was never seen again after that night. On Saturday morning, Bill was by himself in Neal’s truck. On Saturday evening, Saul heard the gunshots. On Sunday evening, Neal's body was found due to the fire. The question is, where was Neal from Friday night until Sunday? And when did the murder actually take place?
In the course of their investigation, police learned that “Bill Roberts” was actually William Harrison "Bill" Blackwell, who had served time for larceny and theft. He was wanted by the Texas Department of Corrections on a parole violation. Authorities determined that he left Odessa within twenty-four hours of setting the fire. He then drove to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he sold Neal’s truck at a flea market on March 1. He has not been seen since. On April 25, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Suspects: Bill Blackwell is believed to be responsible for Neal's murder. He has been known to radically change his appearance. He has sometimes worn a beard and long hair, but has always had a thick mustache. He is 5’10” tall, and weighs 165 pounds. He has a tattoo of a peacock on one forearm, and the word “Cotton” on another. In addition to Bill Roberts, he has used the aliases “Robert J McGinness” and “William J Todwell”.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the January 20, 1993 episode.
  • Neal's brother Alvin was interviewed for the show; however, it was not included in the broadcast.
  • MadTV actress Stephnie Weir appeared as the female motel resident.

Results: Solved. In October 2006, Bill, using the assumed name "John Downey", was arrested in North Carolina on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He had seven shotguns, three rifles, and four handguns in his possession. Ironically, the real Downey was also a convicted felon. Bill posted bond and was released from jail before fingerprints confirmed his true identity.
U.S. Marshals received a tip that Bill was in San Antonio. Soon after, they tracked him to an apartment complex where he was staying in Universal City, Texas. On January 18, 2007, he was arrested when he left the apartment. He was charged with first-degree murder in Neal's case. After his arrest, he stated that he had witnessed Neal's murder but was not responsible for it. However, on September 22, 2008, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to thirty years in prison. In 2014, he became eligible for parole. However, it was denied.
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