Bio

Alvin Howard Neelley Jr. was born July 15, 1953 in Georgia. As a teenager, he became involved in car theft. Alvin later married and had children, but his first marriage ended in divorce. He met his second wife, Judith Ann Adams, when he was 26 and she was just 15 years old. The couple eloped in 1980.

Judith Ann Adams was born in 1964 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Her early life was troubled. Her father was an alcoholic and passed away when Judith was nine. After meeting Alvin, she began a life of crime. Judith was later caught while committing armed robbery across the country. During her time in a Youth Development Center, she gave birth to twins.

The Youth Development Center had a reputation for criminal activity. In September 1982, there were attacks on employees of the center. One employee's home was shot at, and another's was firebombed. These incidents were connected to Judith and led to police inquiries into their criminal activities.

Murder Story

On September 25, 1982, Alvin and Judith Neelley abducted 13-year-old Lisa Ann Millican from the Riverbend Mall in Rome, Georgia. They took her to a motel in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where they held her captive. During her time with them, both Alvin and Judith subjected Lisa to sexual abuse. On September 28, Judith gave Lisa an injection of Drano and then shot her in the head. After killing Lisa, they disposed of her body in the Little River Canyon in Fort Payne, Alabama. Judith even called the police later to report the location of Lisa's body.

On October 4, 1982, the Neelleys attacked another couple, Janice Kay Chatman and John Hancock. Janice was abducted while John was shot. The Neelleys took Janice to their motel room, where they tortured and killed her. John, who survived the attack, was later able to identify Alvin and Judith Neelley to the police.

Judith Neelley was arrested on October 9, 1982, and Alvin was taken into custody just a few days later. They were linked to earlier violent acts targeting employees of a youth development center.

To avoid the death penalty, Alvin Neelley pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated assault. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 28, 1983. Judith Neelley faced a trial for her actions during Lisa's murder and was convicted after a six-week trial. She was sentenced to death, becoming the youngest woman on death row in the U.S. at the age of eighteen. Her sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment in 1999.

Alvin Neelley died in prison on October 21, 2005. He had been serving his sentence at the Bostick State Prison in Hardwick, Georgia.