It was 2 p.m. Saturday, September 10, 1977. I was four months into my first newspaper job as editor of the Newton County News and this funeral should have been the first I covered.
I was so ill-equipped for my job at that point, it never occurred to me to write what should have been one of the most important stories I would ever write. Instead, the words were never written.
The sun was shining brightly on a day when we were saying goodbye to someone who meant so much to the community.
It was in this same building only six days earlier that Barbara McNeely, 20, taught her fourth grade Sunday school class. Three days later, sometime around 8:30 p.m. she was stabbed to death in the east parking lot at Northpark Mall.
Somehow I managed to squeeze into one of the last available seats in the Granby United Methodist Church building. I was wearing the same suit I wore a few years earlier when I had my senior picture taken for the East Newton High School yearbook. I couldn't find a tie, so I went without one.
The temperature outside was somewhere around 90 degrees, something that was unusual for September in those days. I don't remember whether the church had air conditioning, but I vividly remember the air being circulated by seemingly hundreds of cardboard fans.
Almost 49 years later, I don't remember the words that were spoken, I just remember the feeling I had. This couldn't be happening. I'm sure I'm not the only one who had that thought.
***
During the fall of 1977 and early months of 1978, I followed closely the coverage of the arrest and trial of William McMurray II, an Ozark Bible College student who had only lived in Joplin for 16 days when he killed Barbara.
I never revisited that coverage until today. Nearly half a century later I see those stories quite a bit differently than when I originally read them.
At age 21, I wasn't as familiar with how court cases were handled. My first murder trial was a few years off. When I read about McMurray's trial in old Joplin Globe stories today, I'm still shocked that an eight-woman, four-man jury found McMurray not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, but it's easier to see how it happened.
Over the years I've been told the Jasper County Prosecuting Attorney's office was overconfident, but I always assumed that was people trying to rationalize an inexplicable result.
I no longer believe that.
Prosecuting Attorney Tom Elliston presented his case in 34 minutes and called only two witnesses, both from the Joplin Police Department.
Jurors heard about McMurray's confession and how he led police officers to the location of the knife he used for the murder.
The prosecution and the public defenders who were representing McMurray agreed to stipulate to certain facts:
-McMurray's bloody fingerprints were on Barbara's car.
-Strands of McMurray's hair were found in a necklace Barbara was wearing.
-Barbara's blood was on the murder weapon.
By stipulating to those facts, the jury simply heard them stated quickly then brushed past as if they weren't important. It makes a difference when the prosecution stacks one witness after another bringing out separate pieces of evidence to build a case.
The prosecution never presented any testimony about the extent of Barbara's wounds, the brutality with which McMurray killed her.
The defense's case, on the other hand, was extensive, beginning with a social worker who had worked with McMurray in Indiana before he moved to Joplin.
Two psychiatrists testified with the first saying McMurray had his first "major episode" when he killed Barbara and another one while he was being examined at the state hospital in Fulton and that he was seeing his mother's face on various women he saw that night before finally mistaking Barbara for his mother and killing her. He described it as "paranoid delusion."
The second psychiatrist said moving from Indiana to Missouri created "a stressful situation" for McMurray.
The mother was in the courthouse for the trial but after McMurray had a visible reaction when he saw her, she was kept out of the courtroom. She was brought to Missouri by the defense to testify but was never called.
The prosecution never called any witnesses to rebut the psychiatrists' testimony, only saying McMurray was faking.
When the case went to the jury Friday, January 27, 1978, the deliberations lasted past midnight with a message coming back to Judge Charles Teel that the jury was divided 7-5. Teel told them to continue deliberations and 22 minutes later they returned with the not guilty verdict.
As I reread those articles, I realized there was some important information missing from the coverage, something that only appeared in my newspaper, the Newton County News, though I had nothing to do with it.
I was still attending Missouri Southern State College at that time so our coverage was done by one of our columnists, Eulah Hawkins, who noted the effect that McMurray's supporters from Ozark Bible College and more specifically from the religious organization Revival Fires was having.
A large contingent from the group showed its support for McMurray during the trial, making sure to let people see they were praying for him and also spreading the word that McMurray had seen the light.
Globe stories made mention of the McNeely family sitting behind the prosecution, but never mentioned the demonstrative ways Revival Fires showed support for the accused. The group didn't seem to have any sympathy for the victim and celebrated when the verdict was announced.
The verdict set off a firestorm locally.
As much as people talk about someone getting off with an insanity plea for murder, it rarely happens.
That was just the beginning of the ways the system failed the McNeely family.
***
In the days following, the Joplin Globe was overwhelmed with letters blasting the verdict. It would have been a great opportunity to allow the public to vent, but Globe editors elected to limit the letters to a couple of people who attacked the verdict and one who supported it, saying those adequately represented the public's feelings.
One of those letters came from the McNeely family:
"We wonder what kind of a crime a person would have to commit in Jasper County to be found guilty.
We weren't prepared for the verdict of not guilty" in the very early hours Saturday morning January 28.
"We can't understand how those 12 people who sat on the jury could listen to all the testimony and come up with that verdict.
"If William McMurray is insane then 50 percent of the people in this country need to be behind bars. Anyone who could recall events which happened up to the time he walked up to Barbara McNeely's car and again when he panicked and ran knew what he was doing when he was stabbing her.
"Jury, did you know how many times Barbara was stabbed. We don't recall this coming out during the trial. She had 23 deep stabs, both wrists slashed and her throat slit. 37 stabs all together.
"Apparently, the jury felt sorry for him. But what about us, her parents? We lost a wonderful daughter. She never harmed anyone, was a good Christian and never gave us any trouble or worry or anyone else who knew her.
"We would personally like to ask each juror. Do you have a daughter and, if so, would you like to lose her that way? We have not had very many nights we could sleep since Barbara's death on September 7, 1977 and I'm sure it will be a long time before we will again.
"Jury, we hope you have trouble sleeping, too. This boy will be out of the hospital in no time at all and he will probably have another "fit of rage."
"Since he fooled everyone this time he'll try it again. At least next time it can't be our daughter but it might be yours.
"Yes, we are very, very bitter. We have a sick society and no justice. All the laws seem to be for the guilty."
***
The McNeelys' letter proved to be far more accurate than the testimony of one of the psychiatrists who said McMurray's prognosis for recovery "isn't very good," and he would be in the state mental hospital for a long time.
It only took five years for the doctors at the hospital to recommend his release. Though it didn't happen at that point, McMurray was released August 8, 1985, less than seven years after the murder and apparently, he had been receiving special privileges prior to that time.
Jasper County authorities and the McNeely family did not learn of McMurray's release until nearly a year and a half later.
By that time, McMurray was already working as an EMT, had received an award from the lieutenant governor and was married with two children- one was his wife's from her former marriage. The other was his child born April 18, 1984, more than a year before he was officially released.
***
In August 2010, I received an e-mail from a Crawfordsville, Indiana reporter telling me William McMurray was writing a book about Barbara's death and about how he had changed his life around since that day in 1977.
I wrote a Turner Report post condemning the book and how McMurray was cashing in on an act that devastated the McNeely family and all those who loved Barbara.
I received a response from McMurray, who said there was nothing he could say that could "justify the taking of a human life," and all of the efforts he made to reach out to the McNeely family and the Joplin community, but his efforts had been "strongly discouraged."
After his brief lip service to the evil act he'd committed, he came to the real purpose of his message.
He spent several paragraphs telling me about the wonderful things he had done since his release, his work as an EMT, his charity activities and how he hoped his book would help others who had to deal with "childhood issues."
I never responded and I'll never read that book.
Let me correct one mistake I made.
I incorrectly wrote that McMurray wrote that he made efforts to contact the McNeely family.
That's not true.
He said he made efforts to contact "the McNealy family."
He couldn't even bother to get the name right.
Barbara McNeely died 49 years ago today
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