WEST PALM BEACH — Tommy Neal Jr. was a charismatic father of two who took pictures as often as he posed in them. Three hours before he was shot to death in the front seat of his mother’s car, investigators say the 28-year-old snapped one of the man who pulled the trigger.
Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies arrested 26-year-old Derian Williams on July 25, more than six years after Neal’s death. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.
Williams is represented by the Office of the Public Defender, which, as a practice, does not comment on open cases. According to his arrest report, Williams told deputies he wasn’t with Neal on Jan. 20, 2019, despite what investigators say is a trail of evidence indicating otherwise.
The photo of Williams, taken hours before the shooting, is only one of several ties linking him to the crime. Deputies said they also found Williams’ DNA on the mouth of a soda bottle in the car’s center console and, while combing Williams’ iPhone, noticed a spike in his activity data during the time of the shooting and afterward.
They found a Google search query the day after the shooting: “man found dead in car yesterday.” The search yielded a Palm Beach Post article, which, according to deputies, Williams clicked on and opened.
Deputies also found online messages days after the murder in which Williams tried to trade his Glock Model 22, a gun which uses the same ammunition that killed Neal. When a potential buyer warned that no one wanted a gun “with bodies or attempts,” Williams replied with a string of laughing emojis.
‘Give us peace’: Murder victim’s parents begged for answers six years before arrest
According to court records, Neal had stopped by the Riviera Beach home of his mother, Glenda Neal, about 1 a.m. on Jan. 20, 2019. He borrowed his mother’s gray Ford Focus and promised he’d be back soon.
Deputies believe Neal picked up Williams in his mother’s car and traveled south. Their phones pinged cell towers in tandem as the car moved through Lake Worth Beach and Boynton Beach and into Broward County. By sunrise, both devices had returned to Palm Beach County.
When Neal didn’t return home that morning, his mother and sister spent the next 24 hours calling his phone, contacting his friends and begging Riviera Beach police to find the Ford Focus as they waited the necessary time to file a missing-person report.
Glenda Neal said later that she knew when authorities found her car, they’d find her son. She was right.
Deputies found Neal and the Ford Focus north of the West Palm Beach city limits in a parking lot east of Interstate 95 and north of Blue Heron Boulevard at 10:15 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2019.
Footage from a nearby security camera captured the car pulling into the lot shortly after 6:30 a.m. the day prior. The car had parked only for a minute before a man stepped out of the front passenger seat and began to wipe down the car, inside and out.
He did this for five minutes before walking away, his hands in his pockets and face concealed. Deputies canvassed the area with fliers and shared videos of Neal’s family begging for information.
“He was our baby,” said Neal’s mother, Glenda. “He has two beautiful kids, who love and miss him dearly. And they are all so lost without their dad.”
Photos of his daughter and son — and the Pomeranian puppy “Snowball” he got them for Christmas — dominated his Facebook page. His relatives described Neal as a church-going man, charismatic and devoted to his family, who had recently earned his high school diploma and was interested in becoming a certified nursing assistant.
“I just want justice for my son. You know, I can’t sleep. I’m waking up every morning with these thoughts in my head,” said Tommy Neal Sr. “As a father, you always want to protect your kids. It’s just — I’m stuck. I’m stuck.”
He continued: “I wish someone could help us just give us some peace, just solve the murder. Please, Father God, just give us peace. That’s all I ask for.”
A judge issued a warrant for Williams’ arrest on July 16. Williams was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail, where he remains without bail, nine days later.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Digital breadcrumbs, DNA evidence led to arrest in cold case murder of Tommy Neal Jr.
Reporting by Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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