A Father and His Fury
20/20
Sunday, January 10, 1999
(This is an unedited, uncorrected transcript.)

DIANE SAWYER, ABCNEWS

Good evening and welcome to 20/20 Sunday. We begin tonight a story that has at its heart a question of human emotion and revenge. If someone were to harm a person you loved, would you be tempted to violence or murder? Have you wondered about it?

BARBARA WALTERS, ABCNEWS I think some people have wondered about it. Don’t you think?

DIANE SAWYER Sure.

BARBARA WALTERS The person we’re talking about tonight, this man, it wasn’t an idle question, it was a tragic reality. He and his family were ripped apart by his flash of rage, his single act of revenge after his daughter revealed a terrible secret. She made an accusation about someone he thought was a good friend. Can you imagine what you would have done? Well, listen as he tells his story to Bill Ritter, then decide.

PAUL NEELY The law was not a consideration in my head. Nothing was, nothing was considered except this man’s gone.

BILL RITTER, ABCNEWS (VO) On a pitch—dark Missouri night in 1994, Paul Neely took the law into his own hands and entered the abyss, a black hole of raw revenge, revenge against this man, Mike Terrell, a man who had once been his best friend. (interviewing) Is revenge sweet, Paul Neely?

PAUL NEELY No, revenge isn’t sweet. I recommend anyone don’t take the law into your own hands.

BILL RITTER (VO) In a few short hours, this father of three was transformed—a fun—loving family man to a cold—blooded murderer who sacrificed his freedom to protect his youngest daughter, Charli.

CHARLI My father had made it very clear that he would do anything in the world for us, that we were his life. That, you know, he would die for us.

BILL RITTER (VO) And so, what deed could have driven this gregarious man to murder his best friend? Charli says it happened here, at the Neely’s apartment in Jefferson City, Missouri, one afternoon in 1990. Charli says she was home alone when Mike Terrell showed up—a man so huge, 6’5”, 265 pounds, his friends called him Big Bird.

CHARLI He just basically threw me down and suffocated me. He, like, had his whole body over me.

BILL RITTER (VO) Charli says Terrell raped her and then threatened to hurt her if she ever told her parents. And so she didn’t for four years—until one night she could keep it secret no more.

PAUL NEELY I walked into the kitchen and Charli was covered with tears and sporadically crying and gasping and I thought, “Well, this is something bad.”

CHARLI I was, like, “A while back”—and I told him how old I was—I was, like, “Well, your friend came into the house.”

PAUL NEELY She goes, “Dad, he raped me when I was a 12—year—old girl.”

BILL RITTER (VO) A powerful fury swept through Paul Neely.

PAUL NEELY In my mind when she told me , he was already dead. It just hadn’t happened yet.

CHARLI I thought I had him calmed down, and he was fine for that brief second in the kitchen. But the minute we walked in the living room, he blew up.

PAUL NEELY It was rage at myself. What a fool. I was angry at him for how could you possibly think that you are going to do this to me and hurt me like this and live to tell about it?

BILL RITTER (on camera) So what would you do if this happened to your daughter? Would you go to the police and let the criminal justice system run its course? Well, that’s not what Paul Neely decided to do. Instead, just a couple of hours after his daughter had told him she had been raped, Neely lured Mike Terrell to the back of this furniture store, and it was then that Paul Neely took the law into his own hands.

PAUL NEELY I said, “Mike, I have got a deal for you. You can’t go wrong. I need to meet you behind the furniture store where I’m working now.” We come driving around to the back to the side to the loading dock.

BILL RITTER (interviewing) And where’s your gun?

PAUL NEELY The gun’s in my coat pocket.

BILL RITTER So he can’t see it.

PAUL NEEDLY No, he can’t see it. And I said, “Mike,” and he says yeah, and I say “Why did you rape my baby?” He said, “Paul, she’s a (beep) liar.” And started to come at me like that. And I put the gun up to his head and I said, “Don’t do it, Mike.” I said, “Pray for forgiveness for what you’ve done to my daughter, and I’m going to pray for forgiveness for what I’m about to do to you.” I started shooting. I probably shot two or three times. I believe I hit him all the times. He started staggering at the end of the building and as he went around the edge of the building, he dropped.

BILL RITTER (VO) The police had no idea who killed Mike Terrell. But Neely’s family did.

PAUL NEELY (Clip from home video) Please forgive me. I’m not a murderer. I’m not a killer.

BILL RITTER (VO) Three days after the murder, Neely taped this video for his children.

PAUL NEELY (Clip from home video) I did what I thought should have been done, right or wrong. I love you all. I’m going to miss you all, but please do not worry about me.

BILL RITTER (VO) What happened next would shock the tiny town of Jefferson City. Paul Neely confessed to the murder of Mike Terrell. Not to the police, but to a TV reporter on the air.

PAUL NEELY (Clip from news video) And I shot him in the head. He turned around and started to run, and I shot him again. He hit the ground, I emptied the gun into his head.

BILL RITTER (VO) The notion of a father killing his daughter’s rapist seemed to resonate throughout the community.

SUE BORGMEYER, PAUL NEELY’S MOTHER Paul got a lot of letters. I got a lot of letters.

BILL RITTER (VO) Paul’s mother, Sue Borgmeyer says she was deluged with offers of support.

SUE BORGMEYER It was just amazing. We had calls from people we didn’t even know, saying, “Hey, I don’t blame him. I’d have done the same thing.”

BILL RITTER (VO) Neely’s friends and family raised about $250,000 for his bail, a small fortune in these
parts. (Clip from news video)

REPORTER Did you expect this to happen?

PAUL NEELY From my family, they can do anything. Family’s worth more than all the gold in the world.

BILL RITTER (VO) Bill Ritter while the town was swept up in the emotion of vigilante justice, prosecutor
Richard Callahan was preparing his case against vigilante murder. (interviewing) To the people who will watch this story and say, “Good for Paul Neely, he fought for his daughter’s honor, took justice into his own hands when he didn’t believe he would get it,” what would you say?

RICHARD CALLAHAN, PROSECUTOR I would say this isn’t a case where a father killed someone who
raped his daughter. This is a case where a father killed someone who might or might not have raped his daughter. And there’s a difference.

BILL RITTER (VO) And no matter how much we might sympathize with Paul Neely’s rage as a father, says Callahan, the truth is he robbed Mike Terrell of his rights, especially his right to a fair trial. (interviewing) He wasn’t charged. He wasn’t tried. He wasn’t convicted. Was there any kind of flash across his face that made you think, “Maybe this guy didn’t do it, maybe he didn’t do it”?

PAUL NEELY Oh, no. On the contrary, just the opposite. He was guilty as sin. He raped my daughter.

BILL RITTER Don’t you really have to believe that for what you did?

PAUL NEELY I guess you’re right. I never thought of that. Yeah, I do. I have to believe it.

BILL RITTER Because if you didn’t believe that he was guilty.

PAUL NEELY It would be a devastating thing.

BILL RITTER (VO) Although he had no history of child molestation, by anybody’s standards, Mike Terrell could be one mean guy. (interviewing) What’s in Mike Terrell’s rap sheet?

JOHN HEMEYER, JEFFERSON CITY SHERIFF A pretty good size rap sheet. Jail file.

BILL RITTER (VO) Jefferson City sheriff, John Hemeyer. (interviewing) Mike Terrell was a tough guy?

JOHN HEMEYER Mike Terrell was a tough guy.

BILL RITTER Hard drinker?

JOHN HEMEYER He was known to drink quite a bit.

BILL RITTER Rough on people, liked to fight?

JOHN HEMEYER He could be, yeah. Mike—Mike fought.

BILL RITTER Tough with women?

JOHN HEMEYER Far—yeah, pretty well.

BILL RITTER You know what the cops say about you. They say, hey, Paul Neely ran around with Mike.

PAUL NEELY Right, right.

BILL RITTER Did the same things he did.

PAUL NEELY They are wrong there. I did run around with Mike. And there is no excuse for that. This was a time in my life I was divorced from my first wife, and I got a wild seed in me. And I’m no saint. But my morals are in check and my standards are high.

BILL RITTER (VO) And so when Charli told her father that she had been raped by Mike Terrell, Paul
Neely snapped, wracked with guilt that he might have let this happen.

PAUL NEELY I broke bread with this man. I welcomed him into my home. He met my children, played with my children. I felt guilty, I felt responsible for not being wiser, for letting this man involved. I felt guilty for what happened to my daughter.

BAILIFF Can you state your full name for the record.

PAUL NEELY William P. Neely.

BILL RITTER (VO) Paul Neely’s murder trial was big news in Jefferson City. From the start, prosecutor Callahan had a difficult decision—what would be the charge against Neely? Callahan believed the jury would be sympathetic to Neely’s defense, that he acted out of parental instinct. So rather than charge murder one, premeditated murder, which carries the stiffest penalty, Callahan instead charged Neely with the lesser crime of second—degree murder, alleging the killing was an act of passion. (interviewing) Are we all capable of doing what Paul Neely did?

RICHARD CALLAHAN I think so, yes.

BILL RITTER Every one of us?

RICHARD CALLAHAN Almost every one of us.

BILL RITTER (VO) The trial lasted four days. The jury deliberated just three hours, and then found Paul Neely guilty. The evidence was never in dispute. But clearly, as Callahan had predicted, the jurors was sympathetic. They gave Neely the most lenient prison sentence the law would allow, 10 years. Still, Neely’s family was devastated.

SUE BORGMEYER Late at night I would walk all around the yard and I would want to scream. I just cried out to God for help to get through all this. You know, all during my years of having kids, I always thought to myself, “There’s two things I don’t want to ever, ever go through. I don’t ever want to see one of my kids go to prison, and I don’t want to see one die.” And I had it to happen to both things in one year.

BILL RITTER (interviewing) Your son died.

SUE BORGMEYER My other son died and one went to prison. And let me tell you something I found out—it’s easier to see one die.

BILL RITTER (VO) Neely is now four years into his sentence in a medium security prison in western Missouri. If he behaves, he’ll be out in three. In the meantime, Paul Neely has lost a huge chunk of his life. His second marriage ended in divorce soon after his trial. And since he’s been in prison, he’s missed his father’s funeral, his other daughter’s wedding and the birth of two grandchildren.

PAUL NEELY I have lost everything. I finally hit rock bottom. My wife Debbie and my three stepchildren, I lost them forever. They were devastated. They were hurt. And my mom. She is doing time with me. All my brothers and sisters. I hurt too many people.

BILL RITTER (VO) But Paul’s deepest regret is Charli. Paul says he now understands just how much over the years he failed his daughter. (interviewing) You weren’t there as a father as much as you wanted to be?

PAUL NEELY As much as I should have been, no, I wasn’t.

BILL RITTER (VO) And because of that Neely didn’t see how damaged Charli had become.

CHARLI I went on a kick for a long time thinking I was, like, the trashiest person, the ugliest person, dirty. There were times I would stand in the shower and just, like, cry just thinking about stuff.

BILL RITTER (VO) Charli is now 21, barely making ends meet for her family, she is pregnant with her fourth child.

PAUL NEELY I didn’t help Charli. I’m not out there in the free world right now to console her, to try to explain to her that she did nothing wrong, that she is an innocent victim, to try to get her life back together. If anything, I burdened Charli. I hurt her more. She feels responsible for me being where I’m at now.

CHARLI I tell myself time and time again that I don’t feel responsible. But over all, I feel totally responsible for my dad being in there.

BILL RITTER Was it worth it?

PAUL NEELY No. I hurt too many people. Too many innocent people. It was a mistake.

BILL RITTER (VO) What Paul Neely did on that dark night in 1994, the night he killed a man in cold blood, will haunt him forever. The once angry father who sought revenge now knows there’s no such thing. (interviewing) So for the fathers who are out there who may find themselves in a similar situation, what would you tell them?

PAUL NEELY What I would tell them is don’t do it. Don’t do it.

BARBARA WALTERS Recently Paul Neely was eligible for parole, but the Missouri Department of Corrections denied his request because of the seriousness of his crime and so he is expected to serve out the remainder of his term, and that’s almost three more years in prison.