I really do hope there is a Hell.
 

And its reserved for people like Ronnie Joe Neal.

See background at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met....c97b0fcd.html

He stands accused of robbing, raping, & murdering Dianne Tilly, a truely inspirational woman (whom I did not know personally - but read about her amazing inspirational life) then dumping her body near a small lake here in SA. His 15 year old daughter, whom he forced to hold a gun on Ms. Tilley while he raped her, confessed and led the police to the body this week. She had been missing since the Tuesday before thanksgiving.

The alleged murderer was her lawn man and had been heard in the jail bragging about doing her in.

San Antonio has been gripped by the story of late and a columnist for the local paper wrote a great story on her today. See it below.

Ken Rodriguez: Diane Tilly's life: A golden hyphen between 1946 and 2004
Web Posted: 12/08/2004 12:00 AM CST

San Antonio Express-News

When I think about Diane Tilly, I think about the best sermon I ever heard on life and death — a 30-second TV spot built around an inscription on a gravestone.

To paraphrase the Rev. Charles Johnson of Trinity Baptist: It's not the day you were born that is important. It's not the day you die that matters. It's the hyphen — the life in between — that counts.

I never got to meet Diane Tilly. I wish I had. The hyphen in her epitaph gleams like gold.

Between July 6, 1946, and Nov. 22, 2004, Diane lived a life on earth that now resonates in heaven. She helped found an alternative high school. She became its lead teacher. She took in students who were drifting and gave them direction. She changed lives.

Without Diane Tilly, Brad Collier might have been a lost teen. He suffered from attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity. He often skipped school. He ran with a crowd of drug users.

Brad wasn't headed for college. He wasn't even sure he was going to graduate from Alamo Heights High School.

But then he heard about the Robbins Academy, a school for at-risk students where many have blossomed under Diane's leadership. Brad enrolled last year. Recently, he received a scholarship from Our Lady of the Lake University, where he will study art.

It wasn't simply the academy that made the difference for Brad. It was Diane.

"She went to court for me," Brad was saying Tuesday morning at school. "I got caught with marijuana. She won over the judge. She saved my butt pretty much."

Without Diane Tilly, Brad would not be college bound. It was Diane, Brad recalls, who sent his sketchbook to Our Lady of the Lake. It was Diane who signed him up for the Scholastic Aptitude Test. It was Diane who pushed and pushed.

"She was not going to let me not go to college," Brad says.

Brad Collier is but one golden sparkle in Diane's legacy. There are others — many others — and their light will shine for years to come.

Still, for those deep in the shadow of Diane's death, it's hard to see much light. Police found her body Saturday, almost two weeks after she was reported missing. On Monday, some grieving students at Robbins Academy went home ill. There were tears. There is pain. A question lingers: Why?

Diane had just returned from her 40-year high school reunion, giddy. She was expecting a second grandchild. She was going to visit a boyfriend over Thanksgiving. She didn't know it, but he was going to propose.

Why was she taken?

I don't know, but I go back to the golden hyphen — to 58 years lived with challenges and wonderful purpose.

Diane supported a husband through medical school. She wound up divorced. She raised two children and won PTA awards. She developed special friendships at Alamo Heights Methodist Church. She became an English teacher who would give at-risk students a morning wake-up call at home.

Yes, the hyphen in her epitaph glows. The glow touched Drew Taylor, a teaching intern at Floresville Middle School. He once took a class from Diane at UTSA, and wrote the following e-mail:

"I hope Diane Tilly's family might rest a little easier knowing a lot of us are out there trying in some small way to imitate what she so effectively did everyday."

What Diane did every day was not ordinary. When the wife of a social studies teacher became pregnant, Diane allowed the teacher time off to take his wife to the obstetrician. For that, Shaun Hedgepeth will always be grateful.

He'll also be grateful for early morning visits with Diane before school. Sometimes Shaun would arrive singing a golden oldie. Sometimes he and Diane would begin dancing to "Louie Louie."

"She'll always live in my heart," Shaun says.

No, I never met Diane Tilly. But when I think of her, I think of the lyrics to a song by Truth:

"If you could see me now,

I'm walkin' streets of gold.

If you could see me now,

I'm standin' tall and bold.

If you could see me now,

you'd know I've seen His face.

If you could see me now,

you'd know the pain's erased."

One small hyphen. One beautiful life. Diane Tilly, 1946-2004.

There is a hell, it's call Trenton.

ETA: I hope he goes to hell.

hell would be too kind for that dude.

There is.....................:mad: and while we cant judge the eternal destination of other people's souls, it's guys like this who makes me wish there was an express lane there.

Re: I really do hope there is a Hell.
 

The whole story is sad, but that part is what makes it so sickening.

This story really caught my attention because I went to high school with a Diane Tilly. She was a majorette in the marching band, and a very pretty young woman. Pretty sure it's not the same one, but the physical characteristics (about 5'4", brown hair) would be about right.

However, I think the one I knew would have been a couple of years younger than this Diane because I think she was a year younger than me -- and this Diane was a little older.

Scary initial feeling, though.

There's something numbing about having a relative or someone you know murdered.

Yeah. You said it.

there is so much evil in the world...let us keep her and her family in our thoughts and hearts this holiday season.

It's times like this that I'm glad that I do believe in Hell - and I hope there's a special ring for murderers like Ronnie Joe Neal.

I agree with BetaRose. As horrific as this crime is, having his daughter as an intentional witness is especially cruel. That poor girl - those poor women!!

Here is another article and in it it says they are charging the daughter with a crime. I don't understand this???

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met....c97b0fcd.html

NEW: Teen in Tilly case would get no more than 30 years in prison
Web Posted: 12/06/2004 04:25 PM CST

Mariano Castillo
Express-News Staff Writer


The teenager who led authorities to the remains of missing Alamo Heights teacher Diane Tilly on Saturday will have a cap of 30 years in prison as part of the deal she struck with prosecutors.

Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed today outlined details about the deal reached with Pearl Cruz, 15.

"The hallmark of the agreement is that she be truthful and cooperate," Reed said.

Cruz fulfilled one part of her side of the bargain when she led deputies directly to a muddy field in Schertz where Tilly's body was hidden underneath some logs and brush.

Tilly, a teacher at Robbins Academy, had been missing since Nov. 22.

A second stipulation is that Cruz testify against Ronnie Joe Neal in court. Cruz has told authorities he is her father.

Neal, 33, was charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery in connection with Tilly's killing. He was being held without bond.

Cruz currently is charged with delinquent conduct by reason of aggravated robbery, but a murder charge could be added in the future.

The teen who allegedly held a gun to Tilly while Neal raped her will be tried as a juvenile.

Prosecutors are eyeing a death penalty case against Neal, Reed said.

Other arrests in connection with the case could be forthcoming "not in relation to a murder charge, but in relation to the disposition of the stolen property," Reed said.

Friends reported Tilly missing the morning of Nov. 23 when she didn't deliver turkeys for a Thanksgiving school event.

That night, deputies found Tilly's champagne-colored 1998 Cadillac Fleetwood ablaze in Guadalupe County.

The next morning, Nov. 24, authorities arrested Neal and Cruz after they had used Tilly's ATM card at some convenience stores. The pair were armed and in possession of property stolen from Tilly when they were apprehended.

Neal denied any involvement in the killing, a claim that was debunked by his own bragging to a cellmate, authorities said. Authorities got the same story from two juvenile inmates whom Cruz confided in: After Neal raped Tilly, the pair robbed her and took her to the field where Neal shot her several times.

:confused:

Apparently the daughter wasnt innocent. She had some role in the goings on. I fel bad for her. She was obviously under his control, but didnt do anything really to stop him or leave and had been involved in the oter aspects of the crime; the kidnapping, the burglery, etc. Its upsetting all the way around, but she was 15. She had to know what she was doing was wrong.

They said on the news today that Ronnie Joe Neal had found out in early November that he was headded back to prison on a prole violation, but it took the authorities two weeks to get the arrest warrent. It became active on the day he killed Ms. Tilley. Guess he thought he'd have some fun before he went back in.

Bexar County Sheriffs Deputies (Detention Offciers at the county jail) are one of my clients and they were telling me that they have to keep RJN in isolation / high risk because the other inmates would kill him.

This story absolutely sickens me.