U.S. Department of Justice
Jessie K. Liu
United States Attorney for the
District of Columbia
Judiciary Center
555 Fourth St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 30, 2017

For Information Contact:
Public Affairs
(202) 252-6933
http://www.justice.gov/usao/dc/index.html

District Man Sentenced to 60 Years in Prison
For Killings of Two Roommates in Northwest Washington
Bodies Were Discovered Over Four-Day Period
WASHINGTON – Jeffrey Neal, 25, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 60
years in prison on charges stemming from the slayings of his two roommates, whose bodies were
found at their residence in Northwest Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and
Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Neal was found guilty in July 2017 of two counts of first-degree murder while armed,
with aggravating circumstances, and related offenses. The verdict followed a trial in the Superior
Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Chief Judge Robert E.
Morin. Following his prison term, Neal will be placed on five years of supervised release.
According to the government’s evidence, on June 12, 2014, at approximately 11:35 a.m.,
officers with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) were dispatched to a house in the 1800
block of Eighth Street NW for a report of an unconscious person. The body of Leon Young, 22,
was discovered in the attic, naked except for a black plastic bag tied around his head. Neal was
arrested the following day and charged with Mr. Young’s murder.
On June 16, 2014, police returned to the house and discovered the body of Delano
Wingfield, 23, in a shallow grave in the backyard. He was naked except for a pair of socks.
An investigation determined that both men were beaten multiple times in the head with a
hammer. During the investigation, police learned that Mr. Young and Mr. Wingfield were
childhood friends with the defendant. When the police interviewed Neal, he confessed to killing
Mr. Young. He claimed he killed Mr. Young in self-defense, after Mr. Young allegedly
confessed to killing Mr. Wingfield. Neal claimed he hit Mr. Young twice in the head with a
hammer in self-defense. However, the autopsy of Mr. Young revealed that Mr. Young had been

 hammered in the head at least 26 times. Some of those blows were after the black plastic bag
had been placed on Mr. Young’s head. Further, according to the government’s evidence, DNA
evidence of Mr. Wingfield’s blood was found in various locations in Neal’s bedroom. Also,
Neal told detectives that he left a pair of socks on Mr. Young’s body. However, Mr. Young was
not discovered with socks. It was Mr. Wingfield’s body that had on a pair of socks.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work
of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also
expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the District of Columbia Department of
Forensic Sciences; the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team; the FBI’s DNA Casework Unit;
the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner; Bode Cellmark Forensics, and
the New Smyrna Beach Police Department of New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s
Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon Donovan, Deputy Chief of the Homicide
Section; Chrisellen Kolb, Deputy Chief of the Appellate Division; Michael Ambrosino, Special
Counsel for DNA and Forensic Evidence Litigation; Litigation Technology Specialist Leif
Hickling; Paralegal Specialist Kelly Blakeney; former Paralegal Specialists Fern Rhedrick,
Amoret Vanterpool, and Vanessa Trent-Valentine; Marcia Rinker, David Foster, LaJune
Thames, and Katina Adams-Washington, all of the Victim/Witness Assistance Unit; Criminal
Investigators John Marsh, Durand Odom, and Zachary McMenamin; Forensic
Operation/Program Specialist Benjamin Kagan-Guthrie, Contract Specialist Sallie Rynas; Interns
Hayley Poindexter and Simone Unwalla, and former intern Benjamin Symons.
Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shana L. Fulton and
Veronica Sanchez, who investigated and prosecuted the case.
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