Killer Sally: Who is Sally McNeil and why did she kill her husband on Valentine's Day?

Killer Sally, the new three-part crime documentary series is set to be released on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

The show documents the murder of Ray McNeil who was killed by his wife Sally on Valentine's Day in 1995. The couple was minor celebrities who were well-known in the bodybuilding community and previously Sally had won the US armed services physique championship in the 1980s.

Here is what you need to know about the main real-life people in this show and what happened to them following this grisly Valentine's Day murder.

Who is Sally McNeil?

Sally McNeil was a bodybuilding champion who killed her husband in 1995. Sally claimed that it was self-defense and that her husband Ray had a history of domestic abuse. 

Both Sally and her husband Ray were professional American bodybuilders and this shocking event sparked huge interest from the press and became a medic circus about this act of matricide. Sally was labeled by the press as a “thug,” a “bully,” and a “monster”. The because of her size and profession some outlets called her the “brawny bride” and the “pumped-up princess".

Why did Sally kill Ray on Valentine's Day?

It was claimed that Sally was being choked by her husband when she grabbed a gun and fatally shot him twice, once in the stomach and once in the head. Sally called the police and claimed that the decision to kill him was in self-defense and made in a 'split second'.

She then claimed that she had been a victim of violence at home as a child and this continued into her marriage. Sally met Ray while serving in the Navy and the pair married in 1987. 

The murder took place on Valentine's Day and it was thought that the argument which sparked the physical fight was about Ray's infidelity. Ray had cheated on Sally before and one of his mistresses had confronted her about an affair the year before in 1994.

Where is Sally McNeil now?

During the court case, it was found that both Sally and Ray were using steroids, which led some people to call the murder a result of 'roid rage.' Although she tried to say the murder was an act of self defence, Sally was found guilty of second-degree murder. Sally McNeil was 27 when she shot her husband in 1995 and was sentenced to 19 years in prison for this crime.

Sally served her sentence at the  Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California and her parole was granted by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on May 29, 2020.

Killer Sally is set to be released in the UK and US on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 and will be available to stream exclusively on Netflix.