An eyewitness to a Texas County murder said late Saturday afternoon that suspect Neldon Neal threw a bar stool and brandished weapons after arriving at his home Tuesday afternoon.
Neal came home with friend where he found his wife and her former daughter-in-law inside the trailer. A terrible fight broke out on the property, said Marsha Sumrall of Rolla, whose 2-year-old daughter also was there.
An intoxicated Neal immediately began fighting with his wife, Judy Lewis, who had spent part of the day washing a dump truck that belonged to Neal. Eventually, Neal chased Lewis around the property with a knife sharpener.
“I tried kill him [with a gun], because he was going to kill my mom [in-law],” said Marsha Sumrall of Rolla in a telephone call to the Herald. However, the gun’s safety was on and it failed to fire, she said. Neal left the room and returned with a bigger gun. He grabbed the smaller gun, Sumrall said, and put it to her head while pointing the other weapon at Lewis’ chest.
“My mom jumped on his back and he threw her off and he threw her into the truck and pulled the trigger and then smoke came out of her chest.”
A Neal acquaintance, known only to Sumrall as “Tator,” put Lewis in Sumrall’s car as the Phelps County woman prepared to get help.
Sumrall said Neal put the gun in his mouth, but later discharged it into the ground.
Sumrall arrived at a nearby store and held Lewis in her arms. “I think she went to heaven in my arms,” she said.
Sumrall said she believes his former mother-in-law saved her life. “She was just a wonderful friend,” she said.
Texas County Sheriff Carl Watson said “Tator” hitched a ride, and was picked up by authorities near the county line.
Sumrall and Lewis have shared sorrow before. In January, Lewis’ son, Christopher, 34, was shot by police in Richardson, Texas, after he pointed a weapon at officers. Police said they were called Jan. 9 to a report that the man was in his ex-girlfriend’s apartment. Sumrall was previously married to Christopher Lewis.