WASHINGTON — A D.C. man was sentenced Monday to 60 years in prison after police say he killed his two roommates, beating them to death with a hammer in 2014.
Prosecutors said Jeffrey Neal, 25, killed his roommates — 22-year-old Leon Young and 23-year-old Delano Wingfield — in June 2014 by bludgeoning them multiple times in the head with a hammer.
Police responded to a residence in the 1800 block of Eighth Street NW for a report of an unconscious person and found Young’s body in the attic. He was naked except for a black plastic bag tied around his head.
Days later, police returned to the house and discovered Wingfield’s body in a shallow grave in the backyard. Wingfield was naked except for a pair of socks.
Neal had been childhood friends with Young and Wingfield, police said.
Neal later confessed to police that he killed Young, but said it was in self-defense — that Young had killed Wingfield. However, police said his story was inconsistent with evidence: Police found Wingfield’s blood in various locations in Neal’s bedroom; and while Neal said he hit Young twice with a hammer, an autopsy found he had been hammered in the head at least 26 times. Also, Neal misidentified which roommate was found wearing socks, officials said.
Neal was found guilty in July 2017 of two counts of first-degree murder while armed, with aggravating circumstances and related offenses. On Monday, Honorable Chief Judge Robert E. Morin sentenced him to 60 years in prison. Following his prison term, he will have five years of supervised release.
