Geronimo bank murders
On December 14, 1984, Jay Wesley Neill, 19, and Robert Grady Johnson, 21, committed a bank robbery in Geronimo, Oklahoma that resulted in 5 murders and 3 attempted murders. Neill was executed on December 12, 2002 and Johnson is serving a life sentence.
Background
In 1983, Jay Wesley Neill (born April 9, 1965) joined the US Army. He met Robert Grady Johnson in February 1984 at a bar and became romantically involved. Neill was discharged in the summer of 1984 after disclosing that he was homosexual and quickly began having financial difficulties.
Neill and Johnson shared an apartment in Lawton, Oklahoma and a joint checking account at the Geronimo bank. The account had frequent checks returned due to insufficient funds. They were frequently at the bank to work out their money problems. The Geronimo Bank was a small facility, housed in a prefabricated building. It usually had only two tellers and no surveillance cameras or security guards. Neill commented on more than one occasion on the absence of the security measures and how easy he thought it would be to rob the bank.
On December 12, 1984, Neill shopped for guns at a local pawnshop but he was informed that a buyer must be at least 21 years old and Neill was only 19.
On December 13, Johnson applied for a gun permit from the Lawton Police Department. That same morning, Neill went to a travel agent and tried to purchase flights to Nassau leaving at 6pm the next day. When told that no flight was available, he requested one to San Francisco leaving after 5pm.
On December 14, Neill and Johnson returned to the pawn shop and purchased a revolver seen on Neill's previous visit.
The Bank Robbery
Shortly after 1pm on Friday December 14, 1984, Neill entered the First Bank of Chattanooga in Geronimo, Oklahoma and forced the 3 tellers to the back room where he had them lie face down on the floor and stabbed them to death. The three employees (Kay Bruno, 42; Jerri Bowles, 19; Joyce Mullenix, 25) were stabbed a total of 75 times. Mullenix was six months pregnant.
Three customers entered the bank while Neill was attempting a decapitation of one of the tellers. The customers were taken to the back room and shot in the head. Ralph Zeller, 33, died from his wounds becoming the 5th and final murder victim. Bellen Robels, 15 and her husband Reuben Robels, 20 would recover from their head wounds. Neill attempted to shoot the couple's 14 month old daughter, Marie, but the gun was out of bullets.
Aftermath
Neill and Johnson were arrested on Monday, December 17, 1984 in San Francisco. Marked bills were used to pay for hotel rooms, limousine rides and shopping excursions. $3,700 were left on Neill and in the hotel room. Johnson was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possiblity of parole. Whether Johnson was in the bank at the time is in dispute. Neill testified that Johnson was at home waiting on him during the robbery. However, he had previously maintained that Johnson was with him in the bank. Marilyn Roach testified to hearing the voices of two men inside the bank.
Neill was sentenced to death and executed at age 37 on December 12, 2002. He was the 54th person executed in Oklahoma since the state resumed executions in 1990.