Where Is Sally McNeil Now? How One Tragic Valentine's Day Changed Her Life

Killer Sally is the latest true-crime documentary to land on Netflix, and you do not want to miss it.

Directed by Oscar-nominee Nanette Burstein, Killer Sally delves deep into the case of former Marine and professional bodybuilder Sally McNeil, who shot and killed her husband Ray McNeil on Valentine's Day, 1995.

Sally McNeil claimed she shot Ray McNeil in self-defense and in Killer Sally, viewers get to hear Sally McNeil's side of the story, told directly from her perspective through on-camera interviews with the director, Nanette Burstein.

Shantina and John McNeil, Sally McNeil's children, also recall what happened the day their stepfather Ray McNeil was shot throughout the documentary and give an insight into their parents' relationship prior to Ray McNeil's death.

Newsweek has everything you need to know about Sally McNeil and where she is now.

Where Is Sally McNeil Now?

Today, Sally McNeil, now 60, is living her life outside of prison walls with her new husband in Northern California.

Speaking to Newsweek, Killer Sally director Nanette Burstein gave an update on McNeil's life today.

Burstein shared: "She's out in the world, she has a job, and she's married to a really good man. She is currently in touch with her children and just trying to forge new paths."

Burstein also gave an insight into who the real Sally McNeil is.

She shared: "Sally is very forthright, surprisingly so, even when it comes to her own flaws.

"She really owns them and she's not the perfect victim and she doesn't try to hide that. We want victims to be perfect, and often they're not and we get upset with them but Sally didn't shy away from that, and yet maintained her innocence. She's had a really tough life, and she remains to be someone who is a half-glass-full person.

"Despite all of her hardship, and all the trauma that she's been through, and has maintained an optimistic point of view. She is very happy with the series. She's seen it all way ahead of time and felt that it was quite fair, and she is excited to share her story and get set the record straight on her end. I mean, and she realizes its objective and she doesn't look like the perfect victim and yet she feels that it very much depicts her and what happened to her."

Speaking towards the end of Killer Sally, Sally McNeil states: "I didn't deserve the sentence I got. But I don't care anymore, I'm free."

On March 19, 1996, Sally McNeil was convicted of second-degree murder after shooting her husband, bodybuilder Ray McNeil, at their family home.

As Sally McNeil explains in Netflix's Killer Sally, she shot her husband in self-defense after he choked her and was violent towards her on Valentine's Day, 1995.

Sally McNeil's children also recall their parents arguing and recall instances of violence, including a time when Ray McNeil broke Sally's nose. Sally McNeil was also aware that her husband was having an affair.

Immediately after the shooting, she called 911 and said: "I just shot my husband because he just beat me up."

At trial, Sally McNeil's defense team argued self-defense and that McNeil was suffering from "battered-woman syndrome," a legal defense originating in the 1970s used to explain a pattern of signs and symptoms of a woman who has suffered psychical, psychological, and sexual abuse at the hands of her male partner.

However, the prosecution successfully argued the murder was premeditated as she had shot Ray twice, one in the head and another in the abdomen.

She was sentenced to 19 years to life following her conviction, serving her sentence at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California.

After numerous failed appeals, she was granted parole by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on May 29, 2020.

Killer Sally is streaming on Netflix now.