{"id":2382,"date":"2021-10-13T17:34:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T23:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=2382"},"modified":"2023-01-21T23:01:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T06:01:24","slug":"2021-september-24-news-article-a-look-back-on-the-case-of-christina-mcneil-by-illinois-wesleyan-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=2382","title":{"rendered":"2021 September 24 News Article – A look back on the case of Christina McNeil by Illinois Wesleyan University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Click HERE<\/a> to see article as published on Illinois Wesleyan University website<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The American judicial system is founded on supposed pillars of justice and fairness, hundreds have been wrongfully convicted. With advancements in technology and DNA testing, many of these cases have been overturned. Exoneration is the hope, too, of Bloomington native Barton McNeil. McNeil was convicted of first degree murder in 1998 for the death of his three-year-old daughter, Christina. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christina was found dead by McNeil the morning of June 16, 1998, in her bed at McNeil\u2019s apartment. First responders initially believed she had succumbed to natural causes, but McNeil later called Bloomington Police Department asking for a homicide detective after noticing suspicious window screen slits and the window fan on the floor. McNeil believed someone had intruded the apartment during the night and murdered Christina. Detectives promptly disregarded McNeil\u2019s intruder-by-window theory when they found cobwebs on the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pathologist conducting Christina\u2019s autopsy concluded Christina had been smothered and believed she had also been sexually assaulted, which is where BPD claimed McNeil\u2019s motive did not line up. Detectives believed McNeil was fearful of the autopsy showing this information and that is when McNeil became BPD\u2019s leading suspect. McNeil was charged and proceeded to bench trial, despite his numerous and vocal claims of innocence. In July of the next year, McNeil was found guilty and sentenced to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the beginning McNeil has maintained that his ex-girlfriend, Misook Nowlin is Chrstina\u2019s true killer. The night before Christina\u2019s murder, June 15, 1998, McNeil and Nowlin were witnessed having a heated argument at Bloomington\u2019s Avantis restaurant. Nowlin suspected McNeil had been cheating on her. The couple broke up after drawing the attention of wait staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is little doubt that McNeil and Nowlin had an extremely unhealthy relationship. On top of domestic battery charges on Nowlin, Nowlin was known by friends and neighbors to be a very jealous and violent person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering the intensity of their breakup the night before and Nowlin\u2019s capacity to act irrationally and violently, McNeil immediately told investigators that she was responsible for Christina\u2019s death. McNeil claimed Nowlin must have entered the apartment through the bedroom window and smothered Christina as a brutal revenge for their breakup. After all, even if Christina awoke to see Nowlin, the child was familiar enough with Nowlin to not be fearful. Detectives interviewed Nowlin, but kept McNeil as their prime suspect, probably in part due to the sexual assault findings and disbelief that a woman committed such acts. McNeil was not permitted to present evidence against Nowlin as defense in court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, a judge approved a petition for Christina\u2019s clothing, pillowcase and bed sheets to be submitted for DNA testing. Nowlin\u2019s DNA was found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourteen years after Christina\u2019s murder, Nowlin\u2019s mother-in-law (Nowlin had since remarried), Linda Tyda, was heinously murdered in Bloomington. Nowlin had been having marriage issues with Tyda\u2019s son. The following year Nowlin was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 55 years in prison. McNeil and his supporters say this case demonstrates Nowlin\u2019s disregard for life and the failings of the justice system for not catching her in Christina\u2019s case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this evidence, McNeil remains in prison today. There is hope for him, however. McNeil\u2019s case is now handled by the Exoneration Project and the Illinois Innocence Project, both of which involve an extensive and extremely selective application process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These representatives filed a Successive Petition for Post-Conviction Relief this past spring. The petition details the Nowlin theory and discredits the pathologist\u2019s conclusion that Christina was sexually assaulted with today\u2019s science. On August 25, 2021, McLean County Circuit Court Judge William Yoder ruled in favor of the petition moving forward. This ruling means that the judge felt there was some new evidence which might make others think differently of the case. There is still a long road ahead for McNeil, but this ruling is one step forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second hearing was scheduled for November 12 to review the petition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information, readers can visit freebart.org, listen to the Suspect Convictions <\/em>podcast, or tune in on September 25 at 8:00 p.m. when McNeil and Nowlin\u2019s respective cases will be featured on Oxygen Network\u2019s Snapped: Behind Bars. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click HERE to see article as published on Illinois Wesleyan University website The American judicial…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-news-articles"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Argus-of-Wesleyan-University.jpg",617,556,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Argus-of-Wesleyan-University-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Argus-of-Wesleyan-University-300x270.jpg",300,270,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Argus-of-Wesleyan-University.jpg",617,556,false],"large":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Argus-of-Wesleyan-University.jpg",617,556,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Argus-of-Wesleyan-University.jpg",617,556,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Argus-of-Wesleyan-University.jpg",617,556,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Argus-of-Wesleyan-University.jpg",617,556,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Argus-of-Wesleyan-University-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"chris.ross","author_link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?author=3"},"category_info":"Current News Articles<\/a>","tag_info":"Current News Articles","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2382"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3260,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions\/3260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}