{"id":2984,"date":"2022-05-10T08:49:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T14:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=2984"},"modified":"2022-08-06T09:18:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T15:18:07","slug":"2022-may-10-news-article-nbc-week-25-news-article-digging-deeper-bloomington-man-convicted-of-daughters-death-more-than-two-decades-ago-seeks-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=2984","title":{"rendered":"2022 May 10 News Article – Week-25 NBC News Article – DIGGING DEEPER: Bloomington man convicted of daughter\u2019s death more than two decades ago seeks freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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** SPECIAL NOTE *** TO VIEW THE 8 MINUTE SPECIAL REPORT NEWSPIECE CLICK THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE LINK THAT WILL TAKE YOU TO THE NBC WEEK-25 WEBSITE https:\/\/www.week.com\/2022\/05\/11\/bloomington-man-convicted-daughters-death-more-than-two-decades-ago-seeks-freedom\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Amber Krycka<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: May. 10, 2022 at 6:12 PM PDT<\/em>|Updated: 2 hours ago<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BLOOMINGTON (WEEK) – He was convicted of killing his 3-year-old daughter more than 20 years ago in their Bloomington apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bart McNeil is hoping for a new trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he has help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two legal teams are working together, compiling evidence they think could overturn McNeil\u2019s conviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was proud. One of the few things in my life that I was really proud of is being a part of my child\u2019s daily upbringing. I think she would\u2019ve graduated from college some years ago, she would probably be married, I would probably be a grandfather,\u201d said McNeil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil sits in prison, at Pinckneyville Correctional Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s been there since 1999, after being convicted in his daughter, Christina\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI turned to the side, and I could see her gray face wide open, staring right through me,\u201d McNeil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil found his 3-year-old daughter dead in their Bloomington apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat could\u2019ve happened? And foul play was the furthest thing from my mind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But McNeil quickly realized something bad happened to his daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChristina was murdered, somebody came through her bedroom window last night,\u201d said McNeil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But investigators thought differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police suspected McNeil in his daughter\u2019s death. And he is now serving a 100-year sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25 News Anchor Amber Krycka asked McNeil, \u201cDid you kill your daughter?\u201d He replied, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through jail walls, McNeil conducted his own investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has hundreds of documents, and he insists he didn\u2019t kill his daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he has the support of two significant legal teams who work on wrongful convictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Illinois Innocence and Exoneration Projects have picked up the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They include three points as to why this conviction must be reviewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just hours before Christina\u2019s death, McNeil went out to dinner with his now ex-girlfriend Misook Nowlin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They dated for three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, McNeil said he was ready to end their relationship that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said I don\u2019t want to see you anymore, don\u2019t be calling me. We\u2019re done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil said Misook was stalking him, and was a very jealous person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe was obsessing constantly over my relationship with my ex-wife, with my relationship with Christina,\u201d McNeil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowlin described that night to a detective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The detective said, \u201cYou were so upset you couldn\u2019t write the check?\u201d Nowlin replied, \u201cyeah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Christina\u2019s death happened more than 20 years ago, it\u2019s a memory that still leaves Robert Sims rattled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things that spooks you every once in a while,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He lived right across the street from McNeil, and said he remembers Nowlin banging on McNeil\u2019s door, a few times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe went and beat on the door, I mean only way to describe her was a terror,\u201d said Sims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of Christina\u2019s death, Nowlin was also facing charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1996, she pleaded guilty to theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1998, she was convicted of domestic battery involving McNeil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a police report, it said she threw a computer monitor and broke it, and pushed McNeil in the chest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sentencing was scheduled for June 17th, 1998, the day after Christina was found dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil refused to go to court with her, and he said Nowlin wasn\u2019t happy about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think her intent was to frame me for my own daughter\u2019s killing,\u201d said McNeil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After picking up Christina that evening, McNeil headed back to their apartment on North Evans Street, where he said he later tucked her into bed around 10:30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around midnight, McNeil said he walked by Christina\u2019s bedroom, and heard her voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI opened up the door and there\u2019s Christina sitting upright in her bed smiling, excited about something,\u201d said McNeil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that stormy night, McNeil said he fell asleep just before 3a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, he would find Christina lifeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paramedics and police officers arrived within minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigators took pictures and videos of Christina and the bedroom where she was, and said there was \u201cno sign of external injury to the body.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later that evening, McNeil returned to the apartment to pick up some clothes. That\u2019s when he said he noticed something wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The window\u2019s screen had been cut, and the bedroom fan was no longer in the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil quickly called police, and begged them to come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told police to arrest Nowlin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, they later arrested him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to reports, police said detectives viewed the screen and noticed and photographed spider webs that were inside the window frame area attacking from the window frame to the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coroner said Christina was suffocated, pointing to bruises on the back, around the mouth and head area, and had been sexually abused before her death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two groups said the coroner was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 60-page petition, they present new evidence that McNeil didn\u2019t kill his daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They said new DNA testing shows Nowlin\u2019s presence at the time of Christina\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also said Nowlin\u2019s DNA is present in six different areas of the fitted sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil gave 25 News his bank statement from 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows he went to the cleaners June 15th, the day before Christina\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil said the sheets were clean when he put Christina to bed that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the initial investigation, investigators also determined Christina\u2019s time of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They concluded when she died, McNeil would have been awake and alone in the apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But McNeil\u2019s legal team said that estimated time of death could be wrong, because the science behind it is flawed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petition said Dr. Andrew Baker, a forensic pathologist and a chief medical examiner in Minnesota took at look at the coroner\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said there\u2019s \u201cno evidence that Christina was smothered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also looked at the original photos of Christina\u2019s body and concluded there were no injuries to her back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Baker also said a majority of the coroner\u2019s examinations were performed after Christina\u2019s body had been prepared by a funeral director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Baker ruled the cause of death as undetermined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil respects the finding, but he still believes Nowlin was behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years later, a jury convicted Nowlin for killing her mother-in-law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way she did it was a monster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry Tyda\u2019s wife was killed by Nowlin in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He sai just a few days before her killing, they had words over the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he said Nowlin showed up at their Crest Hill home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe doorbell rang, and Linda said don\u2019t let her in, and don\u2019t open it because she\u2019s afraid of her, she was afraid of her all the time,\u201d said Tyda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s until Nowlin investigators said Nowlin lured Linda to the scene of her death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil\u2019s legal team said Linda\u2019s murder bears nearly a dozen similarities to Christina\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil sits, waits, and hopes the new information will make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the evidence is very powerful,\u201d McNeil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said this is about more than winning his freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want justice, not just for me, but for my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil\u2019s hearing is Thursday, the 12th, in McLean County. The judge will decide whether to move forward with all the new evidence the legal team is asking the court to hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25 News did reach out to Nowlin, and we never heard back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also reached out to her attorney who said he can\u2019t comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, we reached out to Bloomington P.D. and a spokesperson says they comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barton McNeil – 2020 Feb 23…<\/a> by 25 News \/ Heart of Illinois…<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright 2022 WEEK. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

** SPECIAL NOTE *** TO VIEW THE 8 MINUTE SPECIAL REPORT NEWSPIECE CLICK THE FOLLOWING…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[7,100,31,26,109,6,57,22,106,104],"class_list":["post-2984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-news-articles","tag-barton-mcneil","tag-charles-reynard","tag-christina-mcneil","tag-john-hanlon","tag-mclean-county","tag-misook-nowlin","tag-misook-nowlin-wang","tag-misook-wang","tag-stephanie-wong","tag-teena-griffin"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","covernews-featured":"","covernews-medium":""},"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\/2984","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=2984"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2995,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2984\/revisions\/2995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}