Investigators release new video in cold case murder
PLANT CITY (FOX 13) - It was a dark moment during a festive time of year. In 2005, David Neel, a 49-year-old Zephyrhills man was driving to the Strawberry Festival when he was shot to death on I-75.
11 years have passed with no arrest in the case. Neel's wife is spoke to FOX 13 about the hole David's death has left in his family's hearts and the hope they hold that his killer will be found.
"The Strawberry Festival is one of the hardest fairs for me," Debra Neel said.
For years, Debra, her family and her cows have been coming to the annual Strawberry Festival. It's something she's looked forward to since she was a little girl, and a tradition her whole family takes part in.
But, as much as she loves this fair, its arrival brings back painful memories
"You come here and you want to enjoy it, but how can you enjoy something when you've lost someone at this time?" Neel said. "It is hard. All of us have it in our mind."
11 years ago this Sunday, Debra's husband was killed on I-75 while driving his pickup truck to meet his family at the fairgrounds. David Neel's car had run off the road and crashed near the I-4 onramp.
A single bullet hole was found in the driver's side door. David had been shot to death
More than a decade has passed, but investigators are still hard at work on the case. This week, Crime Stoppers released a new video simulation of the 2005 shooting, hoping it might jog someone's memory
"Maybe it catches someone's attention," said Sgt. Dale Bunten of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. "If it'll just trigger something in someone's mind to say, 'you know, I wonder if they thought about this' I don't know if we did or not. Let us know what your idea is and we'll run it through and see if it's something we can follow up on."
Debra says she'll never give up hope that her husband's killer will be found. "I've got to keep trying for him. He was the love of my life."
The Neel family is offering a $25,000 reward to anyone who can help solve the case. That's in addition to the $3,000 reward offered by Crime Stoppers.