Attorney General's News Release

September 19, 2011

Audrain County woman sentenced to life for murder

Jefferson City, Mo. – Attorney General Chris Koster said today that Angela Harvey, 36, pled guilty to 2nd degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and one count of kidnapping for her involvement in the 2009 murder of James William Boyd McNeely, an Ohio drifter, in Laddonia. Following the plea, Judge Kevin Crane sentenced Harvey to life in prison for 2nd degree murder; 15 years for each of the two counts of armed criminal action; and 15 years for of kidnapping. All the sentences are to run concurrently.

Koster said that in December 2009, Harvey, her husband, and their three sons tied McNeely to a chair in the basement of their home, then suffocated him with a plastic bag and strangled him with a wire.

“This sentence cannot undo what has been done, but I am thankful that the defendant will be removed from society,” Koster said.

The Attorney General’s Office assisted Audrain County Prosecuting Attorney Jacob Shellabarger in the prosecution of this case, as well as all other cases involving the other family members.