This week, Tiff tackles a truly savage and senseless case. A case that is still known as the deadliest bank robbery in recent Oklahoma history.
In part 1 of this two-parter, Tiff details the brutal Geronimo Bank Robbery on December 14, 1984, in Geronimo, Oklahoma, which resulted in the murders of four people and severe injuries to three others. The primary suspects were local men, Jay Wesley Neill (age 19) and Robert Grady Johnson (age 21), who were a couple facing severe financial hardship and were known to the small-town bank as "problem customers."
The attack began at 1:00 p.m. when Neill entered the First Bank of Chattanooga and held three female tellers hostage:
Kay Bruno (age 42, bank manager)
Jerri Bowles (age 19)
Joyce Mullenix (age 25 and six months pregnant)
While Neill was in the back room, several customers entered the bank. Neill took five customers hostage.
Ralph Zeller (age 33, farmer)
Bellen Robles (age 15) and her husband Reuben Robles (age 20) and their child Marie Robles (age 14-month-old baby)
Marilyn Roach (age 34, local restaurant owner)
The perpetrators fled by 1:30 p.m., leaving behind "a sea of bloody carnage."
Due to the severity, the FBI took jurisdiction. And the hunt for two men was on. Once the suspects were apprehended, all the strings started to unravel. The finger pointing started resulting in court room drama at its finest. Join us as we unwind the premeditation and planning that went into this heinous crime.
Sources:
Clark County Prosecuting Attorney
Oklahoma’s Most Notorious Cases Volume 2 by Kent Frates