Diane Tilly: A Texas Tragedy

A Giver Is Taken Away
(“Transaction Failed,” Forensic Files)

Diane Tilly answered a knock at her door one night and found 15-year-old Pearl Ann Cruz, who told a story about car trouble and asked to use the phone. Tilly, 58, knew Pearl because she had at one time hired her father, Ronnie Neal, to do yard work.

Diane Tilly

Once inside, Pearl pulled a gun on her and let Neal in through the side door of Tilly’s house in the Alamo Heights area of San Antonio, Texas.

Although the exact sequence of all of the events is unclear, by the end of the night, the 33-year-old Neal had raped Tilly, threatened to kill her cat if she wouldn’t give him her PIN number, taken a swig of Scotch from a bottle on her kitchen counter, used her ATM card to steal $400, loaded possessions from the house into Tilly’s car, driven her to a field, and shot her to death.

Then, Neal dialed up Pearl’s mother to announce he had come into some money and suggest the three of them go shopping.

Generosity meets depravity.Transaction Failed” — which told the story of the November 22, 2004, murder of the beloved school teacher — is one of my Top 2 favorite episodes of Forensic Files because it’s rich with difficult truths and compelling characters.

Out of all 400 episodes of the series, “Transaction Failed” portrays the most vivid collision between a high-functioning admirable human being and the most miserable lowlife imaginable

Photo of the book Forensic Files Now
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Tilly co-founded Robbins Academy, an alternative school for kids who had problems learning or were otherwise troubled, and was also the lead teacher there. Forensic Files showed brief footage of an interview with one of the students.

The teacher everyone deserves. “Most students don’t talk to teachers about their personal problems, but almost all the students talked to her about theirs,” a boy named Alex Rivard said on camera.

Tilly was called a miracle worker for the way she engaged hard-to-reach kids and helped improve their self-esteem.

The episode made me think of my own 12 years of public education, with so many teachers who went into the profession primarily because they wanted a job with summers off or who paid attention to students who were naturally gifted (in gym and home ec, usually) and ignored the rest.

As such, it was beautiful to hear how Diane Tilly cared about making her students’ lives better.

Worst father ever. Ronnie Neal, on the other hand, was in the habit of ruining lives. In a series of San Antonio Express News articles about the crime, reporter Karisa King revealed disturbing facts that weren’t mentioned on Forensic Files.

Det. Alfred Damiani

According to King, at the time of Tilly’s murder, Pearl Cruz was pregnant with her father’s child, and he sometimes earned extra money by prostituting her out to older men. He gave her cocaine and alcohol.

One of the articles also mentioned that Pearl’s mother, Elisa Stanley, had children with a number of different men and that Pearl was the only one who was biracial, and not entirely accepted by the others because of it.

(Links to the San Antonio Express News series no longer work, but I found one of them, a story about Pearl Cruz, reproduced on a Canadian website.)

Predators among us. Pearl’s life underscored another sad truth: As much as we like to think that everyone has a chance to succeed in the U.S.A., there are still kids like her out there who face lottery-like odds.

(In fact, in a letter written to the San Antonio Express News, Diane Tilly’s daughter, Allison Tilly Carswell, expressed frustration that the articles missed an opportunity to examine how child protective services could have better served someone like Pearl and thus prevented the tragic events.)

The case also is a reminder that there are people who identify kindness as a weakness to be exploited. Tilly had once given a swing set to Neal and made an effort to connect with Pearl by complimenting her on her nail polish, according to “Transaction Failed.”

Conspicuous trail. After the murder, Pearl admitted that she and her father had started planning their crime after first meeting Tilly. They noticed that Tilly had a lot more than they did and wished to steal it.

As painful as the case was to contemplate, it was fairly straightforward to convict, according to Alfred J. Damiani, then a homicide detective with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.

“We could have thrown away three-quarters of the evidence and still gotten a conviction,” Damiani said during a phone interview with ForensicFilesNow.com on June 30, 2016.

Police arrested Neal and Pearl in a motel parking lot after they were spotted with Tilly’s car and security footage showed them using her ATM card at a Shell station.

They found Neal’s fingerprint on the Chivas Regal bottle in Tilly’s house.

Daughter relents. Neal said he had nothing to do with Tilly’s disappearance and told the police a quite a story about how he came into possession of her things (more about that next week).

Ronnie Neal in court

After 10 days in custody, Pearl decided to cooperate with the investigation, and led police to Diane Tilly’s body.

Sentenced as a juvenile, she received 30 years. Her father got the death penalty.

While in prison, Neal created an online profile in which he proclaimed his innocence and fondness for poetry. He also crafted an (unsuccessful) escape plan in which he told a prospective accomplice to let him be “the brains” in the plot.

Homicide detective’s story. At the same time, Neal claimed to be mentally retarded in the hopes of avoiding lethal injection by the state. That ploy didn’t work; prosecutors maintained that his IQ was at least 70, above the range for mental retardation.

Neal committed suicide in jail in 2010.

The final reason that I’ve watched “Transaction Failed” at least five times is that it raises intriguing questions about the mechanics of the case. For example, why did an experienced criminal like Ronnie Neal — he had prior robbery convictions — submit to police questioning instead of clamming up and calling a lawyer?

Next week’s post will provide an answer to that question and more via a Q&A with Detective Damiani about the Tilly case.  RR

Update: Read Part 2

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31 thoughts on “Diane Tilly: A Texas Tragedy”

  1. This story perfectly illustrates one reason libertarianism (in the every person for him or herself sense) is delusional. Kind people will always be exploited by craven people, and we need stronger civic institutions to intervene and assist children like Pearl and bring justice to people like Neal. Ugh.

      1. It would have been cheaper and far better for the world if they had just put a bullet in the back of Pearl’s head.

        That miserable waste of flesh barely served 6 years and is out and living her life with no repercussions.

        1. I agree with you 110%
          That animal shouldn’t be around us civil people!
          She’s an animal that belongs in a cage.

        2. Let me get this right….so killing this abused neglected brainwashed child is the answer instead of providing her therapeutic services? You sound like a bunch trigger happy miserable old as honkeys just pitiful!

  2. This case is a heart breaker on so many levels. It’s tempting to come to the conclusion that people like Diane Tilly who try to help others are just letting themselves in for a world of hurt, but even tragic stories like hers help shine some light into the darkness. I’m looking forward to the interview with Detective Damiani.

  3. Actually, I think it’s funny because I was locked up with Pearl and she had told me the story. I reported it to the guards, talked with police, and took them to the area where the body was. They couldn’t find it, so that’s when they told Pearl about it, and she decided to cooperate so, no, she never had a change of heart when she told me the truth of what happened. She kept laughing, it was horrible. I’m glad I told the authorities.

    1. Really??
      What is funny about that??? Absolutely nothing!!!! In fact, records show that in her cell block there is no mention of a Kathy Buck, no K. Buck, no last name of Buck nor any Kathy, Kate, Katie, Kat, or any semblance of the such. Sad to try and take credit for something you were no part of (unless you are going by a false name on this blog)…
      Maybe that is where the dishonesty lies…hmmmm???
      Sargeant J Miller
      BCSO

  4. Our legal system is dismal and broken beyond repair. There are no words or language offensive enough to describe the joke our court system is and the lack of justice for Diane Tilly! Impotent Assholes!! This sick and demented animal raped and murdered this lovely woman and your sorry ass prison cheated her family and the people out of justice again, by failing to inject a lethal paralyzing agent into the veins of this worthless toxic slime bag degenerate animal! A death sentence that should have been carried out within 72 hrs of sentencing in cases of 100% guilt!! Shame on you for failing to stand up for Diane and the justice she deserved!! You let this sick coward take the ez way out via suicide?? by stock piling his medications?? No forgiveness for any of you in a prison system that allowed this sham of justice to occur! I want her death to haunt all of those responsible and keep you awake at night!!

  5. Dear God! I believe in you, but I will not rest until I find an answer as to why such an unjust thing did happen!

    1. I know it’s difficult, Andre, and I have flagellated myself often asking God the same question why loved ones and others die in what we feel is ‘before their time.’ All that I have been able to come up with is:
      1) He knows what he’s doing and it’s for the best.
      2) The body is merely a vessel for the soul which is eternal.
      3) Maybe dying and going to Heaven is like an early parole and a great thing for those who do (on God’s timeline not ours).

      And rest assured Neal seemed pretty hot-fired to get started on his eternity. Wish we had the live-cam action on that.

  6. I hesitate to appear to defend Pearl, but at 15 and under the influence of a scumbag father, it must be fair to suggest that she was very likely damaged and corrupted by him, such that to that extent she too is a victim. I would not hold a 15-yr-old as culpable as an adult, though she certainly bears significant culpability. This tells us all we need to know: “Pearl Cruz was pregnant with her father’s child, and he sometimes earned extra money by prostituting her out to older men. He gave her cocaine and alcohol.”

    Our disgust is more properly directed to the father who has taken one life and ruined another.

    I don’t support the death penalty… but I wouldn’t need much nudging to pull the switch on him…

  7. What an utter piece of human sewage that excuse of a human being was – he should have been stillborn at birth and thrown into an incinerator – his family should be ashamed of producing such a sub human piece of garbage.

  8. Assuming Pearl IS out, I fear that’ll be, or was, temporary (but hope I’m wrong), ‘cos all the portents for a life of crime seem there. Her father was trash, treated her like trash (sexually abusing her), and trash often begets trash (the father’s antecedents would be interesting to know by way of some explanation of his demonic behaviour – explanation, not justification). But there’s always hope: maybe she’s repentant for her role – albeit as a child – as now lives a decent life. I hope so, for hers and others’ sake…

  9. Pearl Cruz should’ve finished her 30 year sentence… She’s a sociopath.
    Someone like her is garbage and should be thrown away!!!

    1. S: If P only served 6/30 yrs I agree it’s too short – but the trouble is it was her demonic father who treated *her* like garbage, thus she was his victim who revisited his victimisation on Diane. Thus there is significant mitigation for Pearl (it’s hard to believe what he did to her), albeit she needed serious prison time (and therapy) to prove she was safe enough to release outwith the toxic father’s influence. She certainly merits a ‘second chance’ after her brutalising experience.

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