Trigger alert: physical and sexual abuse.

Netflix's newest true-crime docuseries is Killer Sally is a gripping iii-episode story of how i woman shot and killed her husband on Valentine's Day.

With the showtime episode dropping on Nov. two, Netflix tells the story of how bodybuilder Sally McNeil murdered her husband and claimed self-defense. The express series uses interviews with the real-life Emerge and her two children.

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Ray, Sally's husband and a fellow bodybuilder, physically abused Emerge throughout their relationship. And when she shot him, she alleged that she was being choked, per Rolling Stone. Later on a rough trial, she was hit with a second-degree murder charge and a long jail sentence.

Ahead, find out how Sally'south life, the murder of her husband, and eventual her trial and conviction.

Who is 'Killer Sally'?

'Killer Emerge,' a.grand.a. Sally McNeil, was built-in in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1960, per The Independent. In the series, she says she had a "tough" upbringing, including experiencing "situations where [she] had to defend [herself]," the outlet reported. She was exposed to physical violence during babyhood, and believed it was normal.

In high school, she became an athlete, working on her swimming, diving, and running skills. She went on to attend East Stroudsburg State College, now known as Due east Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, with the hopes of becoming a gym teacher, The Independent reported. Sadly, Sally had no coin left for her college fund later on 3-and-a-one-half years at school, then she had to leave.

killer sally mcneil netflix now ray mcneil

Sally McNeil was a bodybuilder convicted of killing her married man, Ray.

Netflix

Emerge decided to join the Marine Corps, post-obit in the footsteps of her brother and uncle, and met her outset husband while serving. Somewhen, Emerge ran away from her husband, transferring to Army camp Pendleton in California equally a result of his aggressive personality, according to The Daily Beast. She also began bodybuilding during that menses, per The Contained.

How did she run across her married man, Ray McNeil?

Emerge ended upward competing and placing fourth in her first bodybuilding competition, the War machine Bodybuilding Championship, on February xiv, 1987. It was here that she met Ray McNeil, some other bodybuilder and swain Marine. "He looked like the Statue of David," she said, according to The U.Due south. Lord's day. "He was cute. Lust at beginning sight."

The couple dated for two months earlier getting married, moving to Oceanside, California, per The Independent. Emerge stayed in the Marines, working as a cook. She was eventually discharged from the military three years into their marriage, and decided to make more money by competing in "muscle worship," or getting paid to wrestle men on video, per The U.S. Sun. Her chore made plenty coin for Ray to quit the Marines and pursue bodybuilding for good, per The U.S. Sun.

Eventually, the couple started fighting. Ray became increasingly insecure virtually his body, and Sally found out about one of his mistresses, co-ordinate to The U.S. Dominicus. Ray too became abusive, at one point even punching her in the face, splitting her lip, and breaking her nose, per The Independent.

The docuseries says Ray was abusive due to concrete and sexual abuse in his childhood, co-ordinate to The Daily Beast.

killer sally mcneil netflix now ray mcneil

Sally McNeil tells her side of the story in Netflix's 'Killer Sally.'

Netflix

What did 'Killer Sally' practise?

Sally shot her husband afterward they got into a fight at their apartment. Perchance most eerie is the fact information technology occurred exactly 8 years after meeting each other on February fourteen, 1995, The Contained says. She shot Ray twice, once in the abdomen and once in the head, "because she was afraid for her life." She "didn't know what [Ray] he was capable of doing" to her.

When she chosen 911, she said, "I just shot my married man because he only crush me up," per The U.Due south. Dominicus.

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Their ii kids were also afflicted.

The couple shared Shantina and John, and the McNeil kids, who are now adults, recollect their dad'due south abuse, per The Guardian. John was only in fourth form when his mom, Sally, shot and killed Ray, and apparently was caught on record telling her in the interrogation room, that "if you idea [he] was gonna impale you then that'southward self-defense."

Shantina says she remembers hearing her mother trying to gasp for air while Ray abused her, and Ray in one case broke Emerge's nose in front of both kids, the outlet reported.

What happened during Killer Emerge's trial?

Because of her bodybuilding physique, Dan Goldstein, the prosecutor, tried to make her look like the assaulter. "She is a bully," Goldstein said in his opening statement, per The Independent. "That'due south hard to say when y'all're talking virtually a adult female, but Sally McNeil has managed to span the gap of gender."

They also dubbed the murder the "roid rage killing" due to the fact that both were using steroids, which investigators later discovered, per The U.S. Sun.

The prosecution tried to argue that the murder was premeditated, because according to the forensics, she had shot Ray in the abdomen, then went and reloaded the weapon and shot him once more in the face, as reported by The Guardian.

What was Emerge convicted of?

She was eventually found guilty of 2d-caste murder in 1996. Her judgement was 19 years to life in jail, per The U.Southward. Sunday.

How onetime is she now?

Born in 1960, Sally is 62 years old today—just she was 35 years old when she shot Ray.

Where is 'Killer Emerge' now?

Sally was living at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California, per The New York Daily News, merely was released on parole in June 2020, and now lives in Northern California, per The U.S. Lord's day.

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Addison Aloian (she/her) is an editorial banana at Women's Health. When she's not writing most all things pop culture, health, beauty, and fashion, she loves hit leg twenty-four hours at the gym, shopping at Trader Joe's, and watching whichever hockey game is on Television. Her work has as well appeared in Allure, StyleCaster, L'Officiel USA, V Magazine, and Modern Luxury Media.