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TUPELO – A Tupelo woman will spend the next 15 years in prison after pleading to the lesser charge of manslaughter in the 2022 shooting death of her estranged husband.
Patricia Neal, 45, formerly of County Road 1438, Tupelo, was initially indicted for first degree murder for the death of Jeremiah Flakes, 21. Last week in Lee County Circuit Court, Neal entered an Alford plea, where she maintained her innocence but admitted the state had enough evidence to convict her.
Following the Aug. 28 plea, Circuit Judge John White sentenced Neal to 20 years, suspending five. That sentence will run consecutive to the 9-year sentence she is currently serving in the Delta Correctional Facility for uttering a forgery in Lee County.
In addition to the prison time, the judge ordered Neal to pay nearly $6,000 in court costs, fees and restitution. The latter includes $4,000 to Flakes’ family to pay for his funeral.
Neal’s codefendants were also indicted for first-degree murder and pleaded guilty to manslaughter last year. Both men were sentenced to 20 years.
The strange saga began on the morning of July 14, 2022, when Lee County deputy sheriffs were dispatched to County Road 1438 on a report of a vehicle blocking the road. A bullet-riddled sedan was found partially in the ditch and partially in the road. Flakes was in the back seat of the car and had been shot multiple times.
About two weeks later, authorities announced they were looking for the victim’s estranged wife (Neal), her new boyfriend (Shannon D. Bramlett, 33, of Sardis) and his nephew (Darick L. Moody, 19, of Oxford).
Bramlett and Moody were captured near Pensacola, Florida, on Aug. 1, 2022, and returned to Lee County. Neal was on the run for 16 days before U.S. Marshals apprehended her in Tennessee on Aug. 12, 2022. Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson said she is awaiting extradition to be returned to Tupelo.
Bramlett and Moody pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in April and May of 2024; respectively.
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