Stephanie Neiman was 19 and two weeks a graduate of Perry High School in Oklahoma, where she played the saxophone in the band. It would be unduly cruel to point out that she had her whole life ahead of her, given what we know today.
On June 3, 1999, Stephanie was driving a friend home in her Chevy pickup and had the misfortune of arriving when three men were there, supposedly attempting to beat a debt out of Bobby Bornt, 23, who lived there with his 9-month-old son.
One man hit Stephanie’s friend with a shotgun and forced her to call Stephanie inside. The men then raped the friend and beat Stephanie, when she refused to give up her truck keys. They bound her with duct tape and drove her to a country road.
Still, she refused to say she wouldn’t call the police on them, so they forced her to her knees and made her watch one gunman dig a grave. When one man shot her, his gun jammed, while Stephanie screamed. The man cleared his weapon and shot her again. Even though she was still breathing, the man ordered his accomplices to bury her, which they did.
It’s not clear whether it took 43 minutes more for her to die, and we can’t ask her now if she suffered.
Exactly why I am not moved that this perp didn’t go quietly