People thought He died a natural death in 2019. Funeral home examined the body and found out opposite of what people thought

Years after a funeral home employee noticed suspicious injuries on a Georgia man whose death was initially ruled natural, police have arrested someone for his murder.

Ray Neal, 61, was found dead by his sister in his home in 2019 after he stopped answering his phone... Continue reading here ▶

He had been known to have health problems, so his death was first thought to be from natural causes, even though his sister and police found blood in several rooms of his house.

However, when the funeral home director came to pick up the body, he saw what looked like stab wounds on Neal’s neck. On January 23rd, Gwinnett County Police announced they had arrested a suspect for Neal’s murder after an investigation.

When police first responded to Neal’s death in July 2019, they reported finding blood “on the bed, on the walls of the bathroom, and upon the shower curtain,” but they weren’t sure if it was related to his health or a crime. The medical examiner’s office investigator at the scene, after being told about Neal’s health issues, decided he had died of natural causes.

Neal’s sister, Michelle Smalls, told a local news station that there was “just too much blood” near her brother’s body when she found him. She said the investigator took “all of 10 minutes” to decide it was a natural death. Smalls also said that when the funeral director arrived, he said, “Whoa, this is something totally different than what they said.”

An autopsy later revealed that Neal had been murdered. The investigator lost her job because of her initial incorrect ruling.

Because of the initial mistake about the cause of death, the police investigation was delayed by two days, and the case eventually went cold.

In 2024, the case was reopened after the Cold Case Unit received a tip from a family member who named 50-year-old Carmen Marie Hunt as a suspect. Police started a new investigation, reviewing security video and fingerprints from the original crime scene and conducting new interviews. Hunt, who was already in jail on a separate charge for allegedly stabbing someone in 2022, was brought in for questioning.

Based on their findings, police charged Hunt on January 15th with felony murder and aggravated assault in connection with Neal’s death. Her relationship with Neal has not been released to the public.

Hunt was scheduled to appear in court on the new charges on January 17th and remains in custody at the Gwinnett County Jail.