Most prisoners serve life in prison or can file appeals to get a plea deal in hopes of maybe receiving a reduced sentence. This is not the case for Manling Tsang Williams who is a woman on death row after being convicted of the murders of her entire family. This is her story.

The murder of Neal William and his two sons

When Manling Tsang Williams murdered her husband Neal William and their two sons, she was 29 at the time.

Manling Williams had murdered her husband Neal Williams and her two sons in their family home. She had first put on a pair of gloves and proceeded to murder her 3-year-old son by suffocating him with a pillow. Mangling Tsai Williams suffocated her son with the pillow until he lost consciousness and died slowly as a result of not being able to breathe.

Shortly after having killed her 3-year-old son, Manling Williams then proceeded to kill her 7-year-old son. She killed her 7-year-old son the same way in which she killed her 3-year-old son. Manling Tsang Williams took a pillow and covered her 7-year-old son’s nose and mouth until he eventually stopped breathing and his body went limp.

Before moving on to kill Neal Williams, Manling Williams took the time to log into her Myspace account and meet friends. It is said that Manling Williams was having a relationship with someone known as her lover. She logged onto Myspace to check her lovers’ page and then headed out for a while to catch up with a few friends.

Upon returning home, Manling Tsang Williams then dedicated themself to killing her husband Neal Williams. How she killed Neal Williams was brutal and Neal’s body was badly damaged.

According to reports, Manling Williams had “chosen the heaviest and sharpest sword that was in the house”. The sword was a Samurai sword. Reports said that Manling Tsang Williams slashed her husband Neal Williams more than 90 times, hence his body was brutally chopped up. 

Manling Tsang Williams acted as if she wasn’t the one who committed such an atrocious act. After murdering Neal Williams and their two sons, Manling Williams called up the police the next morning and informed them that she had come after buying groceries and found that her husband and her two sons were all dead.

Why did Manling Tsang Williams commit this heinous crime?

Family and friends of Manling Williams claimed that Manling did love her husband Neal Williams and their children, but that she was a troubled woman.

Manling Williams had always been in love with her high school boyfriend, and it is said that it is this boyfriend that she was having an affair with that led to her killing her husband Neal Williams and her two sons.

According to reports, Manling Williams had murdered Neal Williams because she wanted to be with her lover. Her lover wanted her to get a divorce, but Manling Tsang Williams was a troubled woman and took it one step too far. 

Sources also state that Manling Williams did not plan out the murder. The murder of Neal Williams and his two sons was not premeditated but rather Manling Williams acted out of impulse after checking on her lovers’ Myspace page. 

The prosecution of Manling Williams

Manling Tsang Williams was convicted of the murder of Neals William and their two sons in 2007. The prosecution of this case is as follows:

• When Manling Tsang William’s case was brought forth in court, Manling William’s attorney acknowledged the fact that Manling had admitted to committing murder but stated that she had not planned the murders
• Her lover came forward also to confess. His name is John Gregory. At the trial, Gregory testified that he did have an affair with Manling Tsang Williams before the murders.
• Gregory testified that Manling Williams had confessed to him that she was unhappy with her marriage and wanted a divorce but never did anything about it.
• Gregory also stated that Manling Tsang Williams had messaged him asking if they could meet up a few days before the murders. This is when they had an affair, but Gregory ended it a few days later.
• According to Gregory, Manling Williams reacted normally when he ended it with her. He had also told her that once the divorce was final, then maybe they could rekindle their relationship.

After hearing Gregory’s confession, the prosecution called Manling Tsang William’s neighbor Francine Cerda to the stand. This is how the testimony went:

• Francine Cerda stated that she was one of the first people who discovered Neal Williams’s lifeless body in his home immediately after Manling Tsang Williams had run out of the house screaming and acting hysterical.
• According to Francine, Neal Williams’s body lay lifeless at the top of the stairs in the home he had shared with Manling Tsang Williams and their two sons.
• Francine also stated that the night before she had discovered Neal Williams’s body, she overhead Manling Williams and Neal Williams arguing. At around 11 pm. Francine also saw Manling Tsang Williams leaving her house and driving off but she said she does not know where Manling went.

The truth about Manling Williams’s affair with John Gregory slowly came to light and gave more details into why Manling Tsang Williams murdered her entire family. The truth came to light thanks in part to testimonies shared by her close friends.

According to Manling Tsang Williams’s close friends Melaney Ramirez and Jaclyn Bailey, Manling had often expressed her feelings towards John Gregory to them.

Her friends testified that Manling Williams was often talking about the problems she was having in her marriage to Neal Williams. The friends claimed that Manling Williams often felt like she was forced into the marriage because she became pregnant with Neal Williams’s baby.

According to Jaclyn Bailey, Manling Tsang Williams had shared with her that she and Neal Williams used to get into arguments nearly every day. She stated that sometimes these arguments would get so heated that they would turn into screaming matches.

Adding more fuel to the fire, Melaney Ramirez had lived with the couple for a few months and often noticed that Neal Williams used to borrow money from Manling Tsang Williams. This no doubt infuriated Manling Williams and made her feel even worse.

After hearing all testimonies in 2010 the court proceedings and the trial concluded with a hung jury. The jury was unable to come to a consensus as to whether Manling Tsang Williams should be given the death penalty or life imprisonment. 

The jury did charge Manling Williams with three counts of first-degree murder and stated special allegations that Manling Tsang Williams had used weapons and was lying in wait. 

Manling Tsang Williams Now: What has become of her?

After a hung jury in 2010, the prosecution called for a retrial of the case concerning Manling Williams and the murder of Neal Williams and his two sons.

Nearly 2 years after the first trial, a second jury was called in to decide whether Manling Williams should continue to serve her sentence of life in prison or that her actions were too extreme and warranted a sentence of being put on death row.

The second jury in 2012 concluded that Manling Tsang Williams should be sentenced to death. It was in this year that Manling Williams became the 20th woman on death row in the United States of America. 

According to Judge Robert Martinez who presided over the case, Manling Williams should suffer the death penalty. To quote the exact words of the Judge from the trial “it is the order of this court that you should suffer the death penalty”.

Judge Martinez further went on to say that the evidence against Manling Williams was compelling enough to warrant a death penalty. To quote “the evidence is compelling that the defendant for selfish reasons murdered her children”.

Judge Martinez also stated that the death sentence given to Mandy Williams is hypothetical as there hasn’t been an execution carried out in a long long time.

Currently, Manling Tsang Williams is serving life in prison in Central California.

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