Man sentenced to 60 years for shooting and killing Lone Tree man

The man who shot and killed a 73-year-old Lone Tree resident and fled the scene in a stolen truck last year will spend decades in prison after pleading guilty to murder earlier this week.

James Matthew Neal II, 24, accepted a plea deal Tuesday, which includes charges of second-degree murder, motor vehicle theft and possession of a weapon by a previous offender, in connection with the November 2023 death of Michael Lohmeier.

On Thursday, Neal was sentenced to 48 years in prison for murder plus 12 years for the other two charges, all consecutive.

“This was a dangerous criminal who was released early on parole and continued to commit more crimes,” Corrie Caler, an assistant prosecutor with the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, said in a statement. “I hope that this long prison sentence prevents the accused from victimizing another person in the foreseeable future.

Neal previously pleaded guilty to felony assault in 2020 and felony menacing in 2019.

Lone Tree police wrote in their own news release that Neal shot Lohmeier while the latter was sitting in his car in a commercial parking lot. Neal then left in a stolen Ford F-150 pickup truck.

Surveillance camera footage from the area showed the stolen truck driving away from the crime scene “at a high rate of speed,” according to an arrest affidavit prepared by Lone Tree police. Additional footage showed Neal getting out of the truck and changing clothes inside a nearby department store.

About a week later, police caught up with the truck, driven by Neal’s friend. The woman told police that Neal had described the murder to her, which Neal told her occurred after he asked Lohmeier if he wanted to buy drugs.

Police said the woman told them Neal “showed her his gun and even pointed it at her.”

Neal was arrested by Wyoming State Police two and a half weeks later, after a “crime wave” and a high-speed chase in that state, police said.

Neal remained in jail after he was extradited to Douglas County and ordered held on $20 million cash-only bail.

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Originally Posted: October 25, 2024 at 10:51

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