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Slain pastor's daughter: Bullet not meant for my dad

05:18 PM CDT on Wednesday, March 28, 2007

By Wendell Edwards / 11 News

Click to watch Alex Sanz's report

Disbelief began to give way to truth Wednesday afternoon, as a daughter absorbed the shocking news that her father had been murdered.

“That’s my daddy’s house. I can’t believe this, man. I can’t believe this. I don’t believe that my daddy is dead for real. This is some messed up stuff,” Krystal O’Neal said.

Courtesy

Lee and Annette O'Neal were married in December 2006.

 Police said two masked men entered the home of O’Neal’s father, located at Almeece and Tiffany, around 1 a.m. Wednesday.

Lee and Annette O’Neal were put in a hallway bathroom while they ransacked the house.

Then they turned a gun on the couple who lived there.

Lee O’Neal, 55, was shot in the face and killed.  His wife, Annette, was beaten up but survived. The pair had been married only since December.

“She said he tried to charged at them. When they started struggling, she ran to the phone to call 911, and she heard the shots,” Annette’s sister, Jean Lewis, said.

O’Neal was a traveling preacher originally from New Orleans. He relocated to Houston after Rita destroyed his home in Beaumont.

Investigators said there was no sign of forced entry in the home.

Family members believe the suspects may have gotten a key somehow from the victim’s daughter, Krystal.

“She had a key to the house because she had lived there. He made her leave when she turned 18,” Lewis said.

The two men took off in the couple’s gray 2003 Nissan Frontier, which was recovered at 14100 Bathhurst.

Police said the suspects were wearing red bandanas. One was tall, and one was short.

The father and daughter had been estranged since January.

Now, Krystal herself says trouble may have found its way to her home.

“That was my fault. Whatever happened was my fault. They were looking for me. They were not looking for him. You feel me. But it’s not going to be alright though,” she said.

But now all she can do is grieve … and perhaps believe that the bullet that killed her father may have been meant for her.

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