Prosecutors said he lived in the apartment with the bodies for about two weeks before police were called.
ATLANTA — A Fulton County jury has convicted an Atlanta man of killing his mother and her longtime boyfriend, then remaining in their apartment with the bodies for about two weeks before police found the victims during a welfare check, authorities said.
The case drew attention in Atlanta because of both the violence of the killings and the long delay before the deaths were discovered. Prosecutors said Neil Russell later emptied his mother’s bank account after her Social Security payment arrived. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 25 years, a punishment that prosecutors said will likely keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
Authorities said the killings happened in late February 2025 inside an apartment on Oglethorpe Avenue SW. The case did not come to light until March 7, 2025, when family members grew worried after they could not reach Marvin Spencer. Spencer’s daughter, Maria Spencer, said she had been trying to contact her father for several days. When she finally called Henrietta Russell’s phone, Neil Russell answered. She said the response raised immediate concern because she had never met him and felt something was wrong. She went to the apartment complex and asked for help with a welfare check. When officers responded, prosecutors said, they could smell decomposition before they entered the home.
Police said the encounter quickly became a barricade situation. According to the Atlanta Police Department, officers reached the apartment around 2:51 p.m. on March 7 for a welfare check. Officers encountered a man who refused to cooperate and said he would harm himself and others. Hostage negotiators were called, and the suspect eventually came out and was detained. After a protective sweep, officers found two people dead inside. Court testimony later identified the victims as Henrietta Russell and Spencer. Prosecutors said Henrietta Russell had been strangled and Spencer had been stabbed. Investigators also said Russell stayed inside the residence with the bodies for roughly four hours while police worked to end the standoff.
In interviews after the verdict, Fulton County prosecutors said the motive remained unclear. Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney Travis Thomas said the defense pressed the state on the lack of DNA and fingerprint evidence tying Russell to the killings. But prosecutors said the larger timeline, witness testimony and financial activity after the deaths helped the jury understand what happened. Thomas said Russell withdrew money from his mother’s account as soon as her Social Security payment arrived on the first of the month. Prosecutors also noted Russell’s history of drug abuse and said he had recently left rehab. Even so, they said the evidence did not fully explain why the killings happened.
The legal case moved in stages. Atlanta police first announced charges tied to aggravated assault, false imprisonment and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony after the March 7 standoff. On March 10, 2025, police said they secured additional warrants charging Russell with two counts of murder and two additional knife-possession counts. By March 2026, the case had reached trial, where jurors convicted him of murder and other charges. He then received two consecutive life sentences plus 25 years. Prosecutors said that under current parole standards, he would not be eligible for parole for at least 60 years.
Family testimony gave the case much of its emotional weight. Maria Spencer said March 7, 2025, should have been her father’s 76th birthday. Instead, she learned that he and the woman he loved had been killed. She described her father as a father of three, a grandfather of 14 and a great-grandfather of six. “I think my faith is one of the main things that’s getting me through it,” she said in comments aired by WSB-TV. “I haven’t really necessarily taken the time off to properly grieve.” Her statement underscored how the case stretched beyond a criminal conviction and into a family’s long effort to process a violent loss.
The case now stands as a closed prosecution, with the verdict and sentence in place. Unless an appeal changes the outcome, Russell is expected to remain in prison for decades, with the next major milestone likely to come through post-conviction court filings.
Author note: Last updated March 27, 2026.