Law&Crime Sidebar - 'They Did This': YNW SakChaser's Aunt Breaks Silence on YNW Melly Double Murder Case

Episode Date: July 21, 2023

EXCLUSIVE: The aunt of Anthony Williams, aka YNW SakChaser, is breaking her silence on the YNW Melly double murder case for the first time. Reni McNeal shares her opinion on whether Melly is guilty or not and sheds light on issues in the YNW group leading up to the deadly murders. “Justice is all we want,” McNeal said. “Crazy that they did this.” The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy discusses the case, SakChaser, and the YNW group with McNeal on this exclusive episode of the Sidebar podcast.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergWriting & Video Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieThey Walk Among AmericaDevil In The DormThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. He didn't come to the funeral. He came at after what I'm sitting down eating. Came in dancing. Happy dancing. As the jury in the YNW. Mellie double murder trial deliberated, we sat down with one of the victim's aunts to discuss her thoughts on the case and her nephew. Welcome to Law and Crimes Sidebar podcast. I'm Janette Levy. The jury in YNW. Melly's double murder trial spent much of the day Friday in Verdict Watch. Melly's fate is now in the hands of that jury. Most of the attention on this case has obviously been focused on Mellie. But regardless of whether

he's found guilty or not, we can't forget that the lives of two young men were taken back on October 26th of 2018. Anthony Williams, who went by YNW Sack Chaser and Christopher Thomas, also known by YNW Juvie. They were both shot to death. We spoke with Anthony Williams' aunt, Rina McNeil, and learned about how she feels about the trial. She also told us a little bit about who Anthony was. How are you feeling right now? Right now it's... You're in a waiting game. You're just waiting to see when the jury comes back. Yes.

We're all nervous, you know, just been praying, you know, having faith. Hope everything goes right and get justice. That's all we want. We've heard so much about evidence in this case. We've heard text messages. We've seen all of these things. But, you know, we really haven't heard about Anthony. We know that he loved music.

Obviously, he loved his friends. So tell me about Anthony. he was a good kid you know he was he was the line to try to get everybody in so everybody could eat a lot of them boys that was coming from gift for sack was bringing them there so they all could benefit from you know the group you know he was scared of trouble you know he loved his friends family you know he was a good kid quiet you know he kept to himself he had his only few select that he hung with so what do you think his ultimate dream was you said he liked to do his YouTube videos and produce music.

Did he, it sounds like they all had really big dreams. Yep, they did. That's all they wanted to do. It's all he wanted to do. And it was going to take off. You know, it was going to change the game. A lot of people like his music. I like it.

I still listen to it to this day. SAC wasn't a bully that they think he was. He was a good kid. Like he wanted all his friends to come up in the industry and eat, you know. tell you what tay withers whatever his name is he's our set family but not technically he was down there for set set brought him there you know so they could all try to come up you know and be positive maybe he's successful so it's crazy it's crazy where i live in Rina then discussed that the YNW brand was all Anthony's idea.

How big of a part of the whole YNW music organization was he? You know, we saw in one of the text messages, he said, you know, I'm the CEO. So did you feel he was like a driving force behind the organization? I think he was because when they started that group, Melly was thinking jail. And I used to see him have his little notes. I didn't even know he was rapping until they end up passing away. I started listening to his music. But he used to always have his little notes way before they blew up.

So he used to draw the little logo and everything. So he came up with everything. Oh, he came up with the YNW logo? Mm-hmm. Yep. At the time of this recording, a verdict had not yet been reached in the YNW. Malley double murder trial. But Rina McNeil believes that Mellie and Cortland Henry are responsible for Sack Chaser and Juvie's deaths.

She expressed how shocking it was for someone so close to them to betray her nephew. What's it been like to sit in this trial? And obviously you've had to look at some things that are horrible that no family should ever have to look at. Yeah, it was kind of hard because we took this. We all grew up was close, you know. My sister helped raise my kids. I helped raise her kids, you know. So it was kind of, we're all a close family, you know.

So it kind of hit us hard. Like the closest death, you know, I really had in our family, like, they hit us like this, especially as far as like a murder, how all this stuff going to happen. It's crazy because he was real close to these boys. Like, he used to go visit me when he was in jail type, you know, loyalty. And they, they hurting on them. It's crazy.

I also asked Rina about when she found out that Anthony and Christopher had been murdered. She mentioned that she actually found out about it on social media. She then went on to discuss her feelings about who she believed did it. It was so long ago. It was like the day after the fact, we ended up being caused or whatever. We thought it was like it wasn't true. So we ended up going to the source and they confirmed it. It was true.

So, yeah. We didn't. Somebody reached out there. We found out on Facebook, stuff like that. You found out that he had died on Facebook? Yeah. Did you all ever have any conversation? with Mellie or Jamie after Anthony and Chris?

Jamie came to my mom house and track came over with the manager. They came and tried to show he could donate us or whatever. I knew from day one because he wasn't no troubled kid, you know what I'm saying? And he didn't have a lot of people around him. He wasn't that type of person to have a lot of company around him. No, I knew from day one. So when you say you knew from day one, And you felt that Mellie and Bortland had something to do with this?

Yes, ma'am. To me and Sack, we had a very spiritual, like, it's in our blood. Like, that's what I say, Seth knew a lot of stuff was going on, going to happen that night before, weeks before, he knew something was going on. So it was just like, we got that instinct in our family. Like, we see feel stuff and see stuff for it happen. So he kind of knew what was going on.

He just probably didn't think they'll do him like that, you know? Are you talking about like the text messages where he he said to Mellie something to the effect of something tells me you all are up to something and you know he really he really loved them boys and it's kind of sad that they did that to him. Rina explained to me that she's been talking to her sister, Anthony's mother, throughout the course of the trial. She told me how she's been following the case. She touched on the fact that Anthony's mother looked out for all the boys since they were kids. Have you spoken to her about how she's feeling? And we speak all the time. She's just in high spirits, you know.

She's kind of keep her head up, you know. It's kind of hard losing your oldest son, you know, especially to a devil homicide, you know. She took care of these boys. They came to her house, you know, spent the night, ate her food, you know. They all took care of these boys like they were their own. You see how she was talking to the melody in her text.

She was so hurt, like, I don't know what to do. And you're talking to the person. killed your son. She didn't know what to do at this point. Nobody didn't believe that they'll do that, you know. I asked Rina what punishment she would like for Mellie to receive if he's found guilty. She also went on to discuss cell phone evidence that it's a crucial part of the evidence in the case and the fact that she believes no one actually shares a cell phone. What punishment, if Mellie is convicted of first degree murder, you know, the punishment is either life and prison or the death penalty. Is there one you prefer over the other?

I mean, I'm not, I'm not big on a death penalty because I feel like God should have to, you know, judgment on somebody, but life in prison, definitely, you know, but you got your laws and you got your rules. So it's sad. These boys don't lost their lives. It ain't just second juvie, Melly, Bortland. They think it's all the game. It's just real life. They're laughing all on Facebook and all that. It's just a serious. Y'all life is about to be gone away. I definitely pick life without possibly upro.

I feel like if he get off on this, he'll try to do it again because they don't lay out so much evidence. You're teaching people how to get away with murder. I learned a lot from this case, like a lot. What have you learned? Just like how science works, you know, in murder cases. Like, you don't need a weapon. You don't need DNA, you know.

I watch a lot of first 48s. I already know. A cell phone, do some damage to you. Yeah, I always say, you know, you can ask someone how they're doing, but you look in their cell phone, you find out exactly what's going on in their lives. It's like an open book. It's like a diary. Nobody leaves their cell phone. Nobody, my cell phone always in my hand.

I better let my friends or my phone. Like, you know, don't swipe left. Don't swipe white. You might see something you don't want to see. So I'm very particular about who touched my phone. And Seth was like that too. Like, don't touch my phone, you know. Everybody's like that by their phone.

Nobody share a phone these days. Who shares phones? Especially somebody that's famous, you know? It's all, it's all the case that you just got to use common sense and put it all together. Finally, I asked Rina about whether or not Mellie attended Anthony's funeral. This is what she said. I had talked to people who said that Mellie did not go to the funerals of Anthony and Chris. He went to Seth.

He didn't come to the funeral. He came at, like, when he was sitting down eating, came in dancing, happy dancing. They didn't show his respects to nobody. I remember that day he came in dancing. You said that he, it was a dinner. It was this after the funeral or before? After the funeral, everybody goes sit down and eat and stuff. That's how we do it.

Like, we had the funeral. Everybody go down and eat the food or whatever. So he didn't really attend the funeral. He came after. When he came in, he was dancing. He was a little dance. So he came in dancing. Did he say anything?

He dropped some shirts off that they made for the boys or whatever. Made some shirts for sex while I raised some peace shirts or whatever. Drop them off and they left. He had security guards and stuff with him. It was probably, they're probably like five, ten minutes. They didn't say nothing to my sister and come give her a hug. Say, you know, nothing. Again, at the time of this recording, a verdict had not been reached

in the YNWMLE double murder trial. Stay tuned to Law and Crime for continuing coverage of the case. That's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar Podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcasts. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Ann Janette Levy.

We will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this Law and Crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.