Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Worst Dad In History - The Ronnie O'Neal Story

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

Ronnie O’Neal III committed one of Florida’s most shocking family murders on March 18, 2018. His son miraculously survived, crawled out of the burning house, and later testified against his father in court.

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My whole world is falling apart right now. It's chaos. Watch the Hulu original series. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for Bumno subscribers. Terms apply. So this guy is about to do something so evil that his own kid is going to get him put in prison for it. So the kid, his name is Ronnie, and Ronnie is eight and he's living in Florida with his mom and his special needs sister.

And Ronnie, he wants what all eight-year-olds want, a stable home life with a good family. And his mom tries really hard to give that to him and his sister. However, there's a problem. His dad. Now his dad is this guy, O'Neill. And O'Neill, he's just not a good dude. Like he's been locked up quite a few times for various offenses. Plus, he's kind of crazy.

Like he's always flipping out and yelling, and he eventually just leaves them and refuses to pay child support. But honestly, things are better for Ronnie and his sister when dad isn't around. But one day in 2017, something crazy happens. O'Neill, he's just standing there on the street, I guess, and someone nearby pulls a random drive-by shooting, and suddenly, bam, he gets

hit by a stray bullet. And he's seriously wounded, so he's rushed to the hospital. Later, when he gets out of the hospital, no one offers to help take care of him. Not his parents, not his new girlfriend. Literally no one wants to help him, I guess because he's just such a jerk. So O'Neill calls up Ronnie's mom, like, please, can you help me out? I have nowhere else to go. And even though they broke up, she feels bad for him. She's like, fine, you can stay with us and I'll help you recover. So O'Neill moves in with the three of them. And Ronnie's mom starts taking care of him.

But unfortunately, O'Neill, he's not a good guy. And he's crazy. So they fight a lot. And one day in 2018, things get really bad. Because they get into an argument over who even knows what, and O'Neill flips out. and he goes into a rage, and suddenly he just snaps, and he grabs a shotgun, and he starts running around the house, chasing Ronnie's mom.

And from here, things get really dark, really fast, because O'Neill, unfortunately, murders Ronnie's mom, and then he murders his own daughter, Ronnie's sister, and he does all this right in front of Ronnie. Then he decides to go after Ronnie himself. Like suddenly he grabs a knife, and boom, he stabs him, and then he stabs him again and again and again. Then he gets a gasoline can,

and he pours gas everywhere in the house, including on Ronnie. Then he lights a match, and he sets the whole place on fire, and the whole house just goes up in flames. And pretty quickly, police arrive, and they surround the place, and they see the fire inside the house. Right then, the garage door opens, and O'Neill just casually walks outside toward the police. And the police are like, good on the ground.

But O'Neill doesn't listen. So, they tase his ass, and that makes him listen. And bam, police arrest him. Here's his mugshot. And so police throw him in the squad car. But then they see a silhouette stumbling out of the house. And it's Ronnie. And he's injured, but he's alive.

So they rush him to the hospital. And he's in critical condition, and he's not expected to survive. But eventually, he does start to get better to the point where he can, like, have visitors and stuff. Now, while he's in the hospital, he gets visited by one of the detectives working on the scene. This guy, Detective Mike. And one day, while Detective Mike is visiting, as he's leaving, Ronnie grabs his hand and he asks him to stay and watch a movie with him. And Detective Mike does. And so it's really nice that Ronnie, you know, he's found someone to spend a little time with him.

Not only that, Detective Mike later keeps returning to visit Ronnie in the hospital. Sometimes he'll bring his whole family to spend time with him there. So that's good. Now, after a bunch of surgeries, Ronnie ends up making a full recovery. So good for him. However, now he has a new problem. His dad, O'Neill, has to go to trial over all this. And Ronnie is the only survivor, so he's the only witness, which means

he'll be expected to talk about the murders that happened that day and testify against his own dad. So a few years pass, and it's now 2021, and Ronnie is 11 now. And O'Neill's murder trial finally begins. And because he's clearly out of his mind, O'Neill actually waives his right to a lawyer and instead chooses to represent himself in court. So he's his own lawyer. And in court, he argues that the police are all against him and that they fabricated evidence against him and that they coached his son Ronnie to lie in court. And he claims that he did kill his girlfriend that day, but it was all in self-defense.

And all this goes, about as bad as you would imagine. And I'm standing here competent as can be representing myself. If you think I'm here to put around with y'all, God damn on that. All right, Mr. O'Neill, please stop using... swearing language. It's not appropriate in a closing argument. And so O'Neill pleads not guilty and claims self-defense, and he argues that police tampered with evidence. So then, poor little Ronnie has to do one of the bravest things I've ever seen a kid do. He has to testify against his own dad. And because O'Neill is acting as his own attorney, he's the one who gets to cross-examine

Ronnie. So he's the one asking him questions. And this is the first time they've spoken since he attacked him. Did I hurt you that night of this incident? Yes. I did. And how did I hurt you? He stopped me. So Ronnie does the right thing and the scary thing, and he tells the court all about what happened that day. And of course, his testimony is enough to put O'Neill in prison for life. I mean, it's

double murder, attempted murder, arson, all kinds of stuff. So now that Ronnie has said the words that could get O'Neill locked up for life, does O'Neill finally take accountability? Show remorse? Maybe apologize for his crimes? No, of course he doesn't. In fact, at the end of the trial, he very directly says that he's not sorry. I am not sorry for something I didn't do, and I am not sorry for the things I did do. Mr. O'Neill, I don't, listen, stop right, stop, listen to me. I'm not, I'm not. You're not going to your voice again. And so anyway, ultimately, the jury believes Ronnie, and with the help of his testimony, O'Neill gets convicted. So Ronnie's bravery gave his mother and sister the justice that they

deserved. But now the question is, what's going to happen to little Ronnie? Remember, all he wanted was what all kids want, like a stable home life with a good family. But all in the same day, he lost his mom, his sister, and his place to live. And since then, back in 20, he was taken into state custody, and from there he bounced around from place to place living in foster care. But it's about a year later that something pretty incredible happens. Remember Detective Mike? The cop who worked on Ronnie's case and visited him in the hospital? Well, one day, Detective Mike gets a call from a social worker, one who had been working on Ronnie's case.

And the social worker's like, we can't find a home for Ronnie. Do you possibly know anyone who can take him? And Detective Mike's like, I do. Bring him here. We want to adopt him. And so Detective Mike officially adopts Ronnie and welcomes him into the family. And now Ronnie has a dad and a mom and brothers and sisters. And here is a picture of them. Here is another picture of them at a baseball game. And so finally, Ronnie gets a home and the stable family life that he has always wanted.

I'm not crying you are. While his dad O'Neill gets sentenced to three life sentences plus 90 years in prison.