Misook Wang/ Barton O'Neil

I have debated on how to put this case together. I began researching the case against Misook Wang and kept seeing references to Barton O'Neil. I had just recently watched another television show about Wang's case and I do not recall hearing anything about Barton O'Neil. This seemed odd to me later when I learned that the two had been together for three years and a significant amount of things happened within that time period not only affecting Wang's daughter, who was featured on the show, but also showing more of Wang's character. In the end I decided that you cannot tell either story without telling them together despite legally they are separate cases, at least at the moment.

I tried to refresh my memory as to where Misook was born as she is of Asian decent but I could not find anything specific. As I recall in the television show I watched Misook met her first husband, an American soldier, when he was on a tour of duty and brought Misook to the United States. They went on to have a daughter together but the marriage did not last. According to the ex-husband much of it had to do with Misook's mood swings, as well as her attitude about money. According to the husband there never seemed to be enough for her. It is not clear when the couple divorced but it appears to have been at least sometime before their daughter was about six years old because by then it seems that Misook was with Barton O'Neil.

Barton O'Neil had a young daughter named Christina with his ex-wife Tita. While I cannot give specific dates and times on things here is what I can say. In June of 1998 it was said that Barton and Misook ended their three year, sometimes volatile relationship. Christina was three at that time and Misooks daughter was about nine. So it appears that Barton and Misook began their relationship when Christina was just an infant. It appears that the couple lived together in an apartment at some point but it also seems that by June of 1998 Barton had his own place. It is not clear how long ago this had happened. There is an indication that sometime in 1997 there had been a domestic issue between the two that had resulted in charges against Misook for “unlawful restraint.” Nothing went into great detail as to what exactly occurred other than the fact that it was “related to her refusal to leave after police were called to a dispute between them.” It seems that she had already been found guilty and on either June 16^th or 17^th in 1998, there was a sentencing hearing in which McNeil claims he was set to testify and would have likely meant jail time for Misook. Barton claims that on the night of June 15^th he and Misook had a public argument in a restaurant as he claims he had finally broken the relationship off completely.

At around 7:00 that evening Barton picked up his daughter Christina at her mother's home. Tita McNeil worked third shift and on those nights their daughter stayed with Barton. Barton would later say that he put Christina to bed around 10:30 that night. He says that she awoke a few hours later and he simply explained that it was still nighttime and tucked her back in bed. At seven the next morning Barton got up and yell towards Christina's room that it was time to wake up and start their day. He claims that when he did not hear anything he went into the room and found his daughter unresponsive in her bed. He immediately called 9-1-1. When first responders arrived there was nothing they could do and it appeared that Christina had been dead for quite some time.

I am sure investigators were called to the scene but it is unclear what evidence they may have collected, if any, at that time. To be fair it sounds like it was not much. For his part Barton says that he went to his ex-wife's home but several hours later returned to his apartment because he needed to retrieve some items as he did not plan to stay at his place for some time. It was then that Barton claims that he noticed that the window fan that was generally in Christina's first floor window had been knocked out and that he noticed two cut marks on the screen near the latches to the window. What is not clear exactly is if he was inside the home or outside the building when he alleges he discovered this. He claims that this was his first inkling that someone may have gone into the room and done something to his daughter. At this point he contacted the police again. In the end the investigators would collect the screen, bedding and Christina's clothing. There was also a finger print found on the inside of the window frame. It appears that it was at this point that Barton O'Neil brought up the issues with Misook and alleged that she had likely done this.

The following day an autopsy was done on Christina. The medical examiner determined that her cause of death had been smothering. The ME also claimed that before her death Christina had been sexually assaulted. It appears that this was all the investigators needed to decide that Barton O'Neil had not only smothered his child but had molested her before doing so and they arrested him. I have to be fair in saying that I have rarely heard of an arrest occurring so quickly in a situation such as this. While he was awaiting trial it seems that no DNA testing was done on any of the items found. As far as the fingerprint it is unclear exactly what was discovered there. Even still Barton was still yelling Misook's name from the highest mountains he could find. Investigators questioned Misook but she denied being involved. It was also said that at some point they took Misook to the police station where Barton was and watched as he confronted her. Still she denied involvement.

While Barton was in jail awaiting trial Misook seemed to simply move on. But, she was having issues of her own. I found nothing more about the situation in which she was supposed to be sentenced on the unlawful restraint charges other than the initial hearing had been delayed. However, two months after Christina died Misook had child abuse allegations brought against her involving her own daughter. It was alleged that she had beaten the then nine year old with a wood rod. An official with the school stated her daughter had also alleged that Misook had pinched her nose and covered her mouth. In February of 1999 a school principal told the judge presiding over Barton's case that Misook's daughter had told her that her mother had threatened her saying “she needed to behave or the same thing that happened to her sister would happen to her.” Although Christina and Misook's daughter were not biological sisters it was said they had a bond as if they were.

The judge in Barton's trial ruled that he defense would not be allowed to present evidence against another suspect, including Misook, at the upcoming trial. Now, what I find a bit disturbing about this was the fact that Barton had a bench trial meaning he left the decision of guilt or innocence solely left up to the judge and not in the hands of a jury. I could possibly understand, even if I do not agree, not allowing that evidence to possibly confuse a jury and then have to have twelve people and their emotions try to come to a decision on what they believed. However, seeing as this was a bench trial I disagree even more that the judge did not allow the evidence so that he, and he alone, could have all of the evidence available.

Barton's July 1999 trial last two and a half days. It is unclear exactly what the prosecutors had other than the allegations of sexual abuse made by the medical examiner, still none of the other evidence had been tested for DNA and nothing was said about the fingerprint found. I can only assume that the prosecution alleged that Barton had cut the screen himself to make it look like an intruder had entered and his turbulent relationship with Misook was an “easy out.” There seems to be no surprise that the judge convicted him. My research stated that he received a sentence of life in prison and quite honestly that is what it appears, or at least then what he would spend. However, other research, including the Illinois Department of Corrections puts that sentence at 100 years. Whether that is what a life sentence is in Illinois or there were more charges and sentences was not clear. The Department of Corrections website stated his projected parole will be in the year 2048 with his projected release in 2051.

For his part Barton felt his screams had fallen on deaf ears and apparently resigned himself to the fact that one way or another he will die in prison. In my research I came across a site in which it appears that Tita O'Neil had posted about her daughter. This was her one and only child. Whether she believed in his innocence early on, or possibly now, is unclear but at the time that she posted on this site she clearly believed that he had molested their child and murdered her. She claimed in the article that he was the only one with Christina and there was “no forced entry.” This indicates to me that Tita apparently believed in the prosecution theories, and that the prosecution obviously did not believe that the holes in the screen were either there at the time of the murder or were not relevant.

So, time went on and Barton was in prison serving his sentence. In the mean time Misook, as I said earlier, moved on with her life. She ended up meeting a man named Don Wang and they were married. They would then have a son named Donovan. As all relationships do theirs started out great and Misook was close to Don's mother, Wenlan “Linda” Tyda. But, just as things went in her first marriage and seemingly every other relationship Misook had, it began to deteriorate. Now, to be fair I never found anything in my research but the television show that I watched on her story talked about the fact that apparently Misook had an issue with shoplifting and by the way they talked it had gone on for a very long time. It is not clear just how often she was caught. At some point it was said that she had taken Donovan with her shopping and while he was really too big for a stroller, she had still put him in one and had then shoplifted items, placing them in the stroller with him. This time she was apparently caught. Obviously there were already issues not just with shoplifting in the past but other financial and relationship issues. It was said that Misook had a tendency to go into a rage over issues whether she had simply imagined them or not. This too was something that was not new, just likely new to Don and his family. It seems that over a period of several months the relationship not just between Misook and Don became worse, but so did the relationship between Misook and Linda. At some point Misook believed that Don was having an affair and had gone to his place of work and caused a scene. Because of this Don was asked to leave his employer. This, along with the shoplifting issue seemed to be the last straw for not just Don, but also his mother, Linda. Don told Misook he wanted a divorce (although it appears they remained living together) and Linda simply quit speaking to her.

Linda, who was of Chinese decent, and was seventy years old often worked as a translator and apparently an advocate of those who needed her help establishing themselves in the United States. In September of 2011 Linda had gotten a call about providing transportation for someone from Bloomington to a Chinese school in Chicago on September 5^th, Labor Day. Linda lived in Crest Hill, more than an hour away and the call was for very early that morning. When she failed to return home that night her husband reported her missing.

Of course family members were questioned and investigators were immediately suspicious of Misook, who along with Don lived in Bloomington. They would claim that she appeared to have several injuries to her arms and legs and were able to obtain a search warrant not only for her home but also her place of business, a place called “Kim's Sewing and Accessories.” I have to be fair in saying I do not know if she was the owner of this business or not. A current search says that it was established in 2010 and is a privately owned business with a staff of one to four but I cannot say if this place is still operating. Regardless it was apparent that Misook had a key and extreme access to the building whether she was owner or not. In a dumpster outside the business investigators found a trash bag with clothing that would later be identified as belonging to Linda, as well as her identification.

First investigators went to Misook and told them about a surveillance camera video of a grocery store parking lot in which both Misook and Linda could be seen meeting on that early morning. Misook would admit that she had paid someone to call Linda to come there that morning on the premises that she would be transporting a student to Chicago. The claim was that Linda was not taking Misook's calls and she knew no other way to get her talk to her. While the camera showed the body language of the two women, and clearly showed they were not happy, there was no audio, nor was it close enough to be able to attempt to understand what was said. The camera clearly showed the two women driving away and Misook claimed that was all that had happened. Then investigators informed her about what they had found in the dumpster behind her business. It was then that Misook admitted to killing Linda but would claim it was self defense. She would claim that she believed the argument with Linda to be over when they left the parking lot but that Linda had followed her to her place of business and had threatened her. She would eventually tell investigators that she had choked Linda by placing both her hands around her neck and squeezing. As Linda lay dying on the floor it was said that Misook laid down on the office couch and took a nap. When she got up she took Linda's body and placed it in a plastic tote, contorting it to fit. She then drove Linda's car to Chicago, leaving it in an airport parking lot and took a bus back to Bloomington. Misook had done all of this with her son Donovan with her.

On the following evening Misook returned to her business and a co-worker helped her get the extremely heavy tote out and into her car. It was said that the co-worker had joked asking Misook if she had a dead body inside due to how heavy it was. She then drove to a nearby State Park and buried Linda in a shallow grave. Upon her confession Misook took authorities to the body.

Misook Wang was charged with three counts of murder and one count of concealment of a homicide. She would eventually plead guilty on the concealment charge but she took the murder charges to trial. In the meantime Barton O'Neil can hardly believe his ears. The woman he claimed from the very beginning was responsible for the death of his daughter was now not only facing murder charges of her own, but had admitted her role. The problem was Misook was admitting her role in Linda's death, not Christina's. Still, for Barton he claims it brought him hope, it would bring him a lot more than that.

Misook went to trial in December of 2012. Just before the trial she had pleaded guilty to the charge of concealing a homicide and apparently it was decided that sentencing would occur after her trial. Prosecutors obviously had Misook's confession that she had choked Linda to death but it was up to them to prove it was deliberate and not an accident or in self defense as the defense was claiming. Of course they had the issue that Misook had lured Linda to the initial meeting place but as I stated earlier the video showed both women leaving separately in their cars. The prosecution and Linda's family could only conceive of one reason why Linda would have followed Misook after this. They theorized that Misook told Linda that she had money that was owed to her. Over the years Misook and Don had borrowed large sums of money from Linda and had never returned it. The prosecution also had the fact that after murdering Linda, Misook had gone to such lengths to hide the crime. They alleged that pointed away from the fact that the act was done in self defense. Then, as is often the case, the prosecution had a witness willing to testify who had been a fellow inmate with Misook named Tonya Bean. She testified that Misook allegedly confessed to her telling her she had planned to kill Linda and spoke of planning to receive insurance money after her death.

It was no surprise that the jury found Misook guilty. On March 1, 2013 Misook was sentenced to fifty years on the murder charges and five years for the charge of concealing a homicide to run consecutively, one after another. I did find something referenced that I had never seen before. It seems that in Illinois there is a special provision in which she could have been given an extended prison sentence of 60-100 years due to the fact that Linda was over the age of sixty. The Illinois Department of Corrections website states that her projected parole is scheduled for March of 2064 with her projected release scheduled for March 2067.

Misook appealed her conviction and sentence in 2015 saying that the sentence was “excessively harsh.” It was denied. In December of 2017 a new appeal was filed and apparently is yet to be ruled on. In this court filing the defense claims that Tonya Bean lied at Misook's trial. They allege that any information Bean knew about the case had come from friends and family that had researched Misook's case on the Internet. They also claim to have a new witness, Tonya Findley, who is allegedly prepared to testify that Bean lied, although specifics were not found as to how she planned to prove this. The filing continued to argue that Misook's sentence was harsh by claiming that she was not made aware of the fact when she pleaded guilty on the concealing charge that it would run consecutively to any sentence she would receive if found guilty at trial. While her appeals have shown her with the last name Nowlin, which is the last name of her first husband, she is still listed under Wang in the Department of Corrections.

Supporters of Barton O'Neil were closely watching Misook's trial to see what the outcome would be. If you search Barton's case you will see many references saying that the cases were very similar in circumstances. On the surface I have to disagree. There is the argument that in Misook's mind Linda, who was very close to her son, Don, was standing in the way of their relationship. Linda had stopped speaking to her and Don had asked for a divorce. Barton's supporters argue that this is why she murdered Linda and in the same contrast she had perceived that Christina stood in the way of her relationship with Barton. They claim one of the reasons that Barton finally ended the relationship was so that he could spend more time being a father to Christina. With all that transpired the Illinois Innocence Project has taken Barton's case. One of the first things they argued for was DNA testing on the evidence found. They were finally successful in getting that done. In late 2017 one of Barton's relatives claimed that results had returned and that they were favorable to Barton's cause although they were less than forthcoming with the results. At that time they stated that within the next several months a motion would be filed on behalf of Barton with what they called “lots” of new evidence. One of the claims allegedly made is that the defense has found an expert that disputes the medical examiners results that Christina had been sexually assaulted before her death. Another claim is that one of Mistook's neighbors claim that they saw her outside her apartment in a storage area at about three on the morning of the murder. Allegedly the neighbor did not report it because they believed all of the evidence supposedly pointed to Barton and what they saw was not important. As of early July 2018 I have not seen anything yet pertaining to this but that does not mean it has not been filed.

I think we all have to admit that we have seen case after case in which someone claims that someone else committed a crime when all of the evidence points to them. I personally think that Barton O'Neil's case is different in many aspects. I cannot say, until more is released, whether the allegation of sexual assault against Christina is accurate. But, I do want to know more, I want to know what all the experts say, and I want to know if they still claim that this occurred if they can say when it occurred. If they say it did not occur I want them to tell me why they believe so and why they believe the others to be wrong. I know this sounds odd but I do believe the allegation of sexual assault may be the be all, end all of this case. That being said I do find it more than a coincidence that within hours of his daughters death Barton was naming a suspect who eventually did commit a murder. I also feel as if a lot of information missing about Misook, her moods swings and her criminal activities. There seems as if there was a lot of little things barely touched on both in the television show that I viewed, as well as articles I found on the Internet. There are allegations that she was physically and emotionally abusive to many people in her life; there are allegations of several different criminals charges ( i.e shoplifting, child abuse, domestic violence) but no information seemed to be available about anything beyond the allegations or charges in some cases being filed. Two things seem to be certain. First, Misook had plenty of issues in her life long before she murdered her mother in law. Secondly, it seems obvious that Misook could not have been fully looked at as a suspect in the death of Christina O'Neil by authorities prior to charges being brought against Barton despite what they may be saying in 2018. The fact that he was arrested and charged so quickly in the murder of his daughter indicates that there was tunnel vision in this case. It does not mean that he was not guilty. It simply means that the fact is that the fact they did not adequately test evidence or suspects in that case and the main person the defendant accused is now serving her own fifty year sentence for murder.