Kriti Mehrotra
It was December 30, 2009, when the entire world turned upside down for the Daniels family as they were held hostage, robbed, and tortured inside their own suburban home in Beaumont, Texas. As explored in ID’s ‘Home Alone: The Men Who Stole Christmas,’ they fought for their lives for hours until the intruders finally fled, but it left them with lifelong mental and physical trauma. However, arguably the worst aspect for them has been the fact that only one of the two (or possibly three) assailants has ever been arrested, charged, tried, as well as sentenced for the offense.
Yei and John Daniels Were Leading an Ordinary, Happy Life
It was back when Yei and John were in school that they first came across one another, just to fall head over heels in love by the time they were in the 11th grade. While she thought of him to be a sensitive teddy bear owing to the way he carried himself and his physique, he adored her practicality and selfless personality. The fact that both of their parents approved of their relationship was also a significant plus for them, helping them stay together even after graduating in the summer of 1998. In fact, they fell pregnant not long after, welcoming their firstborn, John III, in February 2000.
Yei and John welcomed their second child, Jerome, into this world around six years, meaning while John III was 9 by the time late 2009 rolled around, Jerome was 3. As for the couple, John was working as a bread deliveryman at the time, whereas his wife took care of their household and their children in a suburban area. By all accounts, they were leading a happy family-oriented life, even though they had had issues a few years prior following an accident. John had been hit by an 18-wheeler, so he was hospitalized for a while, but thankfully, they were able to stay afloat with the help of an insurance payout.
Yei and John Daniels Were Robbed Twice in Two Months
Yei and John had gone to a concert on November 4, 2009, while their children were staying over at the former’s god sister’s apartment, only to find their home ransacked when they returned. John was the one who entered first, just to come out within a few moments to ask his wife to dial 911 because they had been robbed. Crime scene technicians also investigated the scene, but sadly, they could identify no clues about who the assailant might have been. The couple subsequently became quite vigilant, especially as they lost some cash and jewelry, but they were glad no one had been home at the home.
They thus celebrated the holiday season in full force, unaware that everything would change on December 30. John had left home that evening to go to his brother’s place, who resided not 5 minutes away, but he never even made it inside his car. While he was taking out his keys, he was suddenly jumped on by two armed men wearing ski masks. They forced him to knock on his own door, and when Yei opened, they forced their way inside, woke the children up, and gathered them all in the living room.
The intruders kept demanding money, stating they knew they had a significant sum at home while referring to John as “Dough Boy,” which was a part of his username on MySpace. When the couple asserted they didn’t have anything, one of the two men grabbed a knife from their kitchen and began stabbing John, who had been pushed to lie face down on the carpet. He was stabbed multiple times before Yei broke and revealed they had a small sum in a safe in their bedroom – $30,000 that they had managed to save from the insurance payout.
Yei and John Were Severely Injured During the Break-in
Yei led the other men to the bedroom, and when asked if they had a firearm, she gave him the weapon John kept in the dresser. For a moment, she did think of using it so as to help her family escape, but she knew it was too big a risk with her children’s lives on the line. So, she handed him the weapon, the money from the safe, the couple’s wedding rings, and any other jewelry they had, thinking it would be enough. However, the men didn’t believe it was everything the family had and kept demanding more while hurting John.
At one point, one of the men even threatened to take Jereome’s life to get Yei and John talking, but when they still maintained they had nothing left, the men separated them. While one stayed with John and continued hurting them in the living room, another dragged Yei and the children to the kitchen, where she and her eldest were duct-taped. When left alone, Yei saw the opportunity, managed to free herself, and made it to the back door, which is when the intruder who had been stabbing John showed up,
Yei managed to make it out and was running to call for help when she felt a shooting pain in her back and suddenly fell down – she realized she had been shot. She tried to get up or crawl, but couldn’t move. The firing had spooked the assailants, so they fled the scene, and it was John who ultimately managed to dial 911. When first responders arrived at the scene, they immediately rushed the couple to a nearby hospital, where they were treated for their injuries. But alas, because Yei had been shot in the back, with the bullet hitting her lower spine (L2-L3 lumbar), she was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
Identified Through a Fingerprint, Brock McNeil is Currently Serving a Life Term in State Prison
As investigations began, the officials believed there were three perpetrators responsible for the December 30 aggravated robbery of the Daniels household. While only two men entered the household, they were certain that another man was involved and had served as their getaway driver. They also determined that the November 4 robbery was a coincidence and had no connection to the second one. Yei and John sadly couldn’t provide officials with a full description of the assailants owing to the fact that they were covered up, but they had noticed that while one was tall and dark, the other was relatively shorter and light-skinned.
However, it was a fingerprint recovered from a piece of duct tape and the end of the duct-tape tube that led officials to a previously convicted felon named Brock McNeil. They arrested him not long after, but he managed to post bail and then skip out on it by fleeing the city so as to avoid persecution. There was an extensive search for him as well as his accomplices, but it wasn’t until 6 years after the incident that he was arrested for good. It was a crime stop tip that led officials to the fugitive in Washington County, Texas, where he was arrested on October 13, 2015.
Brock subsequently stood trial for the charges against him, where he maintained his innocence by asserting that the sole fingerprint was not enough to prove he was at the scene. However, the jury sided with the prosecution’s assertion that it was because it was at the end of the roll and had been left behind at the scene. Therefore, he was found guilty on two counts of aggravated robbery, for which he was sentenced to life in prison in 2016. So, today, at the age of 46, he remains incarcerated at the J. Dale Wainwright Unit in unincorporated Houston County, Texas, where he is expected to remain until at least he becomes eligible for parole on October 2, 2045. We should mention that he has never revealed the identity of his accomplice or accomplices.
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