Southeast man sentenced to 19 years in prison for fatally shooting best friend
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Version 0 of 1. They were best of friends. And at one point, they even lived together. But on the morning of June 22, Zacchaeus “Zack” Blanding, 19, shot his best friend, Heineken McNeil, twice in the head and then set his body on fire. On Friday in D.C. Superior Court, Judge Rhonda Reid-Winston sentenced Blanding to nearly 19 1/2 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the gruesome slaying of McNeil. The case has left authorities and the families of both men baffled. Little about the motive is known, but investigators did learn that McNeil moved into the apartment with Blanding’s mother and her girlfriend in the 1200 block of Meigs Place NE. A day before McNeil was killed, Blanding recorded a cellphone video of himself in which he said: “This is going to be the last video I’ll ever make. I plan on killing three people — my best friend, my mother and her girlfriend,” according to the video, which prosecutors relayed to the judge. About 24 hours after the video was recorded, police say, on or about the morning of June 22, Blanding shot McNeil twice in the head with a .22-caliber gun inside Blanding’s bedroom. Authorities say Blanding then wrapped McNeil’s body in a blue blanket and placed it in a garbage can and dragged the can into the back alley of his apartment building. The body remained in the garbage can most of the day. Later that same day, Blanding went to a nearby store, purchased a pair of shoes and then went to an Auto Zone and bought a gas canister. Blanding then returned to his apartment, took a nap and then later that evening went to a neighboring gas station and filled the canister with gasoline. Prosecutors say that at 5:23 a.m. June 23, Blanding went into the alley, doused the body with gasoline and set it on fire. He left the body to burn, where the Fire and Emergency Medical Services located it. Blanding was arrested July 8 and has remained in D.C. jail since. In October, Blanding pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while armed. The plea called for a sentencing range of 18 to 26 years in prison. |