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First Day Ends in Food Lion Murder Trial

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RALEIGH — March 18, 1996, 5:30 p.m. ESTPhotos of the crime scene were introduced Monday afternoon during the so-called Food Lion murder trial. Two employees of the grocery chain were found shot to death in a Raleigh store in September, 1993.

Elmer Ray McNeill, Jr, 25, is on trial for the execution-style murders that occurred in a North Raleigh branch of the Food Lion stores.

Mike Truelove and John Ray were the two employees found dead by police.

Monday morning Ray's widow, Chris, described for the jurors how on that September night she could not get an answer to the phone in the store. The subsequent 911 call to the store at Six Forks and Strickland Roads was also played back in court.

McNeill, a native of Summerville, S.C., is charged with first degree murder and armed robbery. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

His older brother, Robert, age 27, is also accused of the slayings and will be tried later. He is in prison for robbing the Tower Food Lion in May 1993

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