The small white brick row house in the shadows of Washington D. C. was supposed to be a sanctuary for three lifelong friends, a place where the Wolf Pack could live out their Peter Pan fantasy.
Instead, it became a tomb. Jeffrey Neal, now 26, is serving 60 years in prison for the brutal hammer murders of his two best friends, DeLano Wingfield and Leon Young, a case that prosecutors say was fueled by a secret love triangle that turned deadly.
The three men met at McKinley High School, bonding over skateboarding, video games, and a shared fascination with Japanese weaponry. They were inseparable, a pack of brothers united by loyalty and a refusal to grow up. Jeffrey’s mother, Denise Washington, considered all three her sons, taking them on trips to parks, beaches, and ski slopes.
After graduation, Jeffrey asked if the pack could move into a house his family owned. Denise agreed, thinking she could keep a closer eye on them.
The house quickly devolved into a real-life Neverland, a frat house of all-night parties, revolving door girlfriends, and the overwhelming smell of marijuana. Neighbors complained. Utilities were cut off.
Tensions rose. Jeffrey, the landlord, grew frustrated as the mess mounted and bills piled up. Leon, described as the wild, crazy one, suffered a mental breakdown and was hospitalized with psychosis.
He returned to the Wolf’s Den but was different, wandering naked, staring out windows, writing a book detailing how he would 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 his parents and friends.
Denise Washington knew her son was in danger. Leon had attacked Jeffrey while he slept, kicking him violently in the groin. Days later, Leon pulled a razor-sharp ninja blade on Jeffrey, nearly cutting off part of his hand.
Jeffrey needed stitches. The pack was now divided. Then DeLano Wingfield suddenly disappeared.
Notes were posted on the door asking for information. His grandmother received a bizarre text saying he was heading to Europe, but DeLano had no money. She confronted Jeffrey, who said he didn’t know where DeLano was.
The house went eerily quiet. On a sweltering June day, Jeffrey’s uncles went to check on the property. They noticed a smell.
In the attic, they found Leon Young’s decomposing body, a plastic bag over his head, completely 𝓷𝓾𝓭𝓮. He had been bludgeoned to death with a rusty hammer, his skull caved in. Jeffrey had resurfaced and moved back in with his mother.
Police brought him in for questioning.
In a chilling confession, Jeffrey told detectives he killed Leon in self-defense. He said Leon attacked him with a knife, and he grabbed a hammer from a table, hitting him twice. But then Jeffrey dropped a bombshell: Leon had told him, “I killed DeLano.”
Jeffrey claimed he acted out of fear, believing Leon would 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 him next. Detectives initially released Jeffrey, but two days later, cadaver dogs found DeLano’s body buried in a shallow grave under a pile of bricks in the backyard. He had been killed the same way, struck multiple times with a hammer, his body 𝓷𝓾𝓭𝓮.
The medical examiner’s report shattered Jeffrey’s self-defense claim. Leon had been struck more than 20 times, each blow described as a full-body swing. That was rage, not self-defense.
DeLano’s blood was found all over Jeffrey’s bedroom. Two hammers were recovered, one with both Leon and Jeffrey’s blood, the second only with DeLano’s. Jeffrey was charged with both murders.
The motive emerged in court: the Wolf Pack had been more than brothers. Jeffrey confessed to having romantic relationships with both Leon and DeLano. The love triangle had turned toxic when Jeffrey shifted his affections mostly to DeLano.
Leon, the jilted lover, exploded into jealous rage. Prosecutors argued that Jeffrey killed Leon in a fit of anger, then murdered DeLano to cover his tracks. The jury agreed, convicting him of first-degree murder.
Today, from Big Sandy prison in Kentucky, Jeffrey maintains his innocence in DeLano’s death. He admits killing Leon but insists it was self-defense. He says he loved Leon, not DeLano.
His mother still believes him. But the evidence tells a different story. The Wolf Pack is gone, and the little white brick house stands as a monument to a friendship that ended in blood.
This case has left a community grappling with questions about love, loyalty, and the darkness that can fester behind closed doors. The three men who once called themselves brothers are now two dead and one imprisoned. The love triangle that began in high school ended in a double murder that shocked the nation.
Jeffrey Neal will spend decades behind bars, but the full truth of what happened in the Wolf’s Den may never be known.