A BODYBUILDING couple made headlines when a muscled-up wife brutally shot her husband in the head in what was deemed a "roid rage killing" 27 years ago.
Convicted murderer Sally is breaking her silence in an upcoming Netflix true crime docuseries where she claims she killed her husband Ray McNeil to protect herself and their children from his horror abuse.
The program Killer Sally, which is set to premiere on November 9, features interviews with the female athlete who is spending her life in prison after the 1995 Valentine's Day killing of her national champion husband.
Netflix filmmakers heard from Sally and her and Neil's children who give a window into the couple's twisted relationship as the black widow continues to claim the violent act happened while she was being choked.
"Sally claimed it was self-defense, a split-second decision to save her life," Netflix said in its synopsis of the docuseries.
"The prosecution argued it was premeditated murder, the event of a jealous and aggressive wife.
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"They called her a 'thug,' a 'bully,' and a 'monster.' The media referred to her as the 'brawny bride' and the pumped-up princess.'
"Sally says she spent her life doing whatever it took to survive, caught in a cycle of violence that began in childhood and ended with Ray's death."
Sally, who was an accomplished bodybuilder herself, met Ray while they were both serving in the United States Navy.
The two bonded over their mutual love of fitness and eventually married in 1987.
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Sally, who was 27 at the time, was already once divorced after a four-year marriage didn't work out, The Tab reported.
Three years after marrying, the female athlete was discharged from the Navy and eventually found alternative ways to make money.
She engaged in "muscle worship," which involves recorded sessions where she was paid to wrestle men into the ground.
"If I wrestled 10 of them, that's $3,000," Sally said in the Netflix trailer.
In fact, her job allowed Ray to quit working with the Navy in order to pursue bodybuilding full-time.
However, Sally claimed that this wasn't enough, and their marriage turned volatile.
"Made Ray happy that it was paying for his steroids, then he hit me," she said.
In 1994, tensions between the two came to a head when Sally was confronted by one of Ray's mistresses.
On February 14, 1995, the two engaged in a massive fight that turned fatal.
Sally shot Ray twice with a shotgun, once in the abdomen and then in the head.
She immediately called 911 and claimed that she killed him out of self-defense and that he had been beating her.
In the new documentary, Sally's children affirmed their mother's harrowing tale, including her son who revealed haunting details of Ray's alleged abuse.
"I remember how tortuous it used to be to have to sit there and watch him abuse my sister and to know that I was next," he said in the trailer.
However, prosecutors managed to challenge Sally's story as investigators found the couple was both using steroids, leading people to dub the murder the "roid rage killing."
The prosecution argued that the killing was premeditated and Sally was found guilty of second-degree murder in 1996.
She was sentenced to 19 years to life. She is serving her sentence at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California.
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"I have the right to defend myself," she said in the trailer.
"I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to die."