Father, Teenage Daughter Arrested In Connection With Missing Teacher
Teacher's Burning Car Found In Guadalupe County
POSTED: Wednesday, November 24, 2004
UPDATED: 3:02 pm CST November 24,
2004
SAN ANTONIO -- A 33-year-old man and his 15-year-old daughter were arrested Wednesday in connection with the disappearance of a 58-year-old Alamo Heights teacher.
Ronnie Joe Neal and his daughter were apprehended at a Super 8 Motel off Interstate 35 and Splashtown around 9:30 a.m. following a brief foot chase.
Bexar County sheriff's deputies began tracking Neal and his daughter after they allegedly used Diane Tilley's credit cards, detectives said. The pair was also seen in a white pickup truck that left a field in Guadalupe County, where Tilley's burning car was discovered Tuesday night.
"We believe there may be some evidence in that truck," said Bexar County Sheriff's Department Detective Al Damiani.
Neal and his daughter are facing charges of evading arrest and possessing stolen property.
In the meantime, a foot and aerial search conducted Wednesday in a field off Zuehl Road about one mile south of Interstate 10 near the Bexar County line, where Tilley's 1998 Cadillac Fleetwood was discovered, turned up no signs of the educator.
Pete Garza, who owns the property, said he remembers seeing the car on fire around 5 p.m. Tuesday.
"There was a car burning," Garza said.

Fellow educators of Tilly, the lead English teacher at Alamo Heights Robbins Academy, an alternative school, got worried after she failed to show up for class Tuesday morning.
When teachers went to Tilly's home, they found it ransacked.
"We just can't fathom it," said Alamo Heights Independent School District Superintendent Jerry Christian. "Because she was loved by everyone. We can't imagine anyone ever wishing or putting any harm to Dianne Tilly. That's just beyond our imagination."
Tilly has been teaching at the academy for five years and has been with the district for seven years.
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