Sally McNeil’s First Husband Anthony Lowden: Marriage Timeline, Children, and What’s Known
If you’re searching for Sally McNeil’s first husband, you’re usually trying to understand what her life looked like before the highly publicized marriage to bodybuilder Ray McNeil. Her first husband was Anthony Lowden, whom she met while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. Their relationship is often described as an early chapter marked by youth, military life, and—according to later accounts—serious conflict that helped shape what came next.
Who Was Sally McNeil’s First Husband?
Sally McNeil’s first husband was Anthony Lowden. Biographical summaries commonly state that she met Lowden during her Marine Corps service at Parris Island. Their marriage lasted several years, and they had two children together.
Unlike the later trial coverage surrounding Ray McNeil’s death, Anthony Lowden has remained a relatively private figure. Most public information about him appears in background reporting and documentary-era explainers that outline Sally’s life timeline rather than in detailed profiles focused on him personally.
When Did Sally McNeil Marry Anthony Lowden?
Public summaries generally place Sally’s first marriage in the early-to-mid 1980s, during her time in the Marines. One frequently repeated detail is that the marriage lasted about four years. Because different outlets paraphrase the timeline in slightly different ways, you’ll sometimes see small variations in exact dates, but the consistent point is that this marriage came first, ended before her later relationship with Ray McNeil, and produced her two older children.
In many write-ups, the end of the first marriage is connected with Sally’s changing assignments and relocations during her military service, along with her decision to pursue a divorce before moving into a new phase of her life in California.
Did Sally McNeil Have Children With Her First Husband?
Yes. Sally McNeil had two children with her first husband, Anthony Lowden. Their names are commonly reported as Shantina and John, and they often appear in later coverage because their experiences and adult lives became closely tied to the better-known events that followed in Sally’s second marriage.
Some biographies and summaries also mention that Sally had another child with a different man and that the child was placed for adoption. This detail is usually included to explain her early family circumstances and the responsibilities she carried before her second marriage became the focus of public attention.
What’s Been Reported About Their Relationship?
When people look up “Sally McNeil first husband,” they’re often trying to understand what that marriage was like. The most commonly repeated descriptions characterize the relationship as troubled and, in some later accounts, abusive toward the end. This is typically presented as part of the broader narrative that Sally later described: cycles of conflict and violence across different periods of her life.
It’s important to be careful with certainty here. Much of what’s publicly available about the first marriage is based on later retellings and documentary-era reporting rather than a detailed, publicly documented record of the relationship. That means the general outline is consistent, but finer details are often reported secondhand and can vary depending on the source.
How the First Marriage Connects to the Better-Known Case
Anthony Lowden is not central to the famous criminal case that made Sally McNeil widely known. That public story centers on Sally’s second husband, Ray McNeil, whom she shot and killed on Valentine’s Day in 1995. Still, the first marriage is relevant because it establishes the timeline: her early adulthood in the military, becoming a mother, and building a life structure that later shifted into bodybuilding culture and a new relationship.
Many later accounts also note that Sally’s children from her first marriage were part of the household during her marriage to Ray. That context is often included because the children’s experiences are frequently discussed in later reporting about the dynamics inside the home.
What Happened After the Divorce?
After the end of her first marriage, Sally’s life is commonly described as moving into a new phase: deeper involvement in Southern California military life, an increasing focus on fitness and bodybuilding, and eventually meeting Ray McNeil. From that point, the narrative becomes far more documented in public reporting, because it leads into the relationship and events that resulted in a homicide, a conviction, and decades of imprisonment.
Later coverage of her life often follows that arc: her marriage to Ray, allegations of domestic violence within the relationship, the 1995 shooting, a 1996 conviction for second-degree murder, and eventual release on parole in 2020.
Featured Image Source: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/02/killer-sally-netflix-sally-mcneil
