Of madman’s slay spree

A DAY before gunman Kevin Neal spread terror through his tiny Northern California town, he killed his wife and stuffed her body under the floor of the home they shared, authorities said Wednesday.

Neighbors told police they heard quarreling at the Neal home on Bobcat Lane on Monday — but spoke up only after the woman was murdered. It was too late to save her or the other people he slaughtered on Tuesday.

It wasn’t until after Neal, who died in a gun battle with police, had done his deadly damage — fatally shooting four people and wounding 10, including children — that authorities made the grisly discovery.

“He shot her at some point, probably late Monday, put her body in the floor and covered her up,” Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston told reporters, “We believe that’s probably what started this whole event.”

Authorities did not release the wife’s name, but The Sacramento Bee identified her as Barbara Glisan.

Johnston also said his deputies had responded to the Neal home several times in the past after neighbors reported gunshots coming from the house. One woman told the Los Angeles Times she summoned officers a week ago after hearing screaming, followed by gunfire, from the general vicinity of his house. “Every time we responded we would try to make contact with Mr. Neal,” Johnston said. “He was not law enforcement-friendly. He would not come to the door. His house was arranged in a manner where we couldn’t detect him being there.”

This time, Johnston said, no one bothered to call.

A day after killing his wife, cops said Neal, 44, got an early start, turning his wrath on a neighbor with whom he’d had a previous dispute. Neal was out on $160,000 bail for stabbing the woman in January.

Shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday, Neal shot that woman to death, stole a pickup truck and sped off to terrorize the small community of Rancho Tehama Reserve. Along the way, Neal, wearing a military-style assault vest that held ammunition, shot and killed three more people before ramming the truck through the gate of the Rancho Tehama Elementary School.

There, he opened fire, shooting