He was on parole from Colorado's prison system when Linda Ann O'Keefe was killed. Through the tireless efforts of generations of our investigators, we hope we have been able to bring a measure of closure to Lindas family, friends, and loved ones., Orange County District AttorneyTodd Spitzerput Neals death in more bitter terms, saying the new development robbed the OKeefe family of the justice they so deserve and deprives the law enforcement officers of the satisfaction that they finally got their culprit.. Copyright 2020 KKTV. Those alleged crimes happened between 1995 and 2004 in Riverside County east of Los Angeles. Newport Beach police released this undated image of Linda O'Keefe in an effort to get assistance from the public to help solve her murder in Southern California in July 1973. The lead bringing officials to Neal came after these sketches were released, authorities said Wednesday. Helicopters, police Jeeps and search parties scoured the area looking for signs of O'Keefe. Last year, Spitzer said authorities used DNA thought to have been left by the killer and tracked down Neal using a public genealogy database. Since April 2018, genetic genealogy has helped identify more than three dozen suspects, said CeCe Moore, chief genetic genealogist with Parabon NanoLabs. James Alan Neal was arrested in Monument in 2019. It was our intention to see James Alan Neal stand trial and answer for the murder of Linda Ann OKeefe, Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis said. James Alan Neal was arrested February 19, 2019, in connection to her death, prosecutors announced at a press conference.. But when night fell and her whereabouts were still unknown, her parents called police and desperately combed the neighborhood, to no avail. He has also accompanied police on undercover drug buys and also provided an award winning, eyewitness account of the execution of a North Carolina death row inmate. The following morning, O'Keefe's body was found in a ditch. "He seemed like a good guy," Neal's landlord, Michael Thulson,. "Technology has caught up with the law," Spitzer said Wednesday. / CBS Colorado. Anyone who may have any information on this unsolved crime is asked to call the Newport Beach Police Cold Case Tip Line at 949-644-3669. The next day, a man visiting that area found O'Keefe's strangled body, police said. Linda never made it home that afternoon, he said. James Alan Neal, 72, was picked up in Colorado on Tuesday and charged with the murder of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe in 1973. He left California after the alleged killing and went to Florida where he changed his name, officials said. A man has been arrested through DNA and genetic genealogy in the decades-old cold case killing of 11-year-old Linda Ann OKeefe, who was strangled to death in Southern California in 1973, authorities said. Blashaw did not explain what this sickness was but elaborated that the inmate did not have COVID-19 symptoms. 1 dead, 1 rescued by firefighters after speeding car crashed into tree in Colorado Springs, Voice of the consumer: Looking for a job? Police also want to know if Neal could be linked to other crimes. ORANGE COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) - The suspect in a decades-old cold case died Wednesday while awaiting trial. O'Keefe's parents have since died, Spitzer said, but her sisters have been notified about the arrest.
James Neal, Linda O'Keefe Suspect: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know ", Borgeson said, if she gets a chance to speak to Neal, she would "let him know that I've been praying for him.". He had a connection to southern California, which has been corroborated, he said.
Linda O'Keefe murder: Police Twitter campaign helps lay a trap for the If he pursues these goals conscientiously and stays away from downtown Santa Ana where associates congregate, he feels he will never again become involved in difficulty, the probation officer wrote. Last year, 45 years after O'Keefe's body was found, police released these sketches of her suspected killer. . Newport Beach police launched a new PR campaign in 2018 using Tweets written in Lindas voice. Neal appears gaunt and stoic in a black-and white prison photo. David K. Li is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital. The sister of a little girl who was strangled to death in 1973 didn't expect to see a conclusion to the mysterious cold case, she told ABC News hours after a man's arrest was announced on Wednesday. The next day she was found strangled, her. Neal said that despite his recidivism, he was confident he could become successful. She had been strangled and was still wearing a blue-and-white floral print dress that her mother had sewn for her. "Just before midnight, 'a lady in the bluffs above Back Bay hears a female voice outside, screaming "Stop, you're hurting me," ' the police tweeted in O'Keefe's name. James Alan Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Tuesday for allegedly killing Linda O'Keefe, 11, and leaving her body in a ditch. Records show that from 1963 to 1966, Neal was employed as cook, furniture mover, iron worker, factory worker, and a floral deliveryman but didnt hold a job longer than five months. James Neal, who was charged with sexually assaulting and killing Linda O'Keefe, died on Wednesday (Picture: AP) An man arrested for a series of cold case sex crimes against children died. The key moment arrived with the February 19, 2019 arrest of Neal in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This photo shows a poster of James Neal during a news conference at the Orange County District Attorney's office in Santa Ana, Calif., Feb. 20, 2019. However, the case remained unsolved for about 46 years before the investigators found the killer. "He lived here in the 1970s," Spitzer said. I dont have any friends because Ive always been afraid to make any because I just figured they would only see me as everyone else has in the past.. Composite sketch of the driver. The community made sure that justice would be secured, he said. . 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. O'Keefe disappeared while she was walking home from summer school. She was later found strangled to death and dumped in a ditch in Newport Beachs Back Bay. DNA recovered from O'Keefe shortly after her death was put into the Combined DNA Index System -- the law enforcement database known as CODIS -- but there was no hit, Spitzer said. An man arrested for a series of cold case sex crimes against children died while in police custody, officials said. O'Keefe's suspected killer, James Neal, who lived in Southern California in the 1970s, was arrested this week in Colorado where he had been living, said Orange County District Attorney Todd . Her family called the police and officers then joined the search for the 4-foot-tall girl with long brown hair and blue eyes. On the day Linda Ann O'Keefe died, it was a cooler-than-normal July morning in Newport . Man who served 15 years for murder his brother confessed to awarded $7,500,000, Woman 'sold 20 boxes of fetuses, hearts, genitalia and brains on Facebook', One killed after plane crashes into Los Angeles neighborhood. Shes really good at sewing, and we dont have a lot of money for fancy store outfits anyhow. #LindasStory pic.twitter.com/9sucqJsnGg, Newport Beach Police (@NewportBeachPD) July 6, 2018. An eight-page report prepared by McMillan offers for the first time clues about what may have driven his criminal behavior. Spitzer lauded noted DNA investigator CeCe Moore for helping police develop a "pointer" toward Neal. At the time of the murder, Neal was using the name James Allen George Layton, prosecutors said. 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Prosecutors are considering seeking the death penalty against Neal. James Alan Neal, 72, was picked up in Colorado on Tuesday and charged with the murder of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe in 1973. James Alan Neal, 73, was an inmate at the maximum-security Theo Lacy jail in Orange for the 1973 sexual assault and strangling death of Linda O'Keefe, 11. Linda Ann O'Keefe was the middle child in a family of five. Feb. 20, 2019. While their parents did not live to see an arrest, Borgeson said, "I'm sure she [O'Keefe] and my parents are rejoicing.". James then escaped from a work project where he was sentenced to and was arrested yet again in April 1967. While waiting to use the school phone, O'Keefe went outside. Lindas story deeply touched the hearts of our community. The novel investigative technique of genetic genealogy takes an unknown killer's DNA from a crime scene and identifies the suspect through his or her family members, who voluntarily submit their DNA to genealogy databases.
Man charged with killing 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe in 1973 cold-case James Alan Neal, 73, was transferred to a local hospital May 25 for treatment of an illness and died there at about 5:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to Orange County sheriff's officials. "I'm sure they're going through a lot of grieving of their own.". ", "I couldn't carry that burden in my heart of hating an individual even though he committed this horrible crime," she said. James Alan Neal, 72, of Monument, Colorado, who was arrested for allegedly murdering Linda OKeefe in Newport Beach, California, in 1973. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer also called the arrest "bittersweet," noting that he had been 12 years old when the 11-year-old was killed. Neals extensive criminal history and the circumstances of the 1973 sexual assault and murder of 11-year-old Linda OKeefe lead law enforcement to seek potential additional victims and witnesses. Neal was taken to a hospital on May 25 for an illness. They dont understand me or why I am the way I am. O'Keefe then called her mother from the school office, and her mother told her she was busy sewing and that she should walk home, police said. Police were tight-lipped about exactly how they solved the case but said they received a lead in January that prompted them to begin investigating Neal, who had been living in Orange County at the time of O'Keefe's killing but had since moved to Colorado. He was apprehended in February after DNA analysis identified him as a suspect in OKeefes slaying. "They haven't forgotten about her and we haven't, either.". DNA recovered from O'Keefe shortly after her death was put into the Combined DNA Index System the law enforcement database known as CODIS but there was no hit, said Spitzer. The police department last year also "live-tweeted" O'Keefe's story from her perspective, narrating the final day of her life in real-time, exactly 45 years later. A day later, her body was found in a ditch, and she had been sexually assaulted. He also teamed up with reporter Joe Nelson in 2019 on Bad Apples, an award winning investigation that exposed years of sex abuse cover up in the Redlands Unified School District. It is not clear if Neal, 72, will waive extradition, Spitzer said. The child disappeared while walking home from summer. CBS 48 Hours: Lindas Story delves into the work put in to arrest James Neal in relation to Lindas rape and murder. O'Keefe, who was seven years younger than Borgeson, was "an old soul" with a "go with the flow" personality, Borgeson said.
Suspect in 1973 California rape and murder dies before trial | 9news.com But she added that she was thankful for the "additional closure" brought to her by the investigators who never gave up, as well as the new technology, which made it possible to process the crime scene DNA. (Courtesy of Newport Beach Police Department) Her friend later told police a turquoise van stopped next to O'Keefe a few times as she walked. Through surveillance, a sample of Neal's DNA was obtained - one that ultimately matched a sample taken from O'Keefe's body in 1973. Using details from the investigator's decades-old case files, police relayed O'Keefe's last hours, as well as her family's frantic search for her, as if they were unfolding in real time, as The Washington Post's Meagan Flynn reported: "At 6:42 p.m., six hours since her mother had last heard from her, O'Keefe's parents reported her missing to the Newport Beach Police Department, convinced by then O'Keefe was not simply running off with friends to retaliate for not getting a ride. A man was arrested this week in the decades-old killing of Linda OKeefe, 11. The 11-year-old was last seen on this street talking to a stranger in a van. OKeefes 1973 rape and murder went unsolved for decades.
Colorado man arrested in case murder of 11-year-old girl - The Denver Post The detectives dogged this case. His earliest crimes were breaking into homes when he was around 12-years-old. Have a tip or story idea? Track Latest News and Karnataka Elections 2023 Coverage Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest?
James Neal Now: Is Linda O'Keefe's Alleged Killer Dead or Alive? Update She had been strangled and sexually assaulted. Emailus. Newport Beach police in July released a sketch of a man, the possible suspect, based on DNA collected at the scene. It was July 6, 1973, a Friday.
Suspect in 1973 Newport Beach child murder dies in custody Linda O'Keefe was killed in 1973 while walking home from school. It was not clear from records if he was convicted for those offenses. Linda O'Keefe. James Alan Neal fell ill and died while awaiting trial for the . NDTV Public Opinion: Will Tipu Sultan Controversy Impact Karnataka Votes? He said he was glad he had all that stuff behind him but never mentioned what he had done, Malecki recalled. Linda O'Keefe. The brown-haired, blue-eyed 11-year-old got a ride to summer school - about half a mile away - but had to walk home in the afternoon. About a month later, the police brought additional charges of sexual assault against a child younger than 14. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Neal became a suspect in the slaying through "genealogical DNA," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. It was our intention to see James Alan Neal stand trial and answer for the murder of Linda Ann OKeefe. Her body was found the next morning in a ditch in the area of Newport Beachs Back Bay.
Linda O'Keefe murder: James Neal DNA match leads to arrest for 1973 James was in and out of prison throughout his younger life, with arrest records in California, Florida, and Colorado between 1959 and 1974. James Allen Neal. O'Keefe's parents have since died, but police said they keep her two surviving sisters updated on the investigation. But that day, she was dropped off. O'Keefe's suspected killer, James Neal, who lived in Southern California in the 1970s, was arrested this week in Colorado where he had been living, said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who was 12 himself at the time of the murder, at a Wednesday news conference. He was always getting into fights and was always afraid to tell anyone how I really felt. . James Neal (left) and Linda O'Keefe (right) (credit: CBS). According to police, O'Keefe normally rode her bike to summer school.
Linda Ann O'Keefe cold case: Murder, sexual assault suspect dies in James Neal of Monument, Colorado also pleaded not guilty in an Orange County courtroom Friday to lewd and lascivious acts on two girls under the age of 14. ABC News' Kayna Whitworth contributed to this report. As a result of surveillance and other traditional detective techniques, they were able to get additional DNA which resulted in the corroboration of the DNA from the victims body, to the DNA sample that the suspect left during a particular location during surveillance activities, the Orange County district attorney said after Neals arrest in February 2019. He was paroled in July 1961 but returned to the Youth Authority in October 1962. James Alan Neal has been arrested in the July 1973 murder of 11-year-old Linda Ann O'Keefe in Newport Beach. James Alan Neal, 72, was picked up in Colorado Springs on Tuesday and charged with the murder of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe, Newport Beach police and Orange County prosecutors said. Combining the latest in DNA technology with old-fashioned detective work led investigators to Neal, Lewis said. Neal is being held in the El Paso County Jail in Colorado. Linda never made it home that afternoon., For 45 years, the Newport Beach Police Department continued to search for Lindas killer," Lewis said. As part of an effort to renew interest in the case, the Newport Beach Police Department used their Twitter account to recount the story of Lindas life, mysterious disappearance and death. ABC News' Jenna Harrison contributed to this report. Spitzer also refused to confirm whether Neal had family members or children, saying the matter was under investigation. Lindas story deeply touched the hearts of our community, said Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis. Linda O'Keefe, 11, vanished in July 1973 when she was heading home from school in Newport Beach. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. Neal told McMillan he was the second of three children, never got along with his siblings, rebelled against his parents and was an emotionally disturbed child. All my life up to this day has been going in circles, Neal said. Neal denied all charges and faced up to 82 years in prison if he was convicted on all charges. A woman later told police she saw O'Keefe standing next to a turquoise van and talking to the driver -- a white man in his mid-20s or early 30s. For nearly 45 years, the murder of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe haunted the Newport Beach Police Department in California. Neal currently lives in Colorado, but investigators were able to confirm that he lived in California in the 1970s, when Linda was murdered, Spitzer said. After Lindas death, Neal moved to Florida, where he changed his name to James Alan George Leyton, Spitzer said. Neal worked in construction at the time of the crime, officials said. James Neal (left) and Linda O'Keefe (right) (credit: CBS) The 72-year-old Neal was extradited to California from Colorado after he was charged with murder in the death of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe . That I'll be found a couple hundred yards from her home. "It is bittersweet to hear that, yes, this case has been resolved.
'Serial child sex predator' dies in police custody before he faces "My office will never forget about cold cases," Spitzer said in a statement. The genealogical hit came in January, officials said.
[Mugshot via Newport Beach Police Department], Have a tip we should know? He worked odd jobs as a cook, factory worker, a floral delivery person, etc., but could never consistently hold down a job. Today, we have a new message to share, and we are giving Linda a voice once more. He is awaiting extradition from Colorado Springs to Orange County. Neal was arrested last year and charged with the sex assault and murder of 11-year-old Linda Ann OKeefe, who was abducted while walking home from school in the summer of 1973. "Individuals who engage in sexual activity against minors tend to have certain indicators of a predatory nature," Spitzer said. IE 11 is not supported. A poster of James Alan Neal during the Newport Beach police and Orange County prosecutors news conference on Feb. 20, 2019. Linda Ann O'Keefe was killed in July 1973 -- and decades went by without leads.