The sketches depict what the suspect may have looked like at 25 years old as well as an age-progressed version. . The arrest seemed to signal an end to an infamous cold case that had both haunted and motivated "generations of investigators" at the Newport Beach Police Department, Lewis said. 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. He was released on parole in July 1971, and about two years later, the authorities believed he killed Linda. Then, after he was paroled again in August 1963, he was arrested a year later for burglary and sentenced to nine months in the Orange County jail. It was July 6, 1973, a Friday. 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. Her body was found the next day in a nature preserve. Linda O'Keefe murder: James Neal DNA match leads to arrest for 1973 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. "Linda's face and her memory has been with us since the day this happened," he said. Copyright 2020 KKTV. Her family called the police and officers then joined the search for the 4-foot-tall girl with long brown hair and blue eyes. He was on parole from Colorado's prison system when Linda Ann O'Keefe was killed. Neal was arrested on February 19, 2019 in Monument, Colorado where he had been living with his family for three years. Linda O'Keefe: DNA Leads to Arrest in 1973 Murder of Calif. Girl 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. 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. We never gave up.. In July 1973, 11-year-old Linda Ann O'Keefe was murdered. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. To her familys horror, her dead body was found the next day in a ditch, still wearing the dress her mother had made for her. In addition to the count of murder while committing lewd acts on a child, Neal was also accused of lewd acts against two other girls under the age of 14 in the late 1990s and early 2000s. James Neal, Linda O'Keefe Suspect: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know He was rushed to a local hospital about a month before that. More than 45. James Neal (left) and Linda O'Keefe (right) (credit: CBS). "My office will never forget about cold cases," Spitzer said in a statement. 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. 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. Armed with DNA and a family tree, police arrested a Colorado man in connection to the 1973 slaying of a Southern California girl, authorities said Wednesday. Photo Source. ", Borgeson said, if she gets a chance to speak to Neal, she would "let him know that I've been praying for him.". Linda Ann O'Keefe's killing in 1973 in Newport Beach, California went unsolved for more than four decades. The child disappeared while walking home from summer. He was paroled in July 1961 but returned to the Youth Authority in October 1962. We never gave up.".

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