24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. 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. He is being held in Colorado, and if he waives extradition, could be moved to California before the end of the week, officials said. In July 1973, 11-year-old Linda Ann O'Keefe was murdered. . He was apprehended in February after DNA analysis identified him as a suspect in OKeefes slaying. "Technology has caught up with the law," Spitzer said Wednesday. Although Linda died almost half a century ago, her family, the community and members of law enforcement never stopped thinking of her or hoping her killer would be brought to justice, Spitzer said. James Alan Neal, 73, died on Wednesday at a hospital where he had been transferred in May to be treated for an illness, according to the Orange County Sheriffs Office. That I'll be dead by morning. Here at this jail, people want to give me a bad time. Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 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. ORANGE COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) - The suspect in a decades-old cold case died Wednesday while awaiting trial. Neal was arrested Tuesday "without incident" in Colorado Springs, Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis said at a news conference Wednesday. He pleaded not guilty to the murder and to allegations of lewd and lascivious acts on two girls under age 14 between 1995-2004. 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. James Neal (left) and Linda O'Keefe (right) (credit: CBS). When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. 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. "My office will never forget about cold cases," Spitzer said in a statement. O'Keefe was last seen alive on July 6, 1973, as she walked home from summer school, the Newport Beach Police Department said. A Santa Ana police officer who arrested Neal for the burglary went further, describing him as being in constant emotional conflict and in need of long-term psychiatric care. Authorities suspect that Neal, while on parole in the Colorado case, snatched OKeefe, who lived in Corona del Mar, from the street on July 6, 1973, as she walked home from summer school. On Tuesday, 45 years after Lindas brutal murder, authorities arrested the man that DNA evidence from a genealogy site allegedly points to as her killer: James Alan Neal, 72, of Monument, Colorado, officials announced at a press conference Wednesday. The database was Family Tree DNA. Her body was found the next morning in a ditch in the area of Newport Beachs Back Bay. Those alleged crimes happened between 1995 and 2004 in Riverside County east of Los Angeles. Now a Suspect Has Been Arrested, JonBent Ramsey's Father Is Optimistic DNA Advances Will Catch Daughter's Killer, Slams Boulder Police, DNA Taken from Truck's Door Handle in Washington Leads to Arrest 34 Years After Wisconsin Mom's Killing, Pa. While their parents did not live to see an arrest, Borgeson said, "I'm sure she [O'Keefe] and my parents are rejoicing.". Three weeks later, he pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary, was sentenced to 40 days in jail with credit for time served and placed on probation against McMillans recommendation that he should instead be sent to Vacaville Prison in Northern California. Scott was part of the OC Registers investigative team that in 2017 produced the year-long, award winning Rehab Riviera series, examining problems in Southern Californias drug rehabilitation industry. O'Keefe vanished in July of 1973 while walking home from summer school. Spitzer said a DNA sample was recovered from O'Keefe after her body was found and uploaded to a database, where it never matched others. IE 11 is not supported. She makes a lot of my clothes, and my sisters clothes. Neal worked in construction at the time of the crime, officials said. "I want to know if there are any other victims.". After his arrest in 1966 for a burglary he committed earlier, his parole officer called him quite immature and psychologically unstable.. Newport Beach Police Neal is being held in the. 48 Hours on ID: Who killed Linda O'Keefe and was he arrested? - Sportskeeda However, James was never brought to justice because he died of an unspecified illness on July 22, 2020. O'Keefe, who was seven years younger than Borgeson, was "an old soul" with a "go with the flow" personality, Borgeson said. O'Keefe was a schoolgirl from California who went missing on July 6, 1973, and was found dead the next morning. Police hoped that retelling the girl's story through the modern-day medium would help people from a different generation form an emotional attachment to the case. It was not clear from records if he was convicted for those offenses. 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. The defendants conscience began to bother him, so he walked off a job he had obtained in Inglewood, returned to Santa Ana and contacted an officer of the Santa Ana Police Department, McMillan wrote in the report. Parabon has worked on the majority of the cold cases cracked through genetic genealogy, including O'Keefe's case. The 11-year-old was taken while she walked back from school in California, with witnesses reporting Linda talking to a white male in a van. David K. Li is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital. CBS 48 Hours: Lindas Story delves into the work put in to arrest James Neal in relation to Lindas rape and murder. But he praised Newport Beach police for persisting through the decades. Linda never made it home that afternoon, he said. "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. 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. An eight-page report prepared by McMillan offers for the first time clues about what may have driven his criminal behavior. Neal was living in Monument at the time of his arrest and was extradited to Orange County, California, where he has remained since. IE 11 is not supported. Linda Ann O'Keefe was the middle child in a family of five. A man was arrested this week in the decades-old killing of Linda OKeefe, 11. Teen Was Murdered After Coming Home from Grocery Store in 1975, Coffee Cup Leads to Arrest, Calif. OKeefe, 11, was abducted on July 6, 1973, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Linda Ann O'Keefe's killing in 1973 in Newport Beach, California went unsolved for more than four decades. Last year, 45 years after O'Keefe's body was found, police released these sketches of her suspected killer. 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. James Neal Now: Is Linda O'Keefe's Alleged Killer Dead or Alive? Update "It didn't necessarily lead to the identification (of the suspect)," he said. Borgeson said she also prayed for Neal's family as his arrest was announced. 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 undated photo of Linda OKeefe who was killed in Southern California in July 1973. Neal is being held in the El Paso County Jail in Colorado. Investigators would later learn that the girl had last been seen at an intersection, talking to a stranger in a turquoise van. James Neal, 73, was arrested last year in Monument for the 1973 murder of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe in Newport Beach, California. But again, it's a reminder of what happened. (Newport Beach Police Department) James Alan Neal, 73, who. Suspect in 1973 California rape and murder dies before trial | 9news.com He was transferred to a local. Seven years before James Alan Neal allegedly kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled 11-year-old Linda Ann OKeefe in Newport Beach, he sat in an Orange County jail cell lamenting his miserable life and long rap sheet. "That sample remained in the system for a long period of time," Spitzer said. Emailus. 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. Years later, the authorities developed a DNA profile from the biological evidence recovered from Linda, and that was eventually matched to James in January 2019. OKeefe, 11, was abducted on July 6, 1973, as she walked home from summer school, the Newport Beach, California, Police Department said. 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. It was our intention to see James Alan Neal stand trial and answer for the murder of Linda Ann OKeefe. She had been strangled and was still wearing a blue-and-white floral print dress that her mother had sewn for her. Detectives from Newport Beach arrested Neal at 6:29 a.m. in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis said at the press conference. The next day, a man visiting that area found O'Keefe's strangled body, police said. Her death would go unsolved for more than four decades. After following and obtaining a DNA sample from Neal himself, police were confident enough to make an arrest, he added. He was released from the penitentiary in July 1971. Linda O'Keefe murder: Police Twitter campaign helps lay a trap for the Her image hung among the faces of other unsolved cases, reminding each. The community made sure that justice would be secured, he said. Neal was arrested for burglaries in August and October 1959 and was committed to the California Youth Authority in December 1960. 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe was kidnapped on her way back from home in July 1973. Join our Fan Club to listen to this episode and more! Girl Was Stabbed 59 Times After Parting Ways with Boyfriend in 1982 and Suspect Was Just Arrested, to recount the story of Lindas life, mysterious disappearance and death. In August 1969, he was convicted of fraud in Denver and sentenced to three to 10 year at Colorados Territorial Correctional Facility. Spitzer refused to elaborate on how they were able to track down Neal and identify him as a suspect after 45 years, but he said police had received a "pointer notification through genealogical DNA" - perhaps suggesting that authorities had come upon DNA from someone related to Neal that would have implicated him as a possible match. He later changed his name, officials said. pic.twitter.com/47pA4FhBmG, Newport Beach Police (@NewportBeachPD) July 5, 2018, Im wearing a dress today Its white, with light blue flowers on it, and dark blue trim. 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. . This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. He was rushed to a local hospital about a month before that. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? According to later reports, James didnt get along with his family, and his parents were physically and psychologically cruel to him and his siblings. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. 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. 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. In spite of rehabilitative attempts through California Youth Authority and Orange County Jail sentences (it) seems to negate any desire or ability (by Neal) to follow through.. ), First published on March 29, 2019 / 6:44 PM. McMillan went on to say that Neals father, who designed drugstores, and his mother, who was a bookkeeper, were described as extremely neurotic people who were both physically and psychologically cruel to their children. They are reported to be detached emotionally and narcissistic, he added. Her strangled body was found the next day. Parabon used the DNA from the crime scene to predict the suspect's eye color, hair color and skin color. The Twitter campaign did not lead to the suspect's identification, but it did create an emphasis on the case and opened doors for the case to be pursued with renewed efforts, officials said. Detectives from the Newport Beach Police Department kept investigating. He worked odd jobs as a cook, factory worker, a floral delivery person, etc., but could never consistently hold down a job. Linda O'Keefe murder: James Neal DNA match leads to arrest for 1973 ( Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. James Alan Neal, who was 73, was taken to an area hospital on May 25 due to an undisclosed illness, said Jaimee Blashaw of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. 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. Only one person, a woman who did not know anything about a missing girl, was close enough to hear her, and by then it was too late. 'She listens, but hears nothing more. Colorado Man Arrested in 1973 Killing of 11-Year-Old Girl Featured in It is unclear whether he has retained a lawyer who can speak on his behalf. James Alan Neal, 72, of Monument, Colorado, who was arrested for allegedly murdering Linda O'Keefe in Newport Beach, California, in 1973. James Allen Neal. Linda was last seen talking to a stranger in a van, Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis said Wednesday. / CBS Colorado. She doesn't know that I'm missing. "He has a connection to Southern California.". Man Accused Of Killing Newport Beach Girl Nearly 50 Years - CBS News