Since April 2018, genetic genealogy has helped identify more than three dozen suspects, said CeCe Moore, chief genetic genealogist with Parabon NanoLabs. A native of Chicago, Neal began getting into trouble soon after he moved with his family to Anaheim in 1956. He later changed his name, officials said. So, if youre curious to know more about James and what happened to him after his arrest, weve got you covered. 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. Parabon has worked on the majority of the cold cases cracked through genetic genealogy, including O'Keefe's case. Please see the press release for more information. 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. Neal then moved back to California, where he lived until 2014 at six addresses in Riverside, Hemet and Winchester, public records show. Linda O'Keefe was last seen alive in Corona Del Mar, California, in July 1973. She had been strangled and sexually assaulted. "We have never forgotten Linda," Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis said at the news conference. A native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he was previously a breaking news and multimedia reporter for the Ogden, Utah, Standard-Examiner. 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. and opened doors for us to have this case pursued with renewed effort.". "Generations of investigators worked on her case. "It is bittersweet to hear that, yes, this case has been resolved. O'Keefe disappeared while she was walking home from summer school. His next court appearance is set for June 14. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. James Alan Neal fell ill and died while awaiting trial for the . Linda O'Keefe. He then moved to Florida, and then, a criminal incident prompted him to change his name to James Alan Neal. 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. He left California after the alleged killing and went to Florida where he changed his name, officials said. IE 11 is not supported. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. 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. Trouble followed James everywhere, and he was sentenced to 3-10 years for fraud in Colorado. He will ultimately benefit more from a state prison sentence.. I want to make up for all the hurt I have caused myself and my parents, especially my mother, Neal, who was 19 at the time and went by James Albert Layton Jr., told Orange County probation officer David R. McMillan in 1966 while awaiting sentencing for a burglary conviction. The investigation into the homicide remained cold for 45 years until Virginia-based Parabon NanoLabs used DNA to identify Neal as a suspect in the killing, leading to his arrest last month in Colorado. 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. 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. "I never really thought that they would actually ever find the individual responsible," Cindy Borgeson, a sister of Linda OKeefe, told ABC News. He was released from the penitentiary in July 1971. Join our Fan Club to listen to this episode and more! "My office will never forget about cold cases," Spitzer said in a statement. 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe was kidnapped on her way back from home in July 1973. "We want as many sets of eyes on that sketch as possible, so somebody can recognize the face of a killer so we can get justice.". Linda O'Keefe. She loved animals, playing the piano, and painting. He is being held in Colorado, and if he waives extradition, could be moved to California before the end of the week, officials said. 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. 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. While their parents did not live to see an arrest, Borgeson said, "I'm sure she [O'Keefe] and my parents are rejoicing.". Photo Source. O'Keefe was last seen alive on July 6, 1973, as she walked home from summer school, the Newport Beach Police Department said. 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. Reportedly, Colorado resident James Alan Neal was arrested in 2019 after a DNA report linked him to Linda O'Keefe's 1973 cold murder case. Finally, in September 1965, he was arrested for yet another burglary but the charge was reduced to petty theft and ultimately dismissed. Shortly after Lindas murder, investigators recovered DNA evidence from her remains, Spitzer said. Neal moved to Southern California from Chicago before the murder and relocated to Florida after the girl's slaying, authorities said. James Alan Neal, 72, of Monument, Colorado, who was arrested for allegedly murdering Linda OKeefe in Newport Beach, California, in 1973. 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. Investigators would later learn that the girl had last been seen at an intersection, talking to a stranger in a turquoise van. Spitzer noted that the DNA lead police had obtained was wholly unrelated to the department's live-tweeting of O'Keefe's last day but said the exercise had served to revive the case in the public's mind. But he praised Newport Beach police for persisting through the decades. Neal was arrested for burglaries in August and October 1959 and was committed to the California Youth Authority in December 1960. 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. James Alan Neal was known as James Albert Layton Jr. when he was born in 1946. . 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. She had been strangled. Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Records obtained by the Southern California News Group show that Neal was arrested more than a dozen times in California, Florida and Colorado from 1959 to 1974. Photo Source. Teen Was Murdered After Coming Home from Grocery Store in 1975, Coffee Cup Leads to Arrest, Calif. O'Keefe, who was seven years younger than Borgeson, was "an old soul" with a "go with the flow" personality, Borgeson said. The DNA researcher Moore has been on the forefront of linking cold cases to suspects through genetic material voluntarily offered by Americans doing ancestry research. Investigators identified Neal as a suspect using genealogical DNA. James Neal, 72, who lived in Southern California and worked in construction in the 1970s, was arrested this week in Colorado, where he had been living, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said at a Wednesday news conference. Today, we have a new message to share, and we are giving Linda a voice once more. OKeefe, 11, was abducted on July 6, 1973, as she walked home from summer school, the Newport Beach, California, Police Department said. 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 appears gaunt and stoic in a black-and white prison photo. 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. Have a tip or story idea? SANTA ANA, CA Officials in California say James Alan Neal, who was arrested last year in Monument for the rape and murder of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe, has died. After following and obtaining a DNA sample from Neal himself, police were confident enough to make an arrest, he added. James Alan Neal was born James Albert Layton Jr. in Chicago, Illinois, in July 1946. The child disappeared while walking home from summer. "We have heard from a number of her friends from when she was in school, and her death has touched so many people," Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella said at the time. [emailprotected]. NDTV Public Opinion: Will Tipu Sultan Controversy Impact Karnataka Votes? Photo Source. It was our intention to see James Alan Neal stand trial and answer for the murder of Linda An OKeefe, Newport Beach police Chief Jon Lewis said. It was a difficult conversation . 48 Hours: Lindas Story delves into the work put in to arrest James Neal in relation to Lindas rape and murder. On Tuesday, nearly 46 years after O'Keefe's life ended, authorities arrested a man they say is suspected of being her killer: a 72-year-old living in Colorado named James Neal. Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colo., and charged with murder with special circumstances in the death of Linda O'Keefe, who was found strangled in 1973, a case that has long. James then escaped from a work project where he was sentenced to and was arrested yet again in April 1967. He could be brought to California sometime this week if he waives extradition, Spitzer said. On the day Linda disappeared, she was last seen talking to a stranger in a van, Lewis said. This defendant seems quite emotionally immature and psychologically unstable, McMillan wrote in his report. Generations of investigators worked on her case, said Lewis. Neal has been charged with one count of murder with the special circumstances of kidnapping and committing lewd and lascivious acts upon a child younger than 14, Spitzer said. 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., However, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said Neals death robvs the OKeefe family of the justice they so deserve and deprives the law enforcement officers of the satisfaction that they finally got their culprit., Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk, For more stories like this,check our news page, Get your need-to-know Later he moved to Colorado, where he was living when he was arrested, he 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. Parabon used the DNA from the crime scene to predict the suspect's eye color, hair color and skin color. / CBS Colorado. Composite sketch of the driver. They dont understand me or why I am the way I am. Linda Ann O'Keefe was killed in July 1973 -- and decades went by without leads. 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. She doesn't know that I'm missing. On the day Linda Ann O'Keefe died, it was a cooler-than-normal July morning in Newport Beach, California. And at the time of his arrest Neal had no income, savings or property except for a car that had been stolen in Springfield, Illinois, McMillan said. The case stumped investigators for more than four decades before DNA evidence from the genealogical website FamilyTreeDNA tied Neal to the case. First tweet from Newport Beach Police Department. Photo Source. Linda O'Keefe, 11, vanished in July 1973 when she was heading home from school in Newport Beach. CBS 48 Hours: Lindas Story delves into the work put in to arrest James Neal in relation to Lindas rape and murder. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. Emailus. "He lived here in the 1970s," Spitzer said. James Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colo., and charged with murder with special circumstances in the death of Linda O'Keefe, who was found strangled in 1973, a case that has. Through genealogical DNA, though, investigators corroborated the DNA from O'Keefe's body and the DNA obtained from the suspect, according to Spitzer. Track Latest News and Karnataka Elections 2023 Coverage Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world. A man was arrested this week in the decades-old killing of Linda OKeefe, 11. Neal was pronounced dead at. Linda O'Keefe was killed in 1973 while walking home from school. Neal was taken to a hospital on May 25 for an illness. Over 45 years ago, Linda went missing while. Linda O'Keefe fue asesinada en 1973 mientras caminaba a casa desde la escuela. Detectives from the Newport Beach Police Department kept investigating. The key moment arrived with the February 19, 2019 arrest of Neal in Colorado Springs, Colorado. An eight-page report prepared by McMillan offers for the first time clues about what may have driven his criminal behavior. 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. Then her mother made that call that every parent dreads and told police her daughter was missing, he said. For nearly 45 years, the murder of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe haunted the Newport Beach Police Department in California. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. 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.. Those alleged crimes happened between 1995 and 2004 in Riverside County east of Los Angeles. The lead bringing officials to Neal came after these sketches were released, authorities said Wednesday. Last year, 45 years after O'Keefe's body was found, police released these sketches of her suspected killer. 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 District Attorney Todd Spitzer also called the arrest "bittersweet," noting that he had been 12 years old when the 11-year-old was killed. After Lindas death, Neal moved to Florida, where he changed his name to James Alan George Leyton, Spitzer said. There is no record of Neal ever having been incarcerated in a California prison, according to state officials. 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.. The genealogical hit came in January, officials said. Lindas story deeply touched the hearts of our community. James Neal (left) and Linda O'Keefe (right) (credit: CBS). He feels he has always been picked on and never given a chance to better himself or be equal to others, Neal wrote in the report. 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. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? 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. Linda never made it home that afternoon., For 45 years, the Newport Beach Police Department continued to search for Lindas killer," Lewis said. 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. 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. Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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Spitzer also refused to confirm whether Neal had family members or children, saying the matter was under investigation. 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. About a month later, the police brought additional charges of sexual assault against a child younger than 14. It was our intention to see James Alan Neal stand trial and answer for the murder of Linda Ann OKeefe. Combining the latest in DNA technology with old-fashioned detective work led investigators to Neal, Lewis said. 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. 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 in the seaside community of Newport Beach. 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. He had a connection to southern California, which has been corroborated, he said. She was raped and then strangled to death. James Allen Neal. While waiting to use the school phone, O'Keefe went outside. 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. Her body was found the next morning in a ditch in the area of Newport Beachs Back Bay. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Her friend later told police a turquoise van stopped next to O'Keefe a few times as she walked. 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 . "It didn't necessarily lead to the identification (of the suspect)," he said. ", "I couldn't carry that burden in my heart of hating an individual even though he committed this horrible crime," she said. After his arrest in 1966 for a burglary he committed earlier, his parole officer called him quite immature and psychologically unstable.. Last year, Spitzer said authorities used DNA thought to have been left by the killer and tracked down Neal using a public genealogy database. 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. Linda never made it home that afternoon, he said. However, through the genealogical data of his family members, who voluntarily submitted their DNA to genealogy databases, investigators were able to corroborate the DNA from O'Keefe's body and the DNA obtained from the suspect, according to Spitzer. James Neal was arrested in February 2019 and charged with raping and killing Linda Ann OKeefe. But Spitzer admitted that it is a murky legal decision because capital punishment was not an option when the 11-year-old was killed. James Alan Neal was arrested February 19, 2019, in connection to her death, prosecutors announced at a press conference.. 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. James Alan Neal, the 73-year-old charged in the 1973 cold case murder of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe, died on Wednesday at about 5:15 a.m. That's according to Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesperson Jaimee Blashaw in an NBC Los Angeles report.
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