There is no record of Neal ever having been incarcerated in a California prison, according to state officials. "After all this time, finding out there is a face and a namejust brings additional closure.". Police and prosecutors in Southern California thanked the FBI, the Colorado Springs Police Department and the El Paso County Sheriffs Department in Colorado for their assistance. James Alan Neal was known as James Albert Layton Jr. when he was born in 1946. and opened doors for us to have this case pursued with renewed effort.". But again, it's a reminder of what happened. "But it created an awareness . Police also want to know if Neal could be linked to other crimes. James Alan Neal was born James Albert Layton Jr. in Chicago, Illinois, in July 1946. Records reveal Neal was arrested on Sept. 9, 1973, in Marion County, Florida, on a fraud charge for writing a bad check and unauthorized use of a vehicle. O'Keefe vanished in July of 1973 while walking home from summer school. 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. In July 1973, 11-year-old Linda Ann O'Keefe was murdered. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? 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. ", "I couldn't carry that burden in my heart of hating an individual even though he committed this horrible crime," she 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 Spitzer, who was 12 himself at the time of the murder, at a Wednesday news conference. So, if youre curious to know more about James and what happened to him after his arrest, weve got you covered. The authorities confirmed that the 73-year-old showed no symptoms of COVID-19 and that his death was not considered suspicious. According to police, O'Keefe normally rode her bike to summer school. Watch: Aurora Dazzles Ladakh Skies As Geomagnetic Storm Hits Earth, This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics. Her parents checked with friends and searched the neighborhood and the path she took home to no avail, Lewis said. James Alan Neal was arrested February 19, 2019, in connection to her death, prosecutors announced at a press conference.. "Technology has caught up with the law," Spitzer said Wednesday. Neal moved to. Linda was last seen talking to a stranger in a van, Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis said Wednesday. For an optimal experience visit our site on . He pleaded not guilty to the murder and to allegations of lewd and lascivious acts on two girls under age 14 between 1995-2004. ", Borgeson said, if she gets a chance to speak to Neal, she would "let him know that I've been praying for him.". Powered by WordPress.com VIP. 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. 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. David K. Li is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital. Linda Ann O'Keefe was the middle child in a family of five. On the day Linda disappeared, she was last seen talking to a stranger in a van, Lewis said. She makes a lot of my clothes, and my sisters clothes. This defendant seems quite emotionally immature and psychologically unstable, McMillan wrote in his report. 72-year-old arrested in connection with 1973 murder of 11-year-old girl, Linda O'Keefe, who lived in the Corona del Mar neighborhood and was last seen alive July 6, 1973, as she walked home from summer school. 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. 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. 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. Neal was released from police custody on his own recognizance, fled California and was rearrested when he returned to the state on March 3, 1966. James then escaped from a work project where he was sentenced to and was arrested yet again in April 1967. The burglary that landed Neal behind bars in 1966 occurred a year earlier when he and two accomplices broke into a Santa Ana business, stealing $44.97 in cash and a portable television set valued at $90, Orange County Superior Court records show. Linda O'Keefe, 11, vanished in July 1973 when she was heading home from school in Newport Beach. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. James spent time in juvenile prison and later dropped out of school in 1963. 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. Neal moved to Southern California from Chicago before the murder and relocated to Florida after the girl's slaying, authorities said. 1 dead, 1 rescued by firefighters after speeding car crashed into tree in Colorado Springs, Voice of the consumer: Looking for a job? Prosecutors are considering seeking the death penalty against Neal. ORANGE COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) - The suspect in a decades-old cold case died Wednesday while awaiting trial. McMillan remained skeptical. 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. 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. 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. Linda Ann O'Keefe's killing in 1973 in Newport Beach, California went unsolved for more than four decades. After Lindas death, Neal moved to Florida, where he changed his name to James Alan George Leyton, Spitzer said. The girl, whose body was found the next day, was strangled. It wasnt long before Neal was in trouble again. However, James was never brought to justice because he died of an unspecified illness on July 22, 2020. Last year, 45 years after O'Keefe's body was found, police released these sketches of her suspected killer. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Composite sketch of the driver. 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. 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. 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 long shaken the seaside community of Newport Beach, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. OKeefes 1973 rape and murder went unsolved for decades. Taking advantage of the latest in crime-solving techniques, in January, Spitzer said, they received a pointer indication through genealogical DNA.. Her strangled body was found the next day. James Alan Neal fell ill and died while awaiting trial for the . On July 6, 1973, 11-year-old Linda OKeefe disappeared while walking home from summer school in the southern California beachside town of Corona del Mar. Lindas story deeply touched the hearts of our community, said Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis. 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. 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. James was in and out of prison throughout his younger life, with arrest records in California, Florida, and Colorado between 1959 and 1974. We never gave up.". Linda O'Keefe fue asesinada en 1973 mientras caminaba a casa desde la escuela. (Courtesy of Newport Beach Police Department) Linda Ann O'Keefe's killing in 1973 in Newport Beach, California went unsolved for more than four decades. According to later reports, James didnt get along with his family, and his parents were physically and psychologically cruel to him and his siblings. The DNA sample from her dress was entered into the CODIS system in 2001 but came up empty, he said. ABC News' Jenna Harrison contributed to this report. The child disappeared while walking home from summer. 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. Based on a witness statement, it was believed a man in a van kidnapped Linda. The database was Family Tree DNA. He was transferred to a local. He said he was glad he had all that stuff behind him but never mentioned what he had done, Malecki recalled. . "That sample remained in the system for a long period of time," Spitzer said. An man arrested for a series of cold case sex crimes against children died while in police custody, officials 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. . Newport Beach Police Neal is being held in the. Here at this jail, people want to give me a bad time. His last address was in San Jacinto, where his home on East Evans Street was just a few blocks away from North Mountain Middle School and Jose Antonio Estudillo Elementary. He is awaiting extradition from Colorado Springs to Orange County. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer announced the arrest of James Alan Neal in the 1973 murder of 11-year-old Linda Ann O'Keefe during a press conderence on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. "I'm astonished at what they were able to accomplish," Borgeson, 64, said. Parabon has worked on the majority of the cold cases cracked through genetic genealogy, including O'Keefe's case. The case stumped investigators for more than four decades before DNA evidence from the genealogical website FamilyTreeDNA tied Neal to the case. Shortly after Lindas murder, investigators recovered DNA evidence from her remains, Spitzer said. We will make sure that the defendant is fairly and justly held accountable in a court of law.". My mom made it. 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. Spitzer lauded noted DNA investigator CeCe Moore for helping police develop a "pointer" toward Neal. She doesn't know that I'm missing. "Individuals who engage in sexual activity against minors tend to have certain indicators of a predatory nature," Spitzer said. Her friend later told police a turquoise van stopped next to O'Keefe a few times as she walked. Police also urged the public to share details about O'Keefe's disappearance on social media with the hashtag #Lindastory. 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, 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. 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. Detectives from the Newport Beach Police Department kept investigating. Her body was found the next morning in a ditch in the area of Newport Beachs Back Bay. Neal was pronounced dead at. More than 45. He was arrested in Colorado Springs on Feb. 19. 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. ), First published on March 29, 2019 / 6:44 PM. Track Latest News and Karnataka Elections 2023 Coverage Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world. 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 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 key moment arrived with the February 19, 2019 arrest of Neal in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Teacher 52 Years Later, Hiding in Plain Sight: DNA Allegedly Links Calif. Karate Instructor to 1981 Rapes, Murders of 2 Women, 2 Women Were Found Slain, Sexually Assaulted Within Months of Each Other in 1983: How DNA Led to Arrest, Teen Was Killed with Ax After Meeting Man on Phone Chat Line in 1998. Neal is charged with murder, kidnapping during the commission of murder and lewd and lascivious acts upon a child under 14 in the beachside town of Corona del Mar, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. "He lived here in the 1970s," Spitzer 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. In July, on the 45th anniversary of O'Keefe's death, the Newport Beach Police Department "live-tweeted" Linda's story - in her voice, from the perspective of her last day - in the hope of raising awareness about her cold case and shaking forth any new clues about her killer. "I'll get to be with them again," she added. But he praised Newport Beach police for persisting through the decades. 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. She loved animals, playing the piano, and painting. Lindas story deeply touched the hearts of our community. O'Keefe disappeared while she was walking home from summer school. James Alan Neal, 72, of Monument, Colorado, who was arrested for allegedly murdering Linda O'Keefe in Newport Beach, California, in 1973. March 29, 2019 / 6:44 PM But Spitzer admitted that it is a murky legal decision because capital punishment was not an option when the 11-year-old was killed. He was being held at the Theo Lacy maximum-security jail in Orange.