“Hi. I’m Linda O’Keefe (or Linda ANN O’Keefe, if I’m in trouble with my mom). Forty-five years ago today, I disappeared from Newport Beach. I was murdered and my body was found in the Back Bay. My killer was never found. Today, I’m going to tell you my story.”
#LindasStory
“But now, 45 yrs later, I have a voice again. And I have something important to say. There is a new lead in my case: a face. A face that comes from DNA that the killer left behind. It’s technology that didn’t exist back in 1973, but it might change everything today.”
#LindasStory
For the next two days, NBPD will suspend normal Twitter activity. Instead of our regular content, we will be posting about a cold case homicide from 1973. Follow along as Linda O’Keefe tells you her story.
#LindasStory
Link to press release:
“And, finally, thank you to the generations of investigators who worked on my case for more than 45 years. Because of you, James Neal is now in custody. Because of you, my story didn’t end in July 1973. Thank you for never, ever giving up.”
#LindasStory
“Here is a video about my case. About the evidence. About the clues and facts that will lead detectives to my killer. My name is Linda O’Keefe. What is his name?”
#LindasStory
“Thank you to everyone all over the world who was touched by my story – for your thoughts and prayers for me, and the search for my killer. Thank you to my family, friends, and schoolmates – who never gave up hope.”
#LindasStory
“I’m wearing a dress today… It’s white, with light blue flowers on it, and dark blue trim. My mom made it. She makes a lot of my clothes, and my sisters’ clothes. She’s really good at sewing, and we don’t have a lot of money for fancy store outfits anyhow.”
#LindasStory
Today we honor and thank Officer Graham for his 21 years of service with NBPD! He will patrol the beach with Buckie one last time before heading off into retirement.
PRESS RELEASE: Linda O'Keefe Homicide -
Starting tomorrow at 7:45 am,
#LindasStory
will be told here, through our Twitter account. Please see the press release for more information.
Need a lift?
The Peninsula Enforcement Team assisted this elderly woman through the sand after her daughter explained that her mother was 100 years old and wanted to dip her toes in the water. It had been years since she had been to the beach.... so, they made it happen!
“On Tuesday, February 19, 2019, detectives from the NBPD arrested this man - James Alan Neal, DOB 7/28/46 - in Colorado Springs, CO for murder. My murder.”
#LindasStory
In July 1973, 11-year-old Linda Ann O’Keefe was murdered. In July 2018, her story touched millions of people through
#LindasStory
(). Today, we have a new message to share, and we are giving Linda a voice once more.
Today we honor and thank Dispatcher Donnelly for her 38 years of dedicated service with the Newport Beach Police Department. Please join us in congratulating Dispatcher Donnelly on her retirement.
#Dispatch
#Dispatcher
“If you can help find my killer, please call the NBPD’s Cold Case Tip Line at 949-644-3669. And please share my story... all it takes is for one person out there to recognize his face, even after all these years. Thank you.”
#LindasStory
K9 Jardo was sadly laid to rest this afternoon. Jardo served our Department for eight years and was an exceptional partner for Detective Mike Fletcher. Our thoughts and prayers are with Detective Fletcher and family today.
Rest in Peace Jardo.
Traveling 116 mph is not only against the law, it’s dangerous.
Speeding puts you and others on the road at risk. It’s harder to control the vehicle and make adjustments to any changing traffic or road conditions.
#SlowTheFastDown
This weekend, after 6 years of service with the NBPD and as Officer Wilson's partner, K9 Kajo has retired. Please join us in congratulating Kajo on an amazing career.
“Orchid Avenue. That’s the street I grew up on. It’s a small house, and we’ve lived here most of my life. At 8:00 am, I walk out my front door… and have no idea that it will be the last time. My piano teacher is giving me a ride to summer school.”
#LindasStory
“I was 11 years old on the day I disappeared. It’s kinda strange… that year (1973), July 6 also fell on a Friday. It was a cool day. Cooler than usual. The high was about 70 degrees.”
#LindasStory
Today we honor and thank Officer Yim for 23 years of dedicated service with the Newport Beach Police Department. Please join us in congratulating Officer Yim on his retirement.
“The man is looking in the ditch on the east side of Back Bay Drive, searching for frogs in the cattails. Instead, he sees something small, and pale. My hand. He sees my hand. He screams, trying to rouse me.”
#LindasStory
“Not all crying is the same, though. The last time I cried-REALLY cried-was a few months ago. We have three cats and one of them died. They told me she had cancer, but I don’t really know what that means. I missed her SO MUCH for weeks and weeks after she was gone.”
#LindasStory
“I’m still getting used to the schedule here. I go to Lincoln Intermediate School… which was a middle school back in 1973, although I hear it’s an elementary school now. A lot has changed between the last time I was here, and what it looks like in 2018.”
#LindasStory
“Time for first period. Here we go. School isn’t really my thing. I get Bs. Cs. A couple of Ds. And I *hate* doing my homework. I’m not too fond of school in general, I guess. But – not to brag – I’m really good at spelling. And I love science class.”
#LindasStory
Today we honor and thank Officer Darling for his 27 years of service with the Newport Beach Police Department. Please join us in congratulating Officer Darling on his retirement.
“I love the piano. Before I had piano lessons, I would go to the Hammond Organ Studio in my neighborhood and play their organs and pianos for hours at a time. I also love painting and crafts. My mom says I’m ‘artistically inclined’.”
#LindasStory
“Usually, I ride my bike to school. The ride home is easy, because it’s almost all downhill. But today, I got a ride to school, so no bike. I’m going to call my mom and see if she’ll pick me up, so I don’t have to walk home.”
#LindasStory
“Let’s see… What else can I tell you about me?? I’ve always been *really* good at tidying up. Mom says I’m like a ‘little mother’ and always keep my room very neat. Whenever I clean up, I ask her to come see. I like hearing her tell me that I did a good job.”
#LindasStory
“My mom also made the book bag I’m carrying. It’s red, white, and blue, with stars – and it feels very patriotic after the 4th of July. My mom made matching bags for all three of us (my sisters and me).”
#LindasStory
The suspects fled from the home; however, officers were able to set up a quick perimeter and take two suspects into custody. The law enforcement helicopter (Duke) and drones are still on scene assisting with the investigation.
“A lady in the bluffs above Back Bay hears a female voice outside, screaming ‘Stop, you’re hurting me’. She listens, but hears nothing more. She doesn’t know that I’m missing. That I’ll be dead by morning. That I’ll be found a couple hundred yards from her home.”
#LindasStory
“The search for Linda Ann O’Keefe is now the search for Linda Ann O’Keefe’s killer. Was it someone I knew? A stranger? The man in the van? There are so many questions.”
#LindasStory
“Time for another break. I have a few coins in my bag, so I head over to Richard’s Market. It’s only a block and a half away, so I can get over there and back in time for my next class.”
#LindasStory
“Mom's starting to get a little worried. She knows I was angry about her not picking me up, but she thought I’d sulk a bit and then come home to eat. It’s been three hours since she heard from me, which is a lot when you’re a young girl with no lunch in her stomach.”
#LindasStory
“No one is concerned when I don’t come home from school right away. Or not TOO concerned, anyway. It’s a different time back in 1973, and kids roam the neighborhood on their bikes for hours at a time.”
#LindasStory
“I’m a pretty quiet kid, I guess. I don’t talk as much as some people, that’s for sure! People call me shy. My parents say I’m ‘sensitive’, which I think means that I’m an easy crier. It’s true.”
#LindasStory
Tonight at approximately 7:18 pm., Newport Beach Police Officers responded to a call of a Residential Burglary in progress in the area of Pelican Point Drive. and Shoreline.
“There will be theories, and a sketch of a ‘person of interest’, but my murder will eventually become a cold case. NBPD detectives still look at my file, interview people who saw me or knew me, follow leads… but the trails lead nowhere.”
#LindasStory
“Along with my homemade dress, I’m wearing dark blue tennis shoes with white trim, and thick white ankle socks. My hair used to be shorter, but now it is long and brown, and I am wearing it in a ponytail today.”
#LindasStory
“I’m back in the school office, and the lady lets me call my mom for a ride home this time. It doesn’t go well. She is busy with a sewing project and tells me that I can walk home. It makes me upset, and I cry. I’m an easy crier, remember?”
#LindasStory
“Finally, school is over. Like everyone else in the classroom, I’m getting excited about how to spend the rest of my afternoon, or what I want to do this weekend. I obviously don’t know it yet, but… I won’t get to have a weekend.”
#LindasStory
“My mom made us matching stuff a lot. We have a photo from when my little sister was just a baby, and all three of us girls are in pink gingham dresses (you can’t tell, because the photo is black and white, but my big sister remembers).”
#LindasStory
You thought 123 MPH was fast!
NBPD motor officers issued speeding citation for 140 MPH on Newport
Coast and the vehicle was impounded. Please drive safe and slow down.
“Besides mom and dad and me, there are two more in the family. Both sisters. My big sister is 18 and has a real job! She works at a dry cleaners. She still lives with us, so I get to see her a lot. My little sister is only 9 1/2. She and I are really close.”
#LindasStory
“Third period. Halfway there. Gosh, I wish it was a weekend day today... Then I could go to the beach. I LOVE the beach. This is the first summer that mom and dad let me go by myself, since we live so close.”
#LindasStory
“Late tonight, the police will talk to a young woman named Jannine. She and her mom are driving up Marguerite right now, and they see something they won’t forget for a long time. It’s me. And a turquoise van.”
#LindasStory
“The lady in the school office said I need to wait. School’s only been out for a few minutes, and my mom hasn’t had time to get here yet, so I can’t use the phone yet. Adults always have rules for stuff like this.”
#LindasStory
“No luck. I’m a Girl Scout, and a member of the Corona del Mar Youth Center, so there’s a few places to check. I stopped going to the CdM Community Church a few months ago, but they check there too, just in case.”
#LindasStory
“A turquoise van is driving up Harbor View Road. Brenda (who has turned around started skipping backwards now) will later tell the police that the van stops next to me a couple times as I’m walking along, but she’s too far away to hear if anyone talks to me.”
#LindasStory
“Still sniffling, I leave the office. I know they say I’m lazy, but I just reeeeaaaallly don’t like walking. My parents get annoyed when I ask for a ride home from school, because it’s such a short walk. But I hate it. I wish I had my bike.”
#LindasStory
“Officers are searching everywhere. Back then, there were vacant fields south of Pacific View and east of Marguerite. They search the fields, the reservoir, the neighborhoods, the streets. Nothing.”
#LindasStory
“When my dad gets home from work, worry turns to action. We have two family cars. My dad gets in one, my big sister gets in the other, and they start to look for me. There’s a feeling that I’m being disobedient, not that anything is actually *wrong*.”
#LindasStory
“His friends come over when they hear him screaming. Peering through the cattails, they gasp. They don’t know who I am, of course… or who I was. But they see a young girl’s body, still in my mom’s homemade dress. I’ve been strangled.”
#LindasStory
“I know my mom isn’t planning to pick me up, so I head back towards Richard’s Market, just to waste some time until I can call her. My friend Brenda (from third period) skips past me with another girl, and says hi.”
#LindasStory
“It’s time for our last period of the day. Whew. I’d so much rather be watching TV right now! I love TV. I’ll watch at home, of course… but I also like to go to Fashion Island and watch the big TVs in the stores.”
#LindasStory
“The van is parked along the curb, just before the intersection of Marguerite and Inlet Drive. The front passenger door is open, and I’m standing right beside it. Jannine will remember that she sees the driver: a man, white, in his mid-20s or early 30s.”
#LindasStory
“When my big sister gets to work, she is shocked to see the headline on the front page of the Daily Pilot: ‘Girl, 11, Vanishes in Newport’.
Linda? Vanished? ‘No, no, no,’ she thinks, ‘They must have it wrong.’”
#LindasStory
“That’s the end of third period. Mrs. McWilliams has been my teacher all morning, but I’ll have Mrs. Hoover next. One class with her, and then school is out for the day!”
#LindasStory
“Mom starts calling around to see if I’m at anyone’s house. I have several friends in the neighborhood, and friends from school – Cathy, Jim, Stacy, Mona, Mary Lou – but no one has seen me since I walked away from Lincoln Intermediate.”
#LindasStory
Please join us in congratulating Officer Rosenberg and Garth on completing their 6-week training course. Garth is a 2 year old Dutch Shepherd from the Netherlands. K-9 Unit 10-8!
#ReadyForService
“They go for help. They ride along Back Bay Drive, looking for a phone, a person, anything. Just before San Joaquin Hills Rd, they find a police car. The officer, one of many who've been searching for me, is the first to know: this is now a homicide investigation.”
#LindasStory
“The sun is setting, and still there’s no sign of me. My sister thinks I’m going to be in big trouble whenever they find me. My mom knows I’d never stay out past dark.”
#LindasStory
“I guess you can say that I’m a kinda moody kid. I’ve been acting out lately. Little stuff, like not coming home on time… just so that they know I’m upset. This new bad habit of mine is probably on my mom’s mind quite a bit this afternoon.”
#LindasStory
“‘If that van drives by, write down the license plate number,’ she tells Jannine. But the van doesn’t drive by. Her heart sinks a bit as she sees the van go straight up Marguerite. She can’t see how many people are inside.”
#LindasStory
“At 6:42 pm, the NBPD receives a call from a house on Orchid Avenue. Linda Ann O’Keefe is missing. Four feet tall, 85 pounds, long brown hair and blue eyes.”
#LindasStory
“A new theory – and a new hope. My good friend Cathy’s parents were sailing to Catalina tonight. Cathy wanted to stay over at my house, but my mom had said no. Maybe Cathy and I had both gone with them on the sailing trip?”
#LindasStory
“Officers are searching Fashion Island. The Back Bay. On foot. By car. By helicopter. Jeeps are used in the places the patrol cars can’t get to. Still… nothing.”
#LindasStory
“Even if I wanted to walk home (which I don’t) I wouldn’t leave right now. I’m still upset about not getting a ride home. I sit on the curb in front of the school, with my feet sticking out in the street. I’ll leave soon.”
#LindasStory
“Jannine knocks on the door of my house and asks to talk to a Detective. The image of the little girl and the turquoise van is still burning in her mind, and she heard that a little girl who lives here might be missing…”
#LindasStory
“Every police officer in the city is looking for me. They eventually track down Cathy’s parents’ slip, and see that their boat is gone. Could I have been so angry that I’d left town with my friend and not told anyone?”
#LindasStory
“The search begins. My dad and sister join in again, in their separate cars. The police get to work, systematically checking the areas between my school and my house. My mom has made about 40 phone calls by now, trying to track me down.”
#LindasStory
“Tons of people are looking for me. The helicopter has been scouring the canyons and remote areas of Corona del Mar. My dad is out looking for me too, with some officers. My mom is still home, peering through the curtains at all the activity on our quiet street.”
#LindasStory
“A new shift of searchers is gathering at the police department. Newport Beach Explorer Post 1050, Costa Mesa Search and Rescue Post 198, and a handful of others are joining in to relieve the volunteers who have looked for me all night.”
#LindasStory
“The Catalina Harbor Department check the Avalon Harbor for Cathy’s parents. They haven’t arrived yet, but – when they do – the NBPD wants to make sure that I didn’t run away with them. My mom hopes that the men on the next boat over were wrong.”
#LindasStory