The murder of Linda O'Keefe
Newport Beach, Orange County, California · 1973
Overview
On July 6, 1973, 11-year-old Linda Ann O'Keefe was abducted while walking home from summer school at Lincoln Intermediate School in Corona del Mar, a neighborhood of Newport Beach, California, after she was last seen near a turquoise van. Her body was found the next morning in a ditch in the Back Bay area of Upper Newport Bay; she had been strangled. The case stayed cold for more than 45 years until investigative genetic genealogy by Parabon NanoLabs and genealogist CeCe Moore, working from DNA preserved on Linda's clothing, pointed investigators to James Alan Neal. Neal, then 72 and living in Colorado, was arrested in February 2019. He had used the name James Layton at the time of the crime. He died in custody in July 2020 before he could be tried.
How it was solved
DNA recovered from Linda O'Keefe after her death was entered into the CODIS criminal database in 2001 but produced no match. In October 2017 the Newport Beach Police Department hired Parabon NanoLabs, which used DNA phenotyping to generate Snapshot composites of how the killer may have looked in 1973 and decades later. After FamilyTreeDNA opened its database to law enforcement, Parabon genetic genealogist CeCe Moore built family trees from distant relatives who had uploaded their DNA and identified James Alan Neal as the source. To confirm the lead, a Newport Beach detective surveilling Neal in Colorado recovered a discarded cigarette, whose DNA matched the crime-scene profile from Linda's clothing. The confirming match came back in late January 2019, and Neal was arrested the following month.
Sources
- Man Arrested for 1973 Newport Beach Cold Case Murder
“The significant arrest for the brutal sexual assault and murder of Linda O'Keefe is an affirmation to never give up.”
- Linda O'Keefe murder: James Neal DNA match leads to arrest for 1973 murder of 11-year-old girl
“Newport Beach police used forensic DNA testing and an online genealogy website to identify the suspect's DNA as being consistent with DNA left at the crime scene.”
- Man Accused of Killing 11-Year-Old Linda O'Keefe in Newport Beach Dies in Custody
“The death of James Neal prior to putting him on trial for Linda's rape and murder robs the O'Keefe family of the justice they so deserve.”
- DNA leads to arrest in half century-old cold case murder of 11-year-old California girl
“A DNA match on the genealogy website Family Tree led them to their suspect in Colorado, 72-year-old James Neal.”
- Linda O'Keefe murder: Police Twitter campaign helps lay a trap for the killer of 11-year-old girl
“In October 2017, Newport Beach P.D. hired Parabon NanoLabs to create a DNA snapshot of the killer ... Detective Mike Fletcher retrieved a discarded cigarette which matched the 1973 evidence DNA.”
- Linda O'Keefe abducted walking home from Lincoln Intermediate summer school in Corona del Mar
“On the day she disappeared, 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe attended summer school at Lincoln Intermediate School in Corona del Mar, California.”
- CeCe Moore
“She helped California police with the arrest of James Alan Neal for the 1973 abduction and murder by strangulation of 11-year-old schoolgirl Linda O'Keefe in Newport Beach, California.”
- Arrest of suspect in 1973 Newport Beach murder is latest example of how emerging techniques help crack cold cases
“Neal grew up in the Chicago area, moved to Orange County where he used the name James Allen George Layton, then left the region shortly after the murder and later relocated to Florida and Colorado.”