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Using modern DNA technology, California detectives have arrested a suspect for the murder and sexual assault of 13-year-old Linda O. Keefe. For more than 45 years, his disappearance haunts the community of Newport Beach, California.
This investigation has been going on for so long that the prosecutor in the case was only one year older than Ms. O & # 39; Keefe at the time of her murder. Nevertheless, the Newport Beach police claim to have never forgotten the little girl, keeping a picture of her in the detectives division to remind her to continue to advance cases as serious as his own.
On Wednesday, police revealed that a genetic match on the Family Tree genealogy site had led them to their 72-year-old suspect in Colorado, James Neal, reported CBS News' Erin Moriarty.
"Our investigators used forensic DNA testing and an online genealogy website to identify the suspect's DNA as being compatible with the DNA left at the scene of the crime," said the chief of Newport Beach Police, Jon Lewis.
O 'Keefe disappeared in July 1973 while he was returning home after his summer classes. The 11-year-old girl was last seen on the street talking to a stranger in a van. The next day, she was found strangled, her body thrown into a ditch. She always wore the dress her mother had made for her.
O 's Keefe sister, Cindy Borgeson, said she was surprised to receive the call from the alleged killer.
"You know, I've never really thought that they would find the individual," Borgeson said. "I hope this will bring hope to other families who are not yet resolved."
Last summer, with the goal of reviving the case, the Newport Beach Police Department released a series of tweets written as if, from O Keefe's point of view, recalling his last hours "Hello, I'm calling Linda O … Keefe … I've been murdered … my killer has never been found."
More and more police departments are turning to genealogical websites to solve tricky business by connecting the DNA of crime scenes to online databases. The authorities were also able to recover the alleged "Golden State assassination" and the "dark sleeper" sentenced in 2016 for the murder of 10 people.
In this case, the Newport Beach police also used DNA to project the murderer of O 'Keefe today.
"I can tell you from both traditional DNA and genealogical DNA that we have every chance of solving as many cold cases as we have ever hoped to solve," Todd said. Spitzer, Orange County Attorney.
The Orange County attorney did not say whether it was Neal or a family member who had submitted this DNA to the genealogy website. If he is found guilty, Neal risks life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and the prosecutor says he might consider asking for the death penalty.
Neal is scheduled to appear Thursday in a Colorado courtroom.
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