Murder of a girl from California uncovered after 45 years

A Colorado resident was arrested on charges of killing an 11-year-old girl from Newport Beach (California), which he committed in 1973.

Фото: Depositphotos

Police posted a campaign to find the killer in the Twitter microblog, writes NBC.

The suspect was identified as 72-year-old James Alan Neal, he was arrested this week at his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Neil lived in Orange County in California in the 1970-ies under a different name, while he worked in construction. After that, he moved to Florida and Colorado.

He was arrested on suspicion of murder, kidnapping and sexual assault committed against Linda O'Keefe, who was last seen alive on her way home from July 6 summer school 1973 of the year. Her body was found the next morning at Back Bay. According to experts, Linda was strangled.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who managed to find the killer, was only 12 years old at the time of the crime. In the same year, the Senate committee held hearings about the Watergate scandal.

Linda's photo hung over the years in a room at the Newport Beach Police Department as a reminder of a young victim for generations of detectives who were involved in this case.

In July, 2018, the Newport Beach police launched a campaign on Twitter, which included information about the murder, tweeting in detail about the events of the last day, when Linda was seen alive.

Newport Beach police tweets about the case began at 7:45 a.m. Friday, the exact time Linda left for school 45 years ago. The tweets ended the next day around the time her body was discovered. She usually rode her bike to school, but that Friday her teacher gave her a ride. She was last seen near Lincoln High School waiting for transportation to go home.

The missing girl was searched all night, but as a result nature lovers stumbled upon the body of a child.

Linda's parents have already died, but the investigators notified the killer of her sisters about the arrest.

Investigators obtained the DNA samples of the killer from the victim’s body, which ultimately led them to arrest the killer.

The sample was originally introduced into the Combined DNA System (CODIS), the FBI DNA database system. During the operation, investigators obtained Neal's DNA, and eventually found out that he was the killer.

The prosecutor did not provide details of the investigation, stating only that the coincidence of the data was found in January 2019.

The Twitter campaign ultimately did not lead to the identification of the culprit, but led to some evidence that later helped identify the killer.

At the moment, it is unclear when the suspect will appear before the court.

Read also on ForumDaily:

10 the safest and most peaceful cities in Southern California

Why American companies are increasingly inviting people to work with a criminal record

Immigrants or Americans: who more often commits crimes

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.