Who Killed Linda O'Keefe? Newport Beach Police Retell Her Story

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — On the 45th anniversary of the abduction and murder of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe, the Newport Beach police department did their best to breathe life into her story, rekindling the search for her killer this week. Police recreated the nightmare of a family that learns their child went missing in a personal way: from the 11-year-old girl's point of view over Twitter.

Linda was last seen alive on Friday, July 6, 1973 when she was abducted near her school, Newport Beach Police Department officer Jennifer Manzella said. Her body was discovered the next morning in the Back Bay area. She had been strangled. The suspect's DNA was left behind at the scene, but, thus far, her killer has never been found.

Manzella has thoroughly reviewed her files, boxed up with notes, interviews and reports taken 45 years ago to build Linda's story in a first-person point of view narrative along with pictures of Linda and evidence from the crime scene.

“My mom made my dress, and also the book bag I’m carrying. It’s red, white, and blue, with stars – and it feels very patriotic after the 4th of July," Linda says. "My mom made matching bags for all three of us (my sisters and me)."

The sweet description of the dress and the satchel made of red white and blue fabric, were eerily at odds with the empty evidence photos on grainy police film.

Knowing the grim end to the tale makes reading the girl's tweeted comments about her day and life even more gut wrenching, but, like an unputdownable crime novel, the reader cannot look away.

Readers were riveted to the story as the facts were dribbled out over the course of many hours, starting when Linda's day did at 7:45 a.m.

Linda caught a ride to school instead of biking as usual. She was an 11-year-old girl starting to spread her wings, looking forward to going to the beach on her own and making runs to the candy store between classes.

All that changed after school when she fails to get a ride home with her mother. She lamented the fact she had to walk home. But Linda never made it.

"I sit on the curb in front of the school, with my feet sticking out in the street. I’ll leave soon," Linda says. Then, a van pulls up near the corner of Marguerite and Inlat, and Linda is seen talking with whomever is inside.

A friend of Linda's, Janine, witnessed the conversation Linda had with the driver of a turquoise-colored van, Manzella writes on Twitter. The friend will remember and re-account the details to police later along with many who wish they could have done more to catch Linda's killer.

"The anniversary is here, and that is always the time to get an emotional look into a cold case," Manzella said.

Hopefully by Saturday morning, with timed Tweets to coincide with when Linda's body was found, the community will be inclined to look back and remember.

"We will release a sketch on Saturday in hopes of making a connection," Manzella told Patch.

The sketch will be based on a Parabon DNA compiled image of a man who left his DNA behind at the scene. That technique of using DNA to determine a suspect's "facial composite, gender, ancestry, freckles and skin, eye and hair color" has been used successfully in the past to identify suspects in the past. Manzella hopes that thousands of eyes will train on the image, and that they will at last be able to name Linda's killer.

"That's a game changer for us," Manzella added. "We hope someone will recognize him."

Manzella wanted to use storytelling for this cold case after she saw a similar story told from a cold case in Canada.

"Those Tweets stuck with me," she told Patch. "I wanted the same emotional attachment for Linda."

There has been an outpouring of support from people who knew Linda, those who lived in town at the time, or people touched by her story, Manzella said. Linda's sister, a new Twitter user, has declared that NBPD's Tweets "are Linda to a T."

Manzella hopes that renewed interest in the case will finally lead to justice for Linda.

"It is so easy to lose a connection to the person over time in a Cold Case," she said. "By giving Linda a voice, we personalize her story that otherwise might be just another press release that passes you by."