NY David Keels, 60, Yonkers, 7 February 1997

“It’s all surrounding the bar.”

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One thing was clear: It wasn’t a robbery.

“Someone wanted Mr. Keels dead,” Yonkers Police Department Cold Case Detective John Geiss says of the murder of 60-year-old David Keels, a Yonkers resident killed on February 7, 1997. A bus driver by day and bar owner by night, David was a hard-working, law-abiding family man. “He was very well loved,” says Tracy Keels of her father. “He knew a lot of people. Everybody referred to him as ‘Uncle Bo.’ He did a lot for his community.”

So why would someone want him dead? That is the question facing Geiss and those who’ve investigated the case before him.

Geiss believes it has something to do with the bar he owned, Bo Dicks Lounge (Bo Dicks was David’s nickname) on Warburton Avenue. “Business wasn’t going too well,” Geiss explains. “It was an older bar, and what happened was that a younger crowd started moving in.”

David ran a clean, legal business, and the shift to a younger crowd caused tension. “He tried to prevent people from coming in with drugs and weapons, and there were incidents where he had kicked people out,” says Geiss, who believes those incidents may provide clues to the motive for the killing. “It’s all surrounding the bar and possibly people wanting to become partners or take over the bar. That’s coming from the street; that’s the rumor on the street.” None of David’s possessions were taken after he was shot.

Prior to his murder, David had partnered with someone to promote weekend parties (Geiss declined to provide this individual’s name because he remains a person of interest in the case). These events were successful but caused issues with drug use and sales. “After about five parties, he [David] stopped doing it,” Geiss says. “Although it was successful for him, he didn’t want that kind of clientele in the bar.”

Since the murder, there have been a number of suspects. “A lot of those names have been eliminated,” Geiss says. “But there are a few that, no matter what I do, I can’t eliminate them.” Geiss is still looking at these individuals and is hoping to find more evidence.

In the immediate aftermath of her father’s murder, Tracy was optimistic that those involved would be swiftly brought to justice. “I hoped it would be solved quickly,” she says. “There were so many rumors flying around.” But, over the years, she’s watched those rumors grow cold and tips lead to dead end after dead end. Tracy’s mother, Joyce, told a pastor shortly before her death in 2013 that she wasn’t ready to go yet because she was holding out hope of finding out who killed her husband. “It bothers us because we walk the streets and the very same person that we can be saying hello to could have had something to do with it, you know? So it’s very disheartening,” Tracy says. She urges anyone who knows anything to “have a conscience, have a soul, and come forward with any information, anything that can help us find closure.”

Geiss, who remains in regular contact with Tracy Keels, is optimistic that eventually this will happen. “It’s never going to bring back her father, but at least she’d get the answers, and that’s important,” he says.

If you have information regarding this case, contact Detective John Geiss with the Yonkers Cold Case Unit at (914) 377-7731.

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Case: Homicide - David Keels
Location: Opposite 77 Ravine Avenue
Date: February 7, 1997
Time: 1:31 am

Mr. Keels was 60 years old at the time of his murder. He was married and a father of three grown children. He worked as a school bus driver during the day and he owned a bar on Warburton Avenue which he worked during the evenings. The bar was called Bo Dicks. On the day of his murder Mr. Keels worked as a bus driver then worked at his bar. After closing the bar and going for a drive in his van he parked his van on Ravine Avenue opposite 77 Ravine Avenue. Mr. Keels exited his van and was walking northbound on Ravine Avenue when he was approached by an unknown male who shot him dead. This unknown male then entered the passenger side of a waiting vehicle which drove off going southbound on Ravine Avenue.

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In Yonkers, John Geiss is not only the Cold Case Squad's leading detective: he is the Cold Case Squad. John Geiss has been a part of the Cold Case Squad of Yonkers for 19 years. When he arrived, it was comprised of two other detectives. Now they've been promoted, but Geiss remains as the sole man on the frontline of cold cases. “If they took me out,” he says, “I'd retire tomorrow.” His office, located in the bowels of the Yonkers Police Department, is a crowded space. Two bookcases are completely filled with case files. There are more on almost every available surface; the space underneath his desk is crammed full of boxes upon boxes of files. Pictures are tacked up here and there on the walls: mugshots, crime scene photos, missing persons ads. A whiteboard is filled with names, addresses, causes of death. There are 59 current cold cases in Yonkers, with clues to each all over the small space.

Geiss answers without hesitation when asked why his job exists. “Biggest thing why cases go cold is because people do not want to cooperate. They just clam up.” Cases with no witnesses also sometimes become unsolvable. Humans are integral to solving crime, and without them, or their information, cases can quickly go cold, sometimes for decades.

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CorduroyRoy said:

Is there anyone here who could possibly help me with David Keels? There has been really very little written about him anywhere and I would like to see his case generate more interest. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

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Son still haunted by father's 1996 unsolved slaying

Will David, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News Published 3:38 p.m. ET June 26, 2013

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Just before midnight, Louie, then 24, and his father were performing a nightly ritual of moving their cars, so his mother, Lourdes, a nurse at at a nursing home in Yonkers, could park in their narrow driveway.

The night was cold and rainy. Louie was in his 1989 Pontiac, Victor in his maroon 1986 Jaguar XJ16, the windows up.

In his rear-view mirror, Louie saw a man walk up to his father's car as it backed up toward the street.

"I don't know if he bumped into the car," Louie told The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News in a recent interview.

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The man hit the driver's-side window with the object. His father honked the horn. Louie saw a flash from a sawed-off shotgun.

The gunman, wearing dark clothing and a hood, ran east up Glenwood Avenue, a steep hill, holding the weapon in both hands.

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CorduroyRoy said:

Is there anyone out there from Yonkers NY? Anyone who may know someone who lived on or near Ravine Avenue or Warburton Avenue?

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