CA - Linda Anne O’Keefe, 11, strangled, Newport Beach, 6 Jul 1973 *ARREST in 2019*

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Monday, March 4th:
*Appearance of Counsel Hearing (@ 8:30am MT) – CO / CA – Linda Anne O’Keefe (11) (July 6, 1973, Newport Beach, found strangled) - *James Alan Neal (72/27 @ time of crime) arrested (2/18/19 in Monument, CO) & charged (2/19/19) with special-circumstances murder (because of enhancements for allegedly kidnapping & lewd acts), kidnapping during the commission of a murder & willful premeditated lewd & lascivious act upon a child under 14. Held in El Paso jail without bond. El Paso County, CO. #D212019CR1092 (murder charges) / Orange County, CA. #D212019CR1028
DNA match thru genealogy website Family Tree DNA; Parabon Snapshot produced (2018). (akas: James Allen George Layton (name used in his 20s), James Albert Layton, Allen George Gilstrap & James Albert).
2/19/19 First appearance hearing on Case #D212019CR1092. Next Return Filing of Charges on 2/28. Judge Deborah Grohs scheduled a hearing Thursday (2/28) where Neal could disclose if he will fight efforts to send him to California to face murder allegations. Next hearing on Case #D212019CR1028 is First appearance on 2/27.
2/27/19 Update: Case# CR1028 next hearing Appearance of Counsel on 3/4/19. He waived his right to a hearing, avoiding a potential fight on heading back to California to face charges. All future court proceedings will take place in California where the murder charge was filed. Should California authorities not arrange for his transportation back to the golden state, he has a hearing scheduled in El Paso County court on March 14 at 9 a.m.
 
Niner said:
Date Len Name Hearing Type Case # Location Division
4/9/19
1:30 PM 1H NEAL, JAMES Show Cause Hearing D212019CR1028 El Paso County DIV 1-ROOM S405 (South Tower)

link: Seventh Judicial District » Docket Search

looks the 3/14 hearing is no longer on the court site.
Click to expand...
Perhaps they are in the process of moving him to California?
 
Niner said:
Suspect in Linda O’Keefe cold-case homicide described as habitual criminal, emotionally disturbed – Orange County Register

Interesting article.
Click to expand...
Wow, it sure is. Thank you! Some excerpts:

OCR-L-NEALRECORD-0310-02-1.jpg

Booking mugs of James Neal, from 1969 to 2019. (Register file photo, Newport Beach PD)

Seven years before James Alan Neal allegedly kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled 11-year-old Linda Ann O’Keefe in Newport Beach, he sat in an Orange County jail cell lamenting his miserable life and long rap sheet.

“I want to make up for all the hurt I have caused myself and my parents, especially my mother,” Neal, who was 19 at the time and went by James Albert Layton Jr., told Orange County probation officer David R. McMillan in 1966 while awaiting sentencing for a burglary conviction.

[...]

A chaotic childhood
Neal told McMillan he was the second of three children, never got along with his siblings, rebelled against his parents and was an “emotionally disturbed child.” “All my life up to this day has been going in circles,” Neal said.

A native of Chicago, Neal began getting into trouble soon after he moved with his family to Anaheim in 1956. Two years later, he began burglarizing homes for fun, according to McMillan. “He feels he has always been picked on and never given a chance to better himself or be equal to others,” Neal wrote in the report. “He was always getting into fights and was always afraid to tell anyone ‘how I really felt.’ “

[...]

A lengthy rap sheet
Neal was arrested for burglaries in August and October 1959 and was committed to the California Youth Authority in December 1960. He was paroled in July 1961 but returned to the Youth Authority in October 1962.

Then, after he was paroled again in August 1963, he was arrested a year later for burglary and sentenced to nine months in the Orange County jail. Finally, in September 1965, he was arrested for yet another burglary but the charge was reduced to petty theft and ultimately dismissed.

[...]

Locked up in Colorado
It wasn’t long before Neal was in trouble again.

In August 1969, he was convicted of fraud in Denver and sentenced to three to 10 year at Colorado’s Territorial Correctional Facility. Neal appears gaunt and stoic in a black-and white prison photo. He was released from the penitentiary in July 1971.

[...]


James Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colo., and charged with murder with special circumstances in the death of Linda O’Keefe, who was found strangled in 1973, a case that has long shaken the seaside community of Newport Beach, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. (Courtesy of Newport Beach Police Department)

[...]

After the slaying, Neal moved to Florida, where some sort of incident prompted him to change his name from James Albert Layton to James Alan Neal, authorities have said, declining to give specifics.

Records reveal Neal was arrested on Sept. 9, 1973, in Marion County, Florida, on a fraud charge for writing a bad check and unauthorized use of a vehicle. It was not clear from records if he was convicted for those offenses.

Then, in 1974, he was sent back to prison in Colorado for a parole violation and released three years later.

Neal then moved back to California, where he lived until 2014 at six addresses in Riverside, Hemet and Winchester, public records show.

His last address was in San Jacinto, where his home on East Evans Street was just a few blocks away from North Mountain Middle School and Jose Antonio Estudillo Elementary.

[...]


Several members of James Alan Neal’s family leave El Paso County’s Terry R. Harris Judicial Complex on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Dougal Brownlie/The Gazette via AP)

[...]

Then in January, CeCe Moore of San Clemente, who heads Parabon’s genetic genealogy unit matched DNA evidence gathered in the O’Keefe investigation to a sample provided to genealogy website FamilyTreeDNA.com leading authorities to identify Neal, now 72, as a suspect. He was arrested in Colorado Springs on Feb. 19.
 
Suspect in 1973 killing of Linda O’Keefe is extradited to O.C. to face murder charges

MAR 12, 2019

"A Colorado man charged with sexually assaulting and killing an 11-year-old girl in Newport Beach in 1973 has been extradited and is due to be arraigned in an Orange County courtroom Wednesday, authorities said.

James Alan Neal, 72, was booked into Orange County Jail about 10:20 p.m. Monday. He was arrested in Colorado Springs on Feb. 19 in connection with the strangulation death of Linda Ann O’Keefe, who lived in Corona del Mar....

Neal is been charged with murder with a special circumstances allegation of kidnapping and lewd acts on a child.

Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said Neal could potentially face a death sentence if convicted, although there is some question about whether capital punishment could be applied in the case given the date of the killing and the laws that were on the books at the time...."

Suspect in 1973 killing of Linda O’Keefe is extradited to O.C. to face murder charges
 
Wednesday, March 13th:
*Arraignment Hearing (@ am MT) – CA – Linda Anne O’Keefe (11) (July 6, 1973, Newport Beach, found strangled) - *James Alan Neal (72/27 @ time of crime) arrested (2/18/19 in Monument, CO) & charged (2/19/19) with special-circumstances murder (because of enhancements for allegedly kidnapping & lewd acts), kidnapping during the commission of a murder & willful premeditated lewd & lascivious act upon a child under 14. Held in El Paso jail without bond. Extradited (3/11/19) back to California.
DNA match thru genealogy website Family Tree DNA; Parabon Snapshot produced (2018). (akas: James Allen George Layton (name used in his 20s), James Albert Layton, Allen George Gilstrap & James Albert).
2/19/19 First appearance hearing on Case #D212019CR1092. Next Return Filing of Charges on 2/28. Judge Deborah Grohs scheduled a hearing Thursday (2/28) where Neal could disclose if he will fight efforts to send him to California to face murder allegations. Next hearing on Case #D212019CR1028 is First appearance on 2/27.
2/27/19 Update: Case# CR1028 next hearing Appearance of Counsel on 3/4/19. He waived his right to a hearing, avoiding a potential fight on heading back to California to face charges. All future court proceedings will take place in California where the murder charge was filed. Should California authorities not arrange for his transportation back to California, he has a hearing scheduled in El Paso County court on March 14.
3/4/19 Update: Next is “Show Cause” hearing on 4/9. Hearing on 3/14 & 4/9/19 have been vacated.
3/11/19 Update: Extradition to California from Colorado. Next Arraignment hearing in Orange County on 3/13.

 
PommyMommy said:
[...]

In August 1969, he was convicted of fraud in Denver and sentenced to three to 10 year at Colorado’s Territorial Correctional Facility. Neal appears gaunt and stoic in a black-and white prison photo. He was released from the penitentiary in July 1971.

Records reveal Neal was arrested on Sept. 9, 1973, in Marion County, Florida, on a fraud charge for writing a bad check and unauthorized use of a vehicle. It was not clear from records if he was convicted for those offenses.

Then, in 1974, he was sent back to prison in Colorado for a parole violation and released three years later.
.
Click to expand...

I wonder if his rap sheet ended in 1974, or if that's all that has been uncovered so far. It's odd that he appears to have ended his criminal lifestyle. It was too early for DNA evidence at the time of the murder, but had he continued with his life of crime, perhaps his DNA would eventually have been collected and a match made sooner. Will we find out that his DNA was stored in an archive and just never entered into CODIS?
 
Man charged with 1973 murder of Newport beach’s Linda O’Keefe, 11, faces new Riverside County charges
Prosecutors announced additional charges filed against Neal, a long-time Southern California resident

March 13, 2019

"....Prosecutors announced additional charges filed against Neal, a long-time Southern California resident, for two other alleged sexual assaults they say occurred in Riverside County. One victim was assaulted sometime from 1995 to 2000, prosecutors contend, and the other sometime in 2002-04.

Dressed in a jailhouse jumpsuit, 72-year-old James Alan Neal looked slowly across the small courtroom in the Central Jail Complex in Santa Ana, simply answering, “Yes, sir” when asked by a judge if he accepted the appointment of a public defender.

Neal was taken into custody last month in connection to the killing decades ago of Linda Ann O’Keefe, a long-awaited arrest authorities say was made possible through advances in DNA technology.

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Neal is facing one felony count of murder while engaged in the commission or attempted commission of the performance of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 15.

He is also now facing five additional counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14, the DA’s Office announced on Wednesday morning.

It wasn’t clear when the alleged lewd acts against the other two victims occurred.

The court records in the case remained sealed, and the criminal complaint was not available.

Neal, who was transported to Orange County this week after opting not to fight his extradition to California following his arrest in Colorado, did not enter a plea. He is being held without bond, with a bail review hearing set for March 29....."

Man charged with 1973 murder of Newport beach’s Linda O’Keefe, 11, faces new Riverside County charges – Orange County Register
 
YESorNO said:
Man charged with 1973 murder of Newport beach’s Linda O’Keefe, 11, faces new Riverside County charges
Prosecutors announced additional charges filed against Neal, a long-time Southern California resident

March 13, 2019

"....Prosecutors announced additional charges filed against Neal, a long-time Southern California resident, for two other alleged sexual assaults they say occurred in Riverside County. One victim was assaulted sometime from 1995 to 2000, prosecutors contend, and the other sometime in 2002-04.

Dressed in a jailhouse jumpsuit, 72-year-old James Alan Neal looked slowly across the small courtroom in the Central Jail Complex in Santa Ana, simply answering, “Yes, sir” when asked by a judge if he accepted the appointment of a public defender.

Neal was taken into custody last month in connection to the killing decades ago of Linda Ann O’Keefe, a long-awaited arrest authorities say was made possible through advances in DNA technology.

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Neal is facing one felony count of murder while engaged in the commission or attempted commission of the performance of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 15.

He is also now facing five additional counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14, the DA’s Office announced on Wednesday morning.

It wasn’t clear when the alleged lewd acts against the other two victims occurred.

The court records in the case remained sealed, and the criminal complaint was not available.

Neal, who was transported to Orange County this week after opting not to fight his extradition to California following his arrest in Colorado, did not enter a plea. He is being held without bond, with a bail review hearing set for March 29....."

Man charged with 1973 murder of Newport beach’s Linda O’Keefe, 11, faces new Riverside County charges – Orange County Register
Click to expand...
I am sure he has left a long trail of victims in his wake over the past 40 years
 
YESorNO said:
Man charged with 1973 murder of Newport beach’s Linda O’Keefe, 11, faces new Riverside County charges
Prosecutors announced additional charges filed against Neal, a long-time Southern California resident

March 13, 2019

"....Prosecutors announced additional charges filed against Neal, a long-time Southern California resident, for two other alleged sexual assaults they say occurred in Riverside County. One victim was assaulted sometime from 1995 to 2000, prosecutors contend, and the other sometime in 2002-04.

Dressed in a jailhouse jumpsuit, 72-year-old James Alan Neal looked slowly across the small courtroom in the Central Jail Complex in Santa Ana, simply answering, “Yes, sir” when asked by a judge if he accepted the appointment of a public defender.

Neal was taken into custody last month in connection to the killing decades ago of Linda Ann O’Keefe, a long-awaited arrest authorities say was made possible through advances in DNA technology.

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Neal is facing one felony count of murder while engaged in the commission or attempted commission of the performance of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 15.

He is also now facing five additional counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14, the DA’s Office announced on Wednesday morning.

It wasn’t clear when the alleged lewd acts against the other two victims occurred.

The court records in the case remained sealed, and the criminal complaint was not available.

Neal, who was transported to Orange County this week after opting not to fight his extradition to California following his arrest in Colorado, did not enter a plea. He is being held without bond, with a bail review hearing set for March 29....."

Man charged with 1973 murder of Newport beach’s Linda O’Keefe, 11, faces new Riverside County charges – Orange County Register
Click to expand...

Very sad that he was still active as recently as 2004, probably more recently than that. I'm so glad they caught him. It's a good example of how using DNA to catch these killers actually can stop criminals who are still victimizing innocent people. These vermin are sometimes still active and need to be stopped.
 
Friday, March 29th:
*Review Hearing (Bail) (@ am MT) – CA – Linda Anne O’Keefe (11) (July 6, 1973, Newport Beach, found strangled) - *James Alan Neal (72/27 @ time of crime) arrested (2/18/19 in Monument, CO), charged (2/19/19) & arraigned (3/13/19) with special-circumstances murder (because of enhancements for allegedly kidnapping & lewd acts), kidnapping during the commission of a murder & willful premeditated lewd & lascivious act upon a child under 14. Charged & arraigned (3/13/19) with 5 counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14 (re 2 sexual assaults in Riverside County between 1995-2000 & 2002-2004. Held in El Paso jail without bond. Extradited (3/11/19) back to California. Held without bond.
DNA match thru genealogy website Family Tree DNA; Parabon Snapshot produced (2018). (akas: James Allen George Layton (name used in his 20s), James Albert Layton, Allen George Gilstrap & James Albert).
2/19/19 First appearance hearing on Case #D212019CR1092. Next Return Filing of Charges on 2/28. Judge Deborah Grohs scheduled a hearing Thursday (2/28) where Neal could disclose if he will fight efforts to send him to California to face murder allegations. Next hearing on Case #D212019CR1028 is First appearance on 2/27.
2/27/19 Update: Case# CR1028 next hearing Appearance of Counsel on 3/4/19. He waived his right to a hearing, avoiding a potential fight on heading back to California to face charges. All future court proceedings will take place in California where the murder charge was filed. Should California authorities not arrange for his transportation back to California, he has a hearing scheduled in El Paso County court on March 14.
3/4/19 Update: Next is “Show Cause” hearing on 4/9. Hearings on 3/14 & 4/9/19 have been vacated.
3/11/19 Update: Extradition to California from Colorado. Next Arraignment in Orange County on 3/13.
3/13/19 Update: Prosecutors announced 5 additional charges filed against Neal, for two other alleged sexual assaults they say occurred in Riverside County. One victim was assaulted sometime from 1995 to 2000, prosecutors contend, and the other sometime in 2002-04. The 5 additional counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14. He did not enter a plea. He is being held without bond, with a bail review hearing set for March 29.
 
Man Pleads Not Guilty to 1973 Sex Assault, Killing of 11-Year-Old and Sex Crimes Against Riverside County Girls (with clip)

MARCH 29, 2019

"The man accused of sexually assaulting and killing an 11-year-old girl in Newport Beach over 40 years ago, as well as more recent sex crimes against two Riverside County girls, denied the charges on Friday, officials said.

James Alan Neal, 72, pleaded not guilty to one count of murder while committing lewd acts on a child in the death of Linda Ann O'Keefe and five counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 in the late '90s and early 2000s, Orange County Superior Court staff told KTLA....

According to a criminal complaint filed March 13, the charges involve two Jane Does who were assaulted between 1995 and 2004.

Neal scheduled to return to court June 14...."

Man Pleads Not Guilty to 1973 Sex Assault, Killing of 11-Year-Old and Sex Crimes Against Riverside County Girls
 
How a relative's at-home DNA test led the hunt for a California killer to a quiet Colorado street (with clip)
James Albert Layton Jr. spent time in prison in Colorado in the 60s & 70s. Now he's accused of killing an 11-year-old girl while on parole.

April 30, 2019

How a relative's at-home DNA test led the hunt for a California killer to a quiet Colorado street

b62f6ad0-3217-4a6f-b0b9-d0ce3f879738_750x422.jpg

(A sketch of the suspect in the murder of Linda Ann O'Keefe. An arrest wasn't made in her 1973 murder until 2019./Newport Beach Police)

a5b345d5-e40b-490d-9994-d1aa1c68d117_750x422.jpg

(A photo taken of James Neal while he was in custody in the Colorado Department of Corrections./Courtesy Colorado Department of Corrections)
 
YESorNO said:
How a relative's at-home DNA test led the hunt for a California killer to a quiet Colorado street (with clip)
James Albert Layton Jr. spent time in prison in Colorado in the 60s & 70s. Now he's accused of killing an 11-year-old girl while on parole.

April 30, 2019

How a relative's at-home DNA test led the hunt for a California killer to a quiet Colorado street

b62f6ad0-3217-4a6f-b0b9-d0ce3f879738_750x422.jpg

(A sketch of the suspect in the murder of Linda Ann O'Keefe. An arrest wasn't made in her 1973 murder until 2019./Newport Beach Police)

a5b345d5-e40b-490d-9994-d1aa1c68d117_750x422.jpg

(A photo taken of James Neal while he was in custody in the Colorado Department of Corrections./Courtesy Colorado Department of Corrections)
Click to expand...

A very good in-depth article. The sketch from the witness description was amazingly accurate. A very creepy looking guy in that photo!

Interesting to find out he was imprisoned more times than was first reported. He even moved to Canada at some point. I'm so glad he was finally caught, but sad that it took so long.
 
Friday, June 14th:
*Pretrial Hearing (@ am MT) – CA – Linda Anne O’Keefe (11) (July 6, 1973, Newport Beach, found strangled) - *James Alan Neal (72/27 @ time of crime) arrested (2/18/19 in Monument, CO), charged (2/19/19) & arraigned (3/13/19) with special-circumstances murder (because of enhancements for allegedly kidnapping & lewd acts), kidnapping during the commission of a murder & willful premeditated lewd & lascivious act upon a child under 14. Charged & arraigned (3/13/19) with 5 counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14 (re 2 sexual assaults in Riverside County between 1995-2000 & 2002-2004. Held in El Paso jail without bond. Extradited (3/11/19) back to California. Plead not guilty to all counts (3/29/19). Held without bond.
DNA match thru genealogy website Family Tree DNA; Parabon Snapshot produced (2018). (akas: James Allen George Layton (name used in his 20s), James Albert Layton, Allen George Gilstrap & James Albert).
Court hearings from 2/19/19 thru 3/13/19 reference post #133 here:
SOLVED - CA - Linda Anne O’Keefe, 11, strangled, Newport Beach, 6 Jul 1973 *ARREST in 2019*
3/13/19 Update: Prosecutors announced 5 additional charges filed against Neal, for two other alleged sexual assaults they say occurred in Riverside County. One victim was assaulted sometime from 1995 to 2000, prosecutors contend, and the other sometime in 2002-04. The 5 additional counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14. He did not enter a plea. He is being held without bond, with a bail review hearing set for March 29.
3/29/19 Update: Plead not guilty to one count of murder while committing lewd acts on a child in the death of Linda Ann O'Keefe & five counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 in the late '90s & early 2000s. Next hearing is on 6/14.
 
@YESorNO - you seem to find the articles on this case - anything from yesterday's hearing yet? Since I can't access the Orange County court site....

TIA! :)
 
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