The Girl in the Blue Mustang - Ep. 1: Michelle's Last Day

Summary

Dateline NBC — The Girl in the Blue Mustang

Episode 1: Michelle’s Last Day

Date: February 16, 2026
Host: Keith Morrison

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Episode Overview

The first episode of this new Dateline series introduces the haunting case of Michelle O’Keefe, an ambitious 18-year-old whose life was cut short in a mysterious, violent incident in the high desert of California in 2000. Through family memories, frantic investigation, and the strange role of a security guard witness, this episode paints a vivid, emotional picture of Michelle’s final day and the events surrounding her murder. The tone is reflective, tense, and deeply empathetic, blending documentary reporting with the emotional journeys of the victim’s loved ones and investigators.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Discovery of the Crime Scene

• Setting: High desert, Antelope Valley, late night, February 2000.
• Details: Sheriff’s Deputy Billy Cox responds to a shots-fired call in a near-deserted commuter lot outside Palmdale. He discovers Michelle O’Keefe, dead behind the wheel of her still-running blue Mustang.
  • “It was a pitch black night in the high desert Antelope Valley up the Grapevine highway north of LA.” (Keith Morrison, 01:06)
  • “Her name was Michelle O’Keefe. Cox followed procedure, called for paramedics, though she was long past saving...” (Keith Morrison, 02:45)

2. Background: Michelle O’Keefe’s Life

• Family Memories: Michelle is portrayed as ambitious, bright, and beloved by her family.
  • “She was already on the dean’s list at Antelope Valley Community College... she did everything right.” (Keith Morrison, 06:24)
• Achievements:
  • Started college classes in seventh grade. (Pat O'Keefe, 07:51)
  • Extra work in Hollywood—Michelle was natural in front of the camera. (08:31)
• Personal Details: Kind to everyone, deeply bonded with her family, especially her mother Pat.
  • “Michelle had a great heart. She was nice to everybody... She always thought of other people first.” (Pat O'Keefe, 07:16)

3. Michelle’s Final Day: The Kid Rock Video Shoot

• Timeline:
  • Michelle drops her car off at the Park and Ride (to be safe under a light).
  • She and best friend Jennifer head to LA to appear as extras in a Kid Rock music video.
  • Both enjoy the shoot and drive back together, returning after dark.
    • “She talked about, she said got booked for Kid Rock video shoot today ... big day. And this one, this one was going to be good.” (Jason O’Keefe, 09:13)
    • “She called her professor on the way home saying she was running late.” (Pat O'Keefe, 12:24)
  • Jennifer is the last to see Michelle alive, watching her from the rearview mirror as Michelle returns to her own car. (12:52)
• Preparation for Safety:
  • “Michelle made sure it was under a parking light. That way her shiny new Mustang would be as safe as possible.” (Keith Morrison, 09:22)

4. Immediate Aftermath & Investigation

• Detective Richard Longshore Wakes Up to the Call:

  • “Actually, you look forward to it. That’s the adrenaline rush. It’s a new case.” (Detective Longshore, 03:39)
  • The crime is unusual—no clear motive, staged scene, no robbery or carjacking.
    • “Well, she had no boyfriends ... her purse was there containing over $100 ... only thing missing was her cell phone ... not logical that a person would just sit there because this Mustang is there and wait in freezing temperatures for ... hours and then not take the car.” (Detective Longshore, 17:20)

• Nature of the Crime:

  • Shot multiple times (chest, face, neck), blunt force trauma, evidence of possible sexual assault.
    • “Her blouse ... had been dislodged, exposing portions of her breasts.” (Detective Longshore, 18:51)
  • Forensic evidence points to some confrontation before death.

5. The Security Guard Witness: Raymond Jennings

• Details Provided:
  • Claims to have heard Mustang’s alarm, shots, and saw the car rolling, but did not witness the shooter.
    • “He said that he recognized that as being a Mustang alarm and ... heard a single gunshot. He took cover and ... saw the Mustang rolling backwards with additional shots being fired...” (Detective Longshore, 16:19)
• Behavior Under Scrutiny:
  • Did not rush to help; expresses regret for not seeing more.
    • “It bothers me every day to know that I didn’t see him ... I wish I did see something.” (Raymond Jennings, 27:52)
  • Provided detailed comments about state of Michelle’s clothing and theorized about what happened.
    • “I looked in the car and I said, well, it couldn’t be raped. ... at first I did think it was rape because her breasts were hanging out ... I thought she was a prostitute because of the way she was dressed.” (Raymond Jennings, 30:48)
  • Failed a polygraph test.
  • Investigators begin to wonder if Jennings knows too much—blurring line between witness and participant.
    • “The more Jennings talked, the more investigators began to wonder if the helpful security guard knew too much.” (Keith Morrison, 31:20)

6. The Family’s Grief and Premonitions

• Pat O’Keefe’s Premonition:
  • Couldn’t sleep the night of the murder; felt something was wrong before being notified.
    • “I don’t know if it was her spirit that just came over me or something. Just felt like she was gone because I already told Mike ... she’s dead. I just have a feeling.” (Pat O’Keefe, 22:15)
  • Family recounts devastating moment of notification and the impossible grief afterward.
    • “Nothing worse.” (Jason O'Keefe, 23:21)
• Strange Pre-Death Conversations:
  • Michelle expressed an uncanny sense of her own mortality, telling her father about brooding feelings and even referencing the number 187 (police code for homicide) on her license plate tags.
    • “That’s why when I die, I want to be cremated ... I just had a feeling I’m not going to live much longer.” (Mike O’Keefe, 25:31)
    • “Dad, that’s police code for homicide.” (Michelle to her father, 26:49)

7. Lingering Questions and Community Response

• Lack of Motive/Suspect: Investigators stymied.
• Community Impact: Family, friends, and community members devastated—offers of vigilante justice refused.
  • “I had guys come up to me that I’ve never seen before ... said, I’ll take care of it for you, just tell me when you want me to do it. And I said, no.” (Pat O’Keefe, 31:48)
• Ongoing Search for Justice:
  • “As long as there’s breath in my lungs, we aren’t going to give up.” (Mike O’Keefe, 32:32)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Adrenaline of Crime Solving:
  • “It takes a lot of confidence, a certain amount of ego to work these cases. They are cases that you will take home with you at night and that will last till the end of your life.”
    — Detective Richard Longshore (04:09)
• Mother’s Premonition:
  • “Just felt like she was gone because I already told Mike ... she’s dead. I just have a feeling.”
    — Pat O’Keefe (22:15)
• Brother’s Grief:
  • “Wildest dream. Could you imagine that? You know, about 20 hours before that I was, you know, working on a science project with her and now she’s gone. Until the day I get to heaven.”
    — Jason O’Keefe (24:25)
• Father’s Resolve:
  • “As long as there’s breath in my lungs, we aren’t going to give up.”
    — Mike O’Keefe (32:32)
• Security Guard’s Reflection:
  • “It bothers me every day to know that I didn’t see him ... I wish that I did see something.”
    — Raymond Jennings (27:52)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Crime scene discovery: 01:06–03:39
• Michelle’s early life & achievements: 06:24–09:07
• Kid Rock video shoot & last day: 09:13–12:52
• Description of crime & start of investigation: 14:57–17:30
• Early suspicions, forensic discoveries: 17:30–19:34
• Family’s night of the murder and aftermath: 21:13–25:21
• Michelle’s eerie premonitions: 25:21–26:59
• Investigator revisits security guard, cognitive interview: 27:15–31:20
• Season preview & family’s determination: 31:42–32:49

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Episode Tone & Style

With Keith Morrison’s signature narrative blend of empathy and suspense, the episode moves between investigative detail, emotional testimony, and the existential chills that define the best of true crime. The language remains conversational, respectful, and honest to the speakers’ voices. The tension between the unknown, the personal loss, and the search for justice holds listeners rapt.

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Summary prepared for listeners seeking a comprehensive yet engaging overview of Episode 1, “Michelle’s Last Day,” from the Dateline NBC series “The Girl in the Blue Mustang.”

Transcript

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[Keith Morrison]

It was a pitch black night in the high desert Antelope Valley up the Grapevine highway north of LA. It was late February. The year was 2000. Sheriff's Deputy Billy Cox stepped out of his patrol car and braced himself against a cold wind howling down from the San Gabriel Mountains. Windchill was in the low 30s, rain coming in. Hard to believe in just a few weeks a sea of blood red poppies would begin to bloom in the surrounding Mojave Desert. Cox was responding to a call of shots fired at the park and ride off Exit 5 on Highway 14 in Palmdale. It was 9:49pm the lot had about emptied out by the time he arrived. Daily commuters home safe in their beds. And then there he was, the caller. Security guard by the look of it, waving at him about a hundred yards away. Cox drove over there and rolled down his window. The guard seemed agitated, told him somebody had been shot. Looked bad over there. He pointed over in the west end of the lot. So then Cox cruised slowly through the darkened lot. And there it was. Something very wrong around that bright blue Mustang, all askew between the long rows of parking spaces. Cox slowly eased out of his squad car and approached the driver's side. Door was open, the window rolled down about 4 inches. A woman's left leg and bare foot were hanging out of the door. Weird angle. Dead still. The engine was running, keys in the ignition, headlights on. But she was dead. No doubt about that. Barely more than a kid by the look of her. Cox reached into the car, fished out what must have been her purse. Inside was a California driver's license. She was Young all right. 18 years old her name was Michelle O'. Keefe. Cox followed procedure, called for paramedics, though she was long past saving, also additional deputies. But it didn't take long to realize this was going to go way above his pay grade. LA County Homicide Detective Richard Longshore was sound asleep in two counties away when he got the call.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

You're waking up in the middle of the night, you're rolling out, you're thinking for the minute the phone rings as to what kind of scene it's going to be. Actually, you look forward to it. That's the adrenaline rush. It's a new case.

[Keith Morrison]

Longshore was A Pros Pro, 18 years at LA County Homicide. So sure, his adrenaline surged in that old familiar way as he roared up the 405. But what did he know? It wasn't going to be adrenaline that would crack this one.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

It takes a lot of. A lot of confidence, certain amount of ego to work these cases. They are cases that you will take home with you at night and that will last till the end of your life.

[Keith Morrison]

This is a story about a family, about a mother's premonition, about a. I.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

Don'T know if it was her spirit that just came over me or something. Just felt like she was gone.

[Keith Morrison]

It's a story about circumstantial evidence, as tricky to read as a mirage on the high desert. It's about accounts that might be fact and might be fiction and seem to shift like sand in a desert wind.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

It is funny how people react to different situations when there's trauma involved. You and I can look at the same thing and you can see something totally different than what I see.

[Keith Morrison]

Why was an innocent young woman shot to death in a guarded suburban parking lot? What happened to Michelle o' Keefe in her final moments? And who did it? In the hard world, where spirits do not roam, there would be no preparing for the wild gyrations to come. Things that were as true as can be, and then maybe not true at all. And then something else altogether. I'm Keith Morrison and this is the girl in the Blue Mustang. A podcast from Dateline Episode one, Michelle's Last Day.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

We're at Disneyland right now and it's 9:19.

[Keith Morrison]

That's Michelle O'. Keefe. It was New Year's Eve, 1999. Michelle and her family were about to greet the new millennium at the happiest place on earth. And she was especially lovely that night with her pale Irish skin and her luxurious head of black hair. Back home, Michelle had just unwrapped an early high school graduation Gift, a brand new blue Mustang. She loved that car, loved downshifting its V6 engine on the winding high desert roads near their home in Palmdale, 70 miles north of LA. And she was galloping ahead like the car's famous logo. She was gonna be a somebody. She was already on the dean's list at Antelope Valley Community College. It's like she did everything right.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

I think for an 18 year old she was pretty well, pretty well steered in the right direction. So she was very focused.

[Keith Morrison]

That's Michelle's proud dad, Mike o'. Keefe. Mike told me she'd been a cheerleader and not just in her high school squad either. Mike figured she cheered up the whole world around her.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

Michelle had a great heart. She was nice to everybody. People in school said that she was friends with all the different groups of people, not just cheerleaders. She was friends with everybody. She always thought of other people first. She was a great student, just a great person.

[Keith Morrison]

That's Michelle's mother, Patrick. The day I drove up to Palmdale to ask about her daughter, Pat's face lit up. Her dark eyes sparkled as we stood around in her kitchen. And she talked about the daughter who felt like a soulmate too.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

She started college when she was in the seventh grade.

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

What?

[Keith Morrison]

Yeah, back up a little bit. She started college in seventh grade.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

What do you mean?

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

She had to get special permission from the principal and we got the paperwork done and she started at the junior college in the seventh grade taking a math class and she finished her calculus. She was very, very smart.

[Keith Morrison]

Michelle was all set to get her associate's degree in the spring. At the tender age of 18. She had a couple of jobs. Receptionist at the beauty parlor where her mom was a manager. And because they lived only two hours from Hollywood, she also scored some walk on jobs in film and tv. Well, you could just put the camera.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

On me for a while.

[Keith Morrison]

That bit from a home movie was pure Michelle. She was a natural around a camera. How did she get into that stuff?

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

Actually it was Mike's sister who was into it. She lived in LA and she was in several movies. And so her, his sister got her into it.

[Keith Morrison]

As an extra.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

As an extra.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

But when she got into it, they wouldn't stop calling her.

[Keith Morrison]

On February 22nd, Michelle was up early. She padded down the hall and ran into her sleepy eyed 12 year old brother Jason.

[Jason O'Keefe (Michelle's brother)]

6:30, I woke up, she was getting ready to leave.

[Keith Morrison]

She was off. She said big day. And this one, this one was going to be good.

[Jason O'Keefe (Michelle's brother)]

She talked about, she said Got booked for Kid Rock video shoot today. Do you want to go? I was like, I don't think I can miss any more days of school. I've missed so much already because I've been head strep throat. And then she's like, oh well, I'm going to call me and let me know how your science project goes. And she left.

[Keith Morrison]

Michelle and her best friend Jennifer Peterson were both booked on the same shoot. And Michelle was hitching a ride in Jennifer's car to la. But then, since the ninth grade, they'd always done everything together. As usual, Michelle had everything planned down to the smallest detail. First, she was going to drop her car off close to the college campus. She'd be back from the shoot just in time for her evening English class. Jennifer followed Michelle as she turned right off Avenue S into the Palmdale park and Ride. As she pulled into a parking space, Michelle made sure it was under a parking light. That way her shiny new Mustang would be as safe as possible. And so was she when she returned after dark. Then Michelle jumped into Jennifer's family Ford Taurus station wagon and they hit the road. Michelle turned on her favorite radio station, Kiss FM, flew down Highway 14 out of the mountains to the City of Angels lying at their feet. The shoot location was in the heart of downtown la, the grand old Olympic Auditorium, where once upon a time, way back in the 1920s, they put on boxing matches. But today they'd be shooting a music video with none other than Kid Rock. How's everybody feeling today? The agent who'd booked them had two words for the kind of wardrobe she wanted them to wear for the shoot.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

Hip and trendy.

[Keith Morrison]

That's Michelle's best friend, Jennifer Peterson. Kid Rock strode out on stage and gripped his mic. It was the first take of one of his latest hits, Bowit Daba My Name is Kid. Michelle and Jennifer were right in front, loving it and looking good. Jennifer again, about Michelle.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

He was wearing a skirt in great above her knees with ruffles on the bottom and a blue tube top with a vinyl jacket over it.

[Keith Morrison]

The shoot went late, but before it wrapped, a crew member offered to walk Michelle and Jennifer to their car. They politely declined. It wasn't the first time they'd been hit on, and if they ever had to defend themselves, Michelle was ready anyway. More than ready, Jennifer figured.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

She was taking kickboxing classes and her self defense. And she thought that she could protect herself.

[Keith Morrison]

So happy and unscathed, they headed back back up the highway toward Palmdale. Here's what her mom Pat heard later.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

She called her professor on the way home saying she was running late. The class was from 7 to 10 and she was supposed to catch the last half hour of her class.

[Keith Morrison]

It was after nine by the time they turned into the Palmdale park and Ride, Michelle was on the phone calling into Kiss FM trying to win free concert tickets.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

When we got there, the lot was pretty empty, so we cut across the lot and I parked behind her car.

[Keith Morrison]

As she was pulling away, Jennifer looked in her rearview mirror and saw the Mustang's headlights flash on and Michelle begin to back up. No way of knowing that carefree trip was the last time she would ever see her friend alive. Foreign. This episode is brought to you by Progressive, where drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average. Quote [e-mail] to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings of $744 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering. With on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift and you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.

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[Keith Morrison]

It was just after midnight by the time Detective Richard Longshore and his partner Diane Harris arrived at the park and Ride. Michelle had already been dead three hours by then. TV cameras had already shown up. They gathered around Longshore.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

It appears that she has sustained some trauma. This is Opti's a homicide investigation.

[Keith Morrison]

What was her condition? What did she look like?

[Detective Richard Longshore]

There was several gunshots. We didn't know how many at that time she was leaned in her car with her head over to one side. She had one leg extended out of the car and there were several shell casings on the ground, expended projectiles. It took us several hours before we had a good idea of what had transpired.

[Keith Morrison]

Michelle had been shot point blank in the chest and three other times in the face and neck. Her wounds included blunt force trauma to her forehead. There was one witness, a security guard named Raymond Jennings who radioed shots fired to his supervisor hours earlier. He was new second night on the job. It was 1:20am when Longshore got around to talking to the guy. He was about freezing by that point. Been waiting around since. He heard a car alarm at 9:30.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

And he said that he recognized that as being a Mustang alarm and he heard the engine racing and he walked back towards his car, which is parked between the Mustang and himself and heard a single gunshot. He took cover and looked up beyond the car and saw the Mustang rolling backwards with additional shots being fired until it came to a rest at the top of the planter.

[Keith Morrison]

The guard said he was 100 yards away with his line of sight partially blocked by a van so he couldn't see the shooter. Then what? Did he rush down and see what happened?

[Detective Richard Longshore]

No, he didn't. He said he called for help and he expressed a fear that the shooter was still there and he was unarmed. He didn't have a firearm. It was an unarmed guard post.

[Keith Morrison]

Investigators worked the park and ride crime scene until sunrise but had very little to go on. By then. Bleary eyed commuters had started to arrive for the two hour slog to la. Not the sort of place you'd expect to find a random murder.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

No. And we looked at all the usual suspects, if you will, you know. Is this a domestic dispute or a lover's quarrel? Well, she had no boyfriends.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

Yeah.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

Was this a robbery? Well, her purse was there containing well over $100. The only thing missing was her cell phone and the purse was in plain view in her car. Was this a carjacking? Well, no one knew that she was coming from a video shoot. She'd parked the car there. She and her girlfriend about one in the afternoon had gone to Los Angeles and driven home. Got back to the parking lot about 9:30. But it's not logical that a person would just sit there because this Mustang is there and wait in freezing temperatures for 6, 7, 8, 9 hours and then not take the car. It doesn't fit.

[Keith Morrison]

Longshore was perplexed with no obvious motive, no enemies, no vices. She wasn't a Party girl. She was religious and whatever dangers lurked out there, Michelle's mother, Pat, said her daughter was ready for them.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

I used to always tell her to be careful, Michelle, because she was so pretty and guys might try to come onto her, try to make advances. And she said, well, don't worry, Mom. I won't let anybody take me away. I'd rather die than be raped.

[Keith Morrison]

At the crime scene, there were forensic signs of a confrontation of some kind. Before Michelle was killed, Was there a sexual assault?

[Detective Richard Longshore]

That is what we finally determined probably occurred. Her blouse, her tube top had been dislodged, exposing portions of her breasts.

[Keith Morrison]

It wasn't just the EMT guys who were. No.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

We were able to determine based on talking to them that in the condition that she actually was presented when they arrived, Mr. Jennings in his statements indicated that he saw exposed breasts and that type of thing. And we found out from the Ford Motor Company engineer that Michelle's car was not equipped with the kind of door locks that when you drive a distance, they automatically lock. You had to do it manually.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

So.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

The door was open to anybody that wanted to open it.

[Keith Morrison]

So all of these things were what you managed to uncover in the first few days?

[Detective Richard Longshore]

Yes, sir.

[Keith Morrison]

But still had no suspect?

[Detective Richard Longshore]

That's correct.

[Keith Morrison]

Still, something about that security guard seemed just curious.

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[Keith Morrison]

The exit, turn right into the drive thru. Nope. I'm making dinner tonight.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

You don't have time.

[Keith Morrison]

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[Keith Morrison]

By staying comfortably warm or cool, the pod helps you sleep deeper and wake up feeling more rested. Every morning you get daily health insights and a sleep fitness score. Get up to $350 off with code DEEP [e-mail]. Tonight at the Kid Rock shoot in la, Pat o' Keefe went to bed nervous. She was lying next to her husband Mike, tossing and turning, worrying about Michelle.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

Well, I knew sometimes those video shoots ran late. And I tried to call her a couple times and she didn't answer. I figured she probably took her phone off. And you knew something had happened. Yeah, I knew something had happened.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

It was kind of ironic because I woke up and I noticed she was crying on the end of the bed. And I said, what the heck's wrong? And she goes, I know something's happened to Michelle. I just know.

[Keith Morrison]

Yeah, you had some kind of premonition that. That night.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

I don't know if it was her spirit that just came over me or something. Just felt like she was gone because I already told Mike she's. She's dead. I just have a feeling.

[Keith Morrison]

It was 3am when their phone broke. The silence followed by a knock at the door and the rotating amber light of an emergency vehicle raking their dark living room wall.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

There's been an accident. And I go, oh, my gosh. I go, I was Michelle in a wreck. And they go, well, not exactly. There's been a. She's been shot. And of course, you know, chills went down my spine. I go, well, then she's alive. And he goes, well, no. And that just really. When I heard those words, it just, really just took all the feeling out of me.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

Basically, just three sheriffs don't show up to your door for nothing.

[Keith Morrison]

I'm not trying to poke you with sharp sticks or anything, but is there any way to understand, for people to understand what that feeling is like when.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

You know they're on the way?

[Jason O'Keefe (Michelle's brother)]

Nothing worse.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

Nothing worse.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

It seemed real. But then it didn't seem. Kind of seemed like a dream. Like it just didn't seem right.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

Sort of lost all the feeling in my body when they told me we'll.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

Never, ever get to see her get married. You know, we'll never get to see her have her grandkids.

[Keith Morrison]

You kind of want to spin back the clock, but can't. Does that. Yeah, your knees buckle. That one.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

Yeah.

[Jason O'Keefe (Michelle's brother)]

Yeah.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

I just. As a matter of fact, I think I had to sit back. We were near the stairway and I just got to lean back and had to sit down on the Steps and get my breath. And then I look up at the top of the stairway. Our son's 12 year old son's there and he knows something's wrong, so he comes down and we have to tell him. And that was just really horrible.

[Jason O'Keefe (Michelle's brother)]

I saw both my parents in tears, and even the sheriff's deputies were kind of in tears. And that's when they had told me what exactly had happened.

[Keith Morrison]

That's Michelle's brother, Jason. There's no way to prepare yourself for news like that.

[Jason O'Keefe (Michelle's brother)]

No, never. Wildest dream. Could you imagine that? You know, about 20 hours before that I was, you know, working on a science project with her and now she's gone. Until the day I get to heaven.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

To see the look of his face, you know, and finally we lost his sister was just really bad.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Keith Morrison]

Affected him as much as you guys.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

Oh, my gosh. Affected him the rest of his life.

[Keith Morrison]

In the days after Michelle o' Keeffe's murder, her parents tried to pick up the pieces, but it was impossible.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

I tried to go back to work and I couldn't because I saw an empty. She was my receptionist at the beauty salon. I was the manager, and I'd always see an empty chair there. And I was so used to seeing cheerful Michelle. And I'd be cutting hair and then tears would be rolling down my eyes. I was like, I can't do this. I can't do this.

[Keith Morrison]

Michelle's dad, Mike, was haunted by something else. A strange premonition Michelle shared in the months before her murder.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

Everything was really going pretty well for us as a family, you know? And I remember it was one night, we're watching a movie and showed this guy in a coffin and couldn't get out. And she said, she goes, you know, dad, that's why when I die, I want to be cremated. And it just sort of struck me odd, you know, I said, why would you even make a statement like that? And I go, why would you say such a thing? And she goes, you know, I just had a feeling I'm not going to live much longer. And I asked her, I go, has somebody been bothering you or is there some reason? She goes, no, I just had this feeling I'm not going to live much longer. I've just had the strange feeling for a while.

[Keith Morrison]

Michelle even shared her fear with her younger brother.

[Jason O'Keefe (Michelle's brother)]

She could always bet me that she's gonna die before a meal. It's like, well, how are we gonna pay each other? She goes, once we get to heaven, we'll give each other the money. You know, we just kind of joked around about it.

[Keith Morrison]

And then a few weeks before the Kid Rock shoot, something that sent chills down Michael Keefe's spine. Michelle was in the kitchen opening the mail when she came across a package from the California dmv.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

She got the tags for her Mustang, and she came to me, and the last three digits on the. On the license plate were 187. And she goes, dad, I don't want to put these on my car.

[Keith Morrison]

187.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

And I said, I didn't know what 187 was. I go, what's 187? She goes, dad, that's police code for homicide.

[Keith Morrison]

In the early days of the investigation, detectives, of course, had a lot of questions about what happened at the park and Ride. So they went back to the only witness they had, security guard Raymond Jennings. What sort of image did he have? What kind of presentation?

[Detective Richard Longshore]

He's very cordial. He had a southern accent that came and went. He just moved to California from North Carolina. Very polite, very cordial. In every single encounter I had with him.

[Keith Morrison]

Jennings told Detective Longshore that when he heard those gunshots, he took cover behind his own car until his supervisor got there. And then, reluctantly, he went down with her to get a closer look. He said that was about 9:45, a few minutes before the first responders arrived. Later, Jennings told Longshore he felt bad that he didn't see more.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

It bothers me every day to know.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

That.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

I didn't see him. I know it sounds funny or ridiculous, but it bothers me every day. And I did not see anything. And I wish that I did see something, that I had some kind of information to relay to you guys.

[Keith Morrison]

Memory is a mysterious and not always reliable process, storing bits and pieces of information in the brain.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

I went, sat back down in the.

[Keith Morrison]

Car, then retrieving them, and I just kept going to do it in my head, crystal clear. Apparently in the moments immediately after an.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

Incident, when I started walking back, the car was rolling backwards. And as it was rolling, the fire.

[Keith Morrison]

Was going on and increasingly unpredictable as time goes on. That's why investigators decided on a special type of questioning technique for Jennings called a cognitive interview. Recalling what he had seen or done earlier that day might help him remember things, missing details.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

If you were to lose your car keys, as we all have done, just trying to think back, okay, where could they be? You come up with a blank. But if you can put together what you did for the hours before that, all of a sudden it may come to you.

[Keith Morrison]

Sure, you just Take it step by step by step. Jennings looked relaxed in a sleeveless T shirt and comfortable shorts, like he was chatting with a good friend instead of with Detective Diane Harris about a gruesome murder. Without skipping a beat, Jennings began describing Michelle's last seconds alive.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

It looked like she was still twitching, and that probably could have been. And she did that because her neck was so cocked over. And then I was in my first. That was my first reaction. I tried to pull her out and perform first aid on her.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

When I asked him about why you didn't render first aid, because he told us that she was still alive. He saw body movement, this type of thing. Well, that was a crime scene. I didn't want any part of that. I said, what's more important, saving a life or a crime scene? Well, saving a life. You didn't do anything, did you? No. And he's trained. He was a National Guardsman. He had that type of training.

[Keith Morrison]

It was all very odd. They gave him a polygraph just to test his truthfulness, and then the polygrapher said he failed it. And yet he remained enthusiastic, as if he was not just cooperating, like he was trying to prove he could be more than a security guard. Maybe he could be a sheriff's deputy. Anyway, he kept talking.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

So I was thinking that she got shot in the chest and was trying. And was trying to get out of there and talking. When she put the car in reverse and was backing up, that's when the rest of the shots fired.

[Keith Morrison]

Out and talking.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

That's high speculation.

[Keith Morrison]

Then Detective Harris asked Jennings about the state of Michelle's clothing the night she was killed.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

I looked in the car and I said, well, it couldn't be raped. And then I thought it. Well, at first I did think it was rape because her breasts were hanging out at the time.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

And.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

That was just puzzling. I'm like, why is her breast hanging out? And I thought she was a prostitute because of the way she was dressed and then found out she was in a Kid Rock extra, you know, extra in the Kid Rock video. So that explains why she was dressed.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

I said, ray, we're talking about a dead 18 year old. He said, well, that's right. I apologize if I offended you. Yeah, it's just a strange, strange individual.

[Keith Morrison]

There's a fine line between witness and participant. The more Jennings talked, the more investigators began to wonder if the helpful security guard knew too much. This season on the Girl in the.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

Blue Mustang, we had people confessing to it. Youngsters, teenagers, early 20s, up the antelope.

[Pat O'Keefe (Michelle's mother)]

Valley I had guys come up to me that I've never seen before that you wouldn't want to meet in dark Alley that said, I'll take care of it for me, just tell me when you want me to do it. And I said, no.

[Keith Morrison]

I said, it's there.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

I kept telling myself, it's in the video. You're an investigator. Find it.

[Keith Morrison]

Why don't you keep your smirk off your face?

[Detective Richard Longshore]

I know I will not.

[Keith Morrison]

I never take juries for granted. It comes back to the old adage, you know what you say, but you don't know what they hear.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

I was sitting at home and some force compelled me to go watch this.

[Keith Morrison]

Episode of Dateline NBC.

[Raymond Jennings (Security Guard)]

It's had a huge ripple in effect. People's lives have been changed forever.

[Mike O'Keefe (Michelle's father)]

You know, as long as there's breath in my lungs, we aren't going to give up.

[Keith Morrison]

The Girl in the Blue Mustang is a production of Dateline and NBC News. Scott Fraser is a producer. Brian Drew, David Varga and John Coster are audio editors. Thomas Kemen is assistant audio editor. Keani Reed is associate producer. Adam Gorfayne is co executive producer. Liz Cole is executive producer and David Corvo is senior executive producer. From NBC News Audio. Bryson Barnes is technical director. Sound mixing by Bob Mallory. Nina Bisbano is associate producer.

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