1 - Michelle’s Last Day

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Girl in the Blue Mustang

Host: Keith Morrison (NBC News)
Episode 1: Michelle’s Last Day
Date: March 14, 2023

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Overview

The first episode of "The Girl in the Blue Mustang" sets the stage for a haunting murder mystery in California’s Antelope Valley. Keith Morrison meticulously reconstructs the events leading to the death of 18-year-old Michelle O’Keefe, found murdered in her new blue Mustang at a suburban park-and-ride. Through interviews with Michelle’s family, best friend, law enforcement, and the singular suspect—a security guard who may know too much—the episode paints a portrait of potential, tragedy, and the confounding early steps of a murder investigation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Crime Scene Discovery (01:04 – 04:24)

• Setting the Scene:
  Detective Billy Cox responds to a shots-fired report at the Palmdale park-and-ride on a cold February night in 2000.
  “It was a pitch black night in the high desert Antelope Valley…” – Keith Morrison (01:04)
• Discovery:
  Michelle is found dead in her blue Mustang—engine running, keys in ignition, headlights on, body slumped with her leg hanging out.
• Immediate Response:
  Deputy Cox calls in paramedics and realizes the situation is grave; homicide detectives are alerted, including Richard Longshore.

2. Introducing the Investigators (03:38 – 04:08)

• Detective Longshore’s Perspective:
  “You're waking up in the middle of the night. You're rolling out, you're thinking from the minute the phone rings as to what kind of scene it's going to be... That's the adrenaline rush. It’s a new case.” – Det. Richard Longshore (03:38)
• Reflections on the Work:
  Longshore hints at the emotional toll of homicide investigations:
  “There are cases that you will take home with you at night and that will last till the end of your life.” – Det. Longshore (04:08)

3. Michelle’s Life, Character & Ambitions (05:51 – 08:53)

• Family Memories:
  Michelle is described as driven, compassionate, and academically advanced—taking college classes from seventh grade, a cheerleader, involved in acting:
  “She was friends with all the different groups of people, not just cheerleaders.” – Pat O’Keefe, mother (07:14)
  “She had to get special permission from the principal... She was very, very smart.” – Pat O’Keefe (07:50)
• Relationship with Family:
  The O’Keefe family shares fond, emotional recollections of Michelle’s zest for life and future plans.
• Early Premonition:
  Michelle’s mother would often worry about her safety, and Michelle herself was cautious and aware.

4. Michelle’s Last Day: The Kid Rock Video Shoot (08:53 – 12:14)

• The Day’s Timeline:
  Michelle leaves early for a music video shoot in LA, accompanied by best friend Jennifer Peterson.

• Park-and-Ride Plan:
  Michelle parks her Mustang under a light for safety; Jennifer gives her a ride downtown (09:28).

• At the Shoot:
  “Kid Rock strode out on stage... Michelle and Jennifer were right in front, loving it and looking good.” – Keith Morrison (11:02)
  Michelle is described as stylish and prepared—even taking self-defense classes.
  “She thought that she could protect herself.” – Jennifer Peterson (12:01)

• Return to Palmdale:
  Jennifer drops Michelle at her car just after 9pm; Michelle is last seen alive, cheerful and chatting on the phone as Jennifer drives away (12:43).

5. Reconstructing the Murder (15:09 – 19:54)

• First Responders Arrive:
  Det. Longshore and his partner survey the scene; shell casings are found, Michelle shot at point blank, including wounds to face and neck (15:32).
• Examining Motives:
  Purse and cash were untouched; only her cell phone was missing—making robbery, carjacking or domestic dispute unlikely (17:32).
• Signs of Sexual Assault:
  Michelle’s clothing was disheveled, suggesting a likely sexual assault before her death.
  “Her blouse, her tube top had been dislodged, exposing portions of her breasts.” – Det. Longshore (19:03)

6. The Guard Who “Knew Too Much” – Raymond Jennings (15:57 – 31:30)

• Jennings’ Account of the Night:
  Jennings, a new unarmed security guard, claims to have taken cover after hearing shots and called for help, never seeing the shooter (16:31).
• Interviewing Jennings:
  His approach and demeanor strike detectives as oddly eager and helpful, almost as if auditioning to be a cop (27:25).
• Inconsistencies and Red Flags:
  • Jennings failed a polygraph test (30:12).
  • He describes intimate details about Michelle’s state, referencing her exposed breasts and speculating on motives (30:36).
  • “I thought she was a prostitute because of the way she was dressed.” – Raymond Jennings (31:07)
  • Investigators feel he volunteers knowledge only the killer would have and speculate about his reliability as a witness.

7. The Family’s Grief & Eerie Premonitions (21:57 – 26:50)

• Premonition Theme:
  Michelle's mother, Pat, felt something was wrong even 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.” – Pat O’Keefe (22:25)
• The Notification:
  Heartbreaking moment as the family is told Michelle is dead—the pain is palpable:
  “Nothing. Worse.” – Mike O’Keefe (23:31)
• Michelle’s Own Foreshadowing:
  • Shared wishes to be cremated:
    “I just had a feeling I'm not going to live much longer.” – Mike O’Keefe recounting Michelle’s words (25:41)
  • Noticing Mustang’s license plate ended in "187" (police code for homicide):
    “Dad, I don't want to put these on my car.” – Mike O’Keefe recounting Michelle (26:50)

8. Aftermath and Lingering Questions (29:06 – 32:42)

• Challenging the Witness:
  Police struggle with the fuzzy line between witness and potential perpetrator regarding Jennings’ handling of the event and subsequent interviews.
• Wider Ripple Effects:
  The murder set off a cascade of confessions and vigilante offers in the area.
  “I had guys come up to me that I’ve never seen before… just tell me when you want me to do it. And I said, no.” – Pat O’Keefe (31:59)
• Obsession with Justice:
  Family and detectives alike are haunted by the need to find answers—but the facts keep shifting.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Speaker | Quote/Description | Timestamp | |----------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------| | Keith Morrison | “It was a pitch black night in the high desert Antelope Valley…” | 01:04 | | Det. Longshore | "There are cases that... will last till the end of your life." | 04:08 | | Pat O’Keefe | "She was friends with all the different groups of people, not just cheerleaders." | 07:14 | | Jennifer Peterson | "She thought that she could protect herself." | 12:01 | | Det. Longshore | “Her blouse, her tube top had been dislodged…” | 19:03 | | Mike O’Keefe | "I just had a feeling I'm not going to live much longer." | 25:41 | | Mike O’Keefe | “Dad, that’s police code for homicide.” (regarding the “187” plate) | 26:59 | | Raymond Jennings | "I looked in the car, and I said, well, it couldn't be raped...well, at first I did think it was rape because her breasts were hanging out at the time." | 30:58 | | Det. Longshore | "The more Jennings talked, the more investigators began to wonder if the helpful security guard knew too much." | 31:30 | | Pat O’Keefe | "I had guys come up to me that I've never seen before...just tell me when you want me to do it. And I said no." | 31:59 | | Mike O’Keefe | “As long as there’s breath in my lungs, we aren't going to give up.” | 32:42 |

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Opening Scene & Discovery — 01:04 – 04:24
• Family Remembers Michelle — 05:51 – 08:53
• Day of the Kid Rock Shoot — 08:53 – 12:14
• Jennifer’s Last Goodbye — 12:43
• Crime Scene Details — 15:09 – 19:54
• Notification of Family — 22:07 – 24:49
• Michelle’s Premonitions — 25:13 – 26:50
• Investigating Raymond Jennings — 27:25 – 31:30
• Community & Investigation Fallout, Teaser for Season — 31:53 – 32:59

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Tone

The storytelling is haunting and compassionate, tinged with disbelief, loss, and the urgent need for justice. Keith Morrison’s narration is methodical and evocative—painting vivid scenes while respecting the emotional gravity of the case. The O’Keefe family’s comments, raw and unscripted, underline the pain and confusion following a senseless act of violence.

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Conclusion

Episode 1 of "The Girl in the Blue Mustang" lays a foundation of heartbreak and unresolved questions. It introduces listeners to Michelle’s vibrant yet tragically brief life, the psychological and forensic complexities facing law enforcement, and the unanswered questions swirling around Raymond Jennings, the witness whose knowledge may be far from innocent. As the investigation unfolds, each truth feels fragile, and listeners are beckoned into a mystery where every detail and every memory could mean everything.

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Listen on to discover how a viewer, distant from the investigation, may set the case—and the truth—on a radically different path.

Transcript

[Keith Morrison]

An all new season of the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is coming to Hulu and Hulu on Disney on March 12th.

[Pat O'Keefe]

Mom Talk has just been blowing up. Whitney and Jen are on Dancing with the Stars.

[Jennifer Peterson]

Taylor is a bachelorette.

[Keith Morrison]

Saying that out loud is crazy.

[Pat O'Keefe]

Like that is huge.

[Jennifer Peterson]

But all the cool opportunities could pull us apart.

[Pat O'Keefe]

It's causing issues in everyone's marriage.

[Keith Morrison]

My whole world is falling apart right now.

[Jennifer Peterson]

It's chaos.

[Keith Morrison]

Watch the Hulu original series the Secret Lives of Mormon wives March 12th. Coming to Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers.

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[Keith Morrison]

It was a pitch black night in the high desert Antelope Valley up the Grape Line 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. Winchell 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 and 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 from 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 pro's 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. Lot of confidence, certain amount of ego to work these cases. There 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.

[Pat O'Keefe]

I 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]

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. We're at Disneyland right now and it's

[Pat O'Keefe]

9:19pm

[Keith Morrison]

That's Michelle O'. Keeffe. 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 going to 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]

I think for an 18 year old, she was pretty well, pretty well steered in the right direction, you know, 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 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, Pat. 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]

She started college when she was in the seventh grade.

[Mike O'Keefe]

What?

[Keith Morrison]

Yeah, back up a little bit. She started college in seventh. What do you mean?

[Pat O'Keefe]

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]

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]

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

[Keith Morrison]

it as an extra.

[Mike O'Keefe]

As an extra.

[Pat O'Keefe]

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]

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]

She talked about, she said, got booked for a 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. Call me and let me know how your science project goes. And then 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. Hip and trendy, 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, Bawitaba. My Name is Kid. Michelle and Jennifer were right in front, loving it and looking good. Jennifer Again, about Michelle.

[Jennifer Peterson]

He was wearing a skirt right 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 Peterson]

Jennifer figured 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 up the highway toward Palmdale. Here's what her mom Pat heard later.

[Pat O'Keefe]

She called her professor on the way home, say she was running late. The class was from 7 to 10 when 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.

[Jennifer Peterson]

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.

[Willie Geist]

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[Keith Morrison]

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[Willie Geist]

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[Keith Morrison]

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[Willie Geist]

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[Kate Snow]

Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor, host of the podcast the Drink with Kate Snow. I sit down with all kinds of celebrities, musicians, athletes over a drink of their choice for candid conversations about how they made it there with actor, comedian, host Joel McHale. I could barely stop laughing. You know Joel from Community or the Soup, his new show, Animal Control. He asked for four bottles of Washington State wine for our interview. He has news about whether there's a Community movie coming. He tells the story of how he got one of his first big acting gigs by lying about his height. And you have to stay through the credits. He's so funny. We have behind the scenes bloopers and outtakes from our conversation. Hope you'll listen and follow the drink wherever you get your podcasts.

[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 optics, 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 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'd 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 atop the platter.

[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]

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 ride 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. There was 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]

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 rope turning.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

No. 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 company 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 so 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.

[Jennifer Peterson]

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[Willie Geist]

Hey, guys, Willie Geist here. We're celebrating 10 years of Sunday today by hosting a very special Sunday sit down live event and our guest is one of the biggest stars on the planet, Ryan Reynolds. We're taking our conversation to the stage in front of an audience of you for one night only at City Winery in New York on April 7th. An intimate, in person evening I promise you won't want to miss. Tickets are limited, so grab yours [e-mail] I'm Craig Melvin.

[Keith Morrison]

Cheers. Cheers.

[Jason O'Keefe]

Cheers.

[Keith Morrison]

I've always been a glass half full kind of guy, and now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way too. Some really fascinating folks who share their defining moments, their triumphs, their challenges. Their stories are funny and quite candid. So I hope you'll join me each week. And who knows, you might just come away with your own glass half full. Search Glass Half Full with Craig Melbourne From Today on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. The night of 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]

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.

[Mike O'Keefe]

And you knew something.

[Pat O'Keefe]

Yeah, I knew something had happened.

[Mike O'Keefe]

It was kind of ironic because I woke up and I noticed she was crying on the end of the bed. And I said, 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 night.

[Pat O'Keefe]

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]

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]

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 you know they're on the way? Nothing.

[Mike O'Keefe]

Nothing. Worse.

[Pat O'Keefe]

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]

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

[Pat O'Keefe]

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.

[Mike O'Keefe]

Yeah, your knees buckle, that one. Yeah, yeah. 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]

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]

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]

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

[Detective Richard Longshore]

Yeah.

[Keith Morrison]

Affected him as much as you guys.

[Mike O'Keefe]

Oh, 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]

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]

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]

She could always bet me that she's gonna die before a meal. I was 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]

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]

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]

It bothers me every day to know

[Pat O'Keefe]

that

[Raymond Jennings]

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]

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]

incident, when I started walking back, the car was rolling backwards, and as it was rolling, the fire was going on.

[Keith Morrison]

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.

[Mike O'Keefe]

Sure.

[Keith Morrison]

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]

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]

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 out and talking. 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]

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.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

And

[Raymond Jennings]

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 Blue Mustang.

[Detective Richard Longshore]

We had people confessing to it. Youngsters, teenagers, early 20s up the antelope Valley.

[Pat O'Keefe]

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.

[Keith Morrison]

Find it. Why don't you keep your smirk off your face? I know I will not. 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]

I was sitting at home and some force compelled me to go watch this episode of Dateline NBC.

[Raymond Jennings]

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

[Mike O'Keefe]

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 Gorfin 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. If you ever needed to be persuaded that bad things can happen anywhere, then take a journey with us. From compelling mysteries to in depth investigation, our Dateline episodes are available as podcasts. You can hear the latest stories every Tuesday.

[Kate Snow]

For more, follow Dateline NBC on Amazon Music or just ask Alexa. Play the podcast Dateline NBC on Amazon Music.

[Keith Morrison]

Great storytelling with a twist from the true crime original.