3 - Like a Voice from the Grave

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Girl in the Blue Mustang

Episode 3 – “Like a Voice from the Grave”

Podcast: The Girl in the Blue Mustang (NBC News, Dateline)
Air date: March 21, 2023
Host: Keith Morrison

---

Episode Overview

In this gripping episode, the focus shifts from the initial investigation into Michelle O’Keefe’s murder to the relentless pursuit of justice by her family, law enforcement, and an unexpected private investigator. The narrative explores how grief, determination, and revisiting old evidence led to the prosecution of a suspect, only for the case to be upended by two hung juries. Themes of memory, guilt, and the ambiguity of evidence are woven through extensive courtroom drama, family testimony, and critical interviews with those central to the case.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Revisiting the Investigation

• Michelle’s family and grief: The episode begins years after Michelle’s murder. Her brother Jason and father Michael express the enduring pain of their loss and their resolve to seek answers.
  • Jason turned to baseball and faith to cope, carrying a Bible everywhere and inscribing his favorite verse inside his cap (Jeremiah 29:11).

  “After my sister died, I started carrying a Bible everywhere I went, no matter what, whether it was on the baseball field or not. I had a pocket Bible in the back of my pocket.” — Jason O’Keefe (02:04)

• Retired Deputy Jim Jeffrey: Spurred by a billboard of Michelle, Jeffrey, now a licensed private investigator, feels compelled to investigate, initially aiming to clear suspect Raymond Jennings.
  • Jeffrey’s unique perspective brought “fresh eyes” to the case, examining dozens of hours of interview tapes.

  “Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can maybe spot something that looks a little different. It doesn’t mean that you’re any more special than anybody else. It just means that it’s your eyes that are doing the working right now.” — Jim Jeffrey (05:07)

• A shift in theory: After scrutinizing Jennings’ videotaped interviews, Jeffrey goes from believing in his innocence to feeling sure of his guilt—ultimately joining the official view.
  • Key moment:

  “It went on. Bam. So the guy killed her. There’s no doubt that he killed her.” — Jim Jeffrey (09:44)

  • Yet, Jeffrey acknowledges his conclusion echoes what previous investigators believed, leaving the prosecution at a standstill.

The Evidence and Its Presentation

• The PowerPoint pitch: Michael Keefe and Jeffrey create a presentation highlighting 35 points indicating Jennings’ guilt, focusing on Jennings’ detailed knowledge of the crime.
  • Noteworthy quote:

  “Certainly, a six dollar an hour security guard is not going to have that level of information unless you were there.” — Michael Keefe (11:52)

  • Jennings’ knowledge of the order and angle of the shots, as well as describing details only a perpetrator would know, are seen as key circumstantial evidence.
• Breakthrough with the DA: The PowerPoint compels the DA to file charges, even though the evidence remains largely circumstantial.

Arrest and Prosecution

• Jennings’ arrest (16:14–19:19): After serving in Iraq, Jennings is arrested in California. Interrogations focus on whether he had a gun that night.

  • Detective Longshore describes trying to elicit a confession:

  “You know, it’s very seldom do you get a Perry Mason moment where they scream and yell, I did it. I did, I did it.” — Raymond Jennings quoting an interviewer (19:30)

  • Despite persuasive interviews, Jennings never confesses.

• Preparation for trial:

  • The Keefe family’s direct involvement with investigators and prosecutors is crucial to advancing the case to trial.

  “If you hadn’t been that involved, would it have happened? I kind of doubt it.” — Keith Morrison
  “Doubt it, yeah.” — Michael Keefe (20:23–20:28)

The Trials and Hung Juries

• First trial (March–April 2008):

  • Venues and logistics: Held in downtown LA, with Michael Blake prosecuting and concerns over a “defense friendly” jury.
  • Prosecutor’s argument: Jennings’ detailed knowledge was incriminating; he “convicted himself” by telling investigators exactly how the shooting happened.

    “He was remembering them… reliving them.” — Michael Blake (25:29–25:30)

  • Defense: No direct evidence links Jennings—no fingerprints, blood, or gunshot residue.

    “...there exists no blood evidence of which there was plenty, but none of which connects Mr. Jennings to this crime.” — Defense Attorney David Houchin (32:22)

  • Result: Mistrial, jury was deadlocked 9–3 for conviction. One juror was convinced by a dream of a drive-by shooting (26:55–27:23).

• Impact on the Family:

  • The emotional toll is severe, with the family “going through the motions” after years of effort.

  “You just sort of pretend, you know, and you’re just sort of sitting there waiting, and every minute seems like hours.” — Michael Keefe (29:37)

• Second trial (January–February 2009):

  • Same judge, same prosecutor, same defense—but this time a stronger focus on motive with FBI profiler Mark Safarik testifying that it was an opportunistic, sexually motivated killing, not premeditated or targeted.

    “So I’m looking at, is she targeted or is this an opportunistic event for the offender… and that’s what happened here. That’s what I think happened here.” — Mark Safarik (34:13–35:41)

  • Again, the result is a hung jury, this time 11–1 for guilt. One juror objected to interrogation tactics.

    “You just had one, one wild card juror in there.” — Michael Keefe (36:44)

Personal Impacts and Reflections

• Jason O’Keefe’s ambitions: Influenced by the case, Jason is inspired to become a prosecutor to help other families.

  “The relationship that the district attorney has is so close to the family. And I want to be able to do that and help other families the same way that Michael Blake’s doing that for us.” — Jason O’Keefe (38:55)

• Prosecutorial challenges:
  • Michael Blake, despite skepticism and pressure to drop the case, presses on.

  “You know what you say, but you don’t know what they hear.” — Michael Blake (04:03 / 26:23)

  • Defense emphasizes the lack of direct evidence and criticizes the reliance on Jennings' statements.
• Looking forward:
  • After two hung juries, the cliffhanger question: Will there be a third trial, or will Jennings go free?

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the importance of presentation:

  “It wasn’t the evidence… it was the presentation, the packaging.” — Michael Keefe (10:27)

• On the lasting effect of grief:

  “Baseball helped, as did a powerful sense of belief he carried around with him like a shield.” — Narrator on Jason O’Keefe (01:28)

• On prosecutorial setbacks:

  “Everybody’s got a boss, sure. And so he asked me, he said, what do you think?... And he looked at me and said, let’s go.” — Keith Morrison (21:18–21:32)

• On courtroom dynamics:

  “If you were to take the popular conception… then most of the country would say, oh, you poor SAP, you’re stuck with an LA Jury.” — Keith Morrison (23:28)

---

Timestamps for Critical Segments

• Meeting Jim Jeffrey and His Fresh Perspective: 03:00–07:35
• Jeffrey’s reversal on Jennings’ innocence: 09:05–10:05
• Creation of the PowerPoint case for the DA: 11:14–12:25
• Jennings’ Arrest and Interrogation: 16:14–19:19
• Discussion on the first trial and mistrial: 22:46–27:17
• Second trial and the role of expert profiler: 30:24–36:44
• Jason O’Keefe’s influence by the case: 37:36–39:11

---

Episode Tone

The episode maintains the somber, reflective tone characteristic of host Keith Morrison—at once empathetic to the O’Keefe family’s suffering and unwavering in its attention to investigative nuance. The voices of the family, investigators, and legal professionals provide a blend of emotional heft and procedural detail, immersing the listener in the tangled pursuit of justice, its uncertainties, and its lasting repercussions.

---

Conclusion

Episode 3 showcases the winding, emotionally charged road toward justice in the murder of Michelle O’Keefe. Through meticulous investigation, community involvement, and determined family advocacy, the case is propelled forward despite circumstantial evidence and procedural setbacks. The episode’s unresolved close, following two hung juries, highlights the agonizing ambiguities of the criminal justice system and sets the stage for the next pivotal developments.

---

End of Summary.

Transcript

[Commercial Announcer]

Get in the game with the college branded Venmo debit card. Ref your team with every tap and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash, a new rewards program from Venmo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance, just school pride and spending power. Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit [e-mail] collegecard the Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank NA Select Schools available Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply at venmo.me stash terms max $100 cash back per month at Amica Insurance we know it's not just about where you're going, but who you go with. That's why we work even harder to protect what matters most. Visit ameca.com and get a quote. Today,

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Jason o' Keefe stepped up to the mound at Desert Christian High School. He gripped the ball, let it fly. Four years after his big sister, Michelle was murdered. With a year to go in high school, Jason was an ace pitcher, 6ft 4 inches tall, with serious college and pro prospects, and he looked the part, but with his strong chin and that cropped hair with the slicked back cowlick. Still, the passing of years hadn't done much to keep the grief at bay.

[Jason O'Keefe]

Really, the only thing that helped that I, that I used to help me get through it, I guess, was baseball.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

But really, there was no getting over it. He'd idolized her, his big sister, his protector. And she'd been so happy zipping around in her Christmas present Mustang that Michelle was shot to death in that bright blue car so close to home. Well, who in his place could get over a thing like that, made worse by the outrage that there had been no arrest. So he immersed himself in baseball. And it helped, as did a powerful sense of belief he carried around with him like a shield.

[Jason O'Keefe]

After my sister died, I started carrying a Bible everywhere I went, no matter what, whether it was on the baseball field or not. I had a pocket Bible in the back of my pocket.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

He'd been given a Bible verse two years after the murder. It became his favorite. Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 11 For I

[Jason O'Keefe]

know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for you to prosper, plans for your success and plans for your future.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Jason inscribed the verse inside his baseball cap, began to share it with others. That's how you get through it and,

[Jason O'Keefe]

you know, take it day by day, you know.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

So yes, this story is about surviving or trying to, but it's also about the very Tricky business of learning to read conflicting signs by turns obvious and opaque in the shifting light of the high desert.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

It just means that it's your eyes that are doing the working right now.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Yes, and it was ambiguous and confusing and absolutely demanding.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

You can't get that stuff out of your mind. Once you find out what this girl is about

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

in this episode, you'll hear from the eyewitness, the man who was there, the man who seemed to know so much about Michelle's last moments. Maybe too much when I first seen

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

her, the gunshot in her chest, that to me looked like the very first

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

shot that was fired.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

He knew what the top forensic investigator in the United States took over a month to figure out.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

You'll hear from a lead investigator still determined to find that one little nugget of proof.

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

It's very seldom do you get a Perry Mason moment where they scream and yell, I did. I did. I did it.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

And from the Deputy DA who faced a prosecutor's worst nightmare.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

You know what you say, but you don't know what they hear.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

I'm Keith Morrison and this is the girl in the Blue Mustang. A podcast from Dateline. Episode 3 Like a Voice from the grave. Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy Jim Jeffrey was driving down the Antelope Freeway when he first saw a smiling Michelle o' Keefe dressed in her cheerleader's uniform on a billboard. She was asking from the grave for help in finding her killer. Jeffrey knew about the case, knew it had gone stone cold. But he wasn't a cop anymore, not really. Wasn't his business. And yet there was something. That face, it spoke to him. So this may be he was the guy to revive it.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can maybe spot something that looks a little different. It doesn't mean that you're any more special than anybody else. It just means that it's your eyes that are doing the working right now. And it took a while to get there.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Jeffrey had a bald pate and sincere, penetrating eyes. He was raised up and down the east coast, mainly North Carolina, and then made the big move out to LA. And after a 28 year stint at LA County Sheriff's, he was up for a new challenge.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

I had just gotten my private investigator's license. I decided I was going to branch out a little bit.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Jeffrey had a throwback look and sound to him. Part Colombo, part old fashioned western sheriff. With his big broad shoulders, you could easily imagine him walking down a dusty main street in a classic movie. The more Jeffra learned about Michelle's case, the more it felt like he knew her.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

She had a lot of strength. She would not quit. Maybe you can feel some of that energy. You can't get that stuff out of your mind. Once you find out what this girl is about, and once you find out how. How grief stricken the family is, and watching her mother's eyes tear up all

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

the time, Jeffrey wanted to try something completely different. Turn the investigation upside down. Instead of proving Ray Jennings was guilty, Jeffrey decided he'd like to try to show that Jennings was innocent. So he picked up the phone and made his pitch to lead detective Richard Longshore. He wanted in.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

I said, I'm an interested person that knows the area pretty well, and I can maneuver through the system that if I found anything that was incriminating, I'm stopping. And he gets that information to carry forward with it because he is the investigator of record on this case.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

With Longshore's blessing, Jeffrey dug in his theory that investigators had zeroed in on the wrong man.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

It seemed like it had bogged down, and it had bogged down around one person, and that was Raymond Lee Jennings. I was going to do what I could do to prove that he didn't kill this girl. Let's clear him. And if we could get past that, then we could move forward and go after the person that did kill her.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

It was a sunny winter day when I met Jeffrey at the park and Ride. We walked the hillside where it looked like Michelle's killer might have escaped, and we stopped in front of a sturdy cross that marked the spot where Michelle's blue Mustang was found. Jeffrey reached out, touched the cross, and felt as if she was speaking to him.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

I'm just me, you know, I think she kind of moved me around that parking lot a little bit.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

And on her behalf, he got busy. Looked at the physical evidence, of course, and read the police reports with his detectives, eye for details might tell a different story than the one he'd heard from Longshore. But mostly, he wanted to hear from Ray Jennings himself. Not in person. Didn't need to do that. No. He had all those videotaped interviews. Ray Jennings own words to Longshore and civil attorney Rex Paris. Jafaro wasn't any good at computer gadgets, but he did have a dusty old VHS cassette player.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

It seemed like every time I got frustrated with any part of this case, which was a lot, I went back to the videos. I said, it's there. I kept telling myself, it's in the video. You're an investigator. Find it. You did not see or talk to any human being.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

No, I did not. Jeffrel listened and he watched every minute of the dozens of hours of videotaped interviews with Jennings. And as he did, his mind began to do a U turn that it looked like a small casing of a

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

9 millimeter or.45 or even a.22.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

I said, he is telling a story that just doesn't add up in these videos. It was late at night and. And I was. I was kind of getting tired. But I was looking at. Looking at his gestures and movements, which I'd done throughout the time. And it just went. It went on. Bam. So the guy killed him. There's no doubt that he killed her.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

So what do you know? He'd started out thinking the guy was innocent, and now he had come full circle to the same conclusion reached by investigators. It was him. It was Jennings.

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

If he didn't pull the trigger, he was standing next to the guy who did. No doubt in my mind he was there. I believe that he grabbed her and she hit him. She wasn't going to be taken against her will, that she didn't have that kind of background at all. Very strong girl, actually.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

But there was one huge problem. Jeffrey's aha moment was pretty much what investigators had already presented to the DA and what had already failed to persuade him to file charges. Another opinion pointing at Jennings wasn't going to cut it. Just more wasted time. Except maybe not, because just then, Michelle's dad, Michael Keefe, got wind of what Jeffrey was up to and thought he could help. The problem wasn't the evidence, figured Mike. It was the presentation, the packaging. So together they came up with an entirely new way to sell the evidence against Raymond Jennings. Here's Michael Keefe.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

So we put together a PowerPoint. There were actually about 35 key points that showed that this guy had to have some involvement in it.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Bits of answers that to me looked

[Jim Jeffrey (Retired LA County Sheriff's Deputy / Investigator)]

like the very first shot that was fired.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Body language and tone of voice.

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

And I have no motive. She had nothing I wanted.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

I didn't kill her. All assembled into one package. Airtight. Jeff.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Ro

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Just maybe their show and tell of sound bites was the best way to sell Michelle's case to the D. A. And for Pat and Michael Keefe, it came down to this.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Certainly, a six dollar an hour security guard is not going to have that level of information unless you were there.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

So he knew too much.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Oh, he knew way too much.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

He knew stuff only the killer would know.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

He knew the order of the shots. He knew the angle of the shots. He knew he Even described accidental shooting.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah, in the ground.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Right. Accidental discharge. You knew where accidental discharge was. And this is the middle of the night, so, you know, you just don't. Casual observer just doesn't pick up on these things. He even talked about how her body shut down.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Which he would not have been able to see from where he said he was.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Right. Exactly. He knew what the top forensic investigator in the United States took over a month to figure out.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

October 25, 2005. Michelle O' Keefe had been in her grave going on six years for the living. It was one of those perfect fall days. Make you want to live in LA. Crystal blue skies, afternoon temperature topping out at 69 or so. When Michael Keefe met with Deputy DA Robert Fultz, he could be forgiven for not reveling in the weather. It was two weeks to the day after what would have been Michelle's 24th birthday. In preparation for the meeting, Foltz had watched their PowerPoint presentation featuring all those edited clips of Jennings statements. They had everything very carefully kind of sifted down to what they felt was the important things to consider. So they goosed it.

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

They goosed it.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

I felt it was compelling. Three weeks later, the day Michelle's family had been waiting for, I decided that as problematic as the case was, it was not an impossible feat to get this case appropriately prosecuted.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

So I filed it.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

When the district attorney called me and said they were going to make an arrest, we were ecstatic, he said, finally,

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

after all these years. But in a case where nothing was exactly what it appeared to be, the man at the center of it all, Raymond Jennings, was nowhere near the Antelope Valley. Jennings, the National Guardsman, was halfway around the world, serving his country in Iraq. But all was not lost. His hitch was up, and in just a few weeks soon he'd be back with his five children in the Antelope Valley altogether, unaware of what awaited him.

[Commercial Announcer]

Get in the game with the college branded Venmo debit card. Rep your team with every tap and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash, a new rewards program from Venmo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance. Just school pride and spending power. Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit [e-mail] collegecard the Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank. NA Select Schools available Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo me stash terms max $100 cash back per month.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

There's an SUV that turns the unthinkable into the unforgettable. The new Nissan Pathfinder. Built for big adventures and all that family chaos. It's powered by a strong V6 engine

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

with a nine speed automatic transmission.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

Inside it's rugged and capable but still premium and tech forward with room for up to eight passengers. It's also available with seven passenger seating

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

and second row captain's chairs with massive hauling capability. Now you can bring all the gear

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

you and your family need for unforgettable adventures. The new V6 Nissan Pathfinder power your adventure.

[Commercial Announcer]

Here at Blue Apron, we know exactly how hectic school nights can be. That's why we created Assemble and Bake delicious one pan meals that make family dinner simple. Just assemble the pre chopped ingredients and put the pan in the oven to bake. Then you're free to help out with that last minute diorama Shop Assemble and [e-mail] get 50 off your first two orders with code apron50. Terms and conditions apply. Visit blue apron.com terms for more.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

December 13, 2005 Sheriff's deputies staked out a tidy, low slung apartment block in the Joshua neighborhood of Lancaster, California. It had been cold overnight, dipped below freezing. Then as they watched, the desert sun cleared the terracotta rooftops and there he was. Raymond Jennings, oblivious, unaware, walked to his car, stepped in and drove away. Then I asked Detective Longshore, tell me

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

how the arrest occurred. I had him under surveillance. He was living in an apartment with his wife and several children and every time the surveillance team would see him, he'd be with his children. And I didn't want to arrest him in front of his kids, something we just don't like to do. And so we kept the surveillance up and on a given morning he left by himself and we took him down to a traffic stop and was ordered out at gunpoint by the uniformed deputies. And his statement to them was, I've been in Iraq. Is this about Michelle o'? Keefe?

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

By this time, it was personal for Longshore. All those years going through boxes of evidence, poring over crime scene photographs of Michelle's body slumped in her blue Mustang in the dead of night. And now, finally, he had his man. But not all the answers. Not yet. One puzzle in particular had been bugging him. The gun. Michel was shot to death, so Jennings must have fired that gun. And yet he'd sworn over and over that he wasn't carrying that night. Security company rules didn't allow it. But Longshore had done a little research, discovered Jennings was no stranger to guns so in the jail's interview room, I

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

asked him about carrying a. That you carried a gun all the time in North Carolina. You know, why should I believe you didn't carry one in California? Well, that'd been illegal. Yeah, okay. And I said, I believe this was an accident. I don't believe you ever intended to kill anybody. You had that gun, Things went bad. I can't make it go away, but I can get your side of the story. Explain me why it happened. Well, I'm not going to do that. This is my story. And I said, I'll tell you, like I said, I think this is an accident. But if I had been assigned to that guard post out there in the middle of the night in the parking ride, legal or not legal, I'd carried a gun. He said, well, I didn't know there'd been other accidents out there. I said, accidents? You mean like what happened to Michelle o'? Keefe?

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

He goes, yeah, but he never would

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

roll over, never would go that extra, extra bit.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Must have been frustrating getting right up to the edge like that.

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

It was. And it. You always want to look at, Was there something else I could have done? If we kept him a little longer, would he have gone over the edge? But there's just too much risk in what we were doing there.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Yeah, it is. It's an art as much as anything else, isn't it? Getting into person's head and getting that person to see that there's no alternative but to finally just relent.

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

You try. You know, it's very seldom do you get a Perry Mason moment where they scream and yell, I did it. I did, I did it.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Well, that certainly is true. But then the law didn't require a confession. And now that the DA had signed off, Jennings was formally charged with first degree murder. They set his bail at a million dollars, an amount far beyond Jennings reach, more than enough to keep him behind bars while they prepared for trial. And six years after the murder of his daughter Michelle's dad took a breath. It had finally happened. It's interesting how you had to almost become the architect of your own personal case.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Yeah, we were heavily involved. And I want to say, you know, it was the sheriff's. I mean, it was the DA's decision and it was the sheriff's department decision to make their arrest.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

But if you hadn't been that involved, would it have happened? I kind of doubt it.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Doubt it, yeah.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

It wasn't long before they took Jennings to downtown la, to the imposing monolith in Chinatown called the Men's Central Jail and the long slow march to trial was assailed by doubters at every turn.

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

There were a lot of prosecutors and supervising prosecutors in the DA's office that told Michael Blake, Our DA, get rid of this thing, dismiss it, it's not going to go anywhere. You're never going to win it. It's a loser, move on. And Michael Blake, the day of the preliminary hearing was told, you know, get rid of this thing. And so he's got his people to answer to. Everybody's got a boss, sure. And so he asked me, he said, what do you think?

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

That's pressure.

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

And I said, michael, whatever you want to do, I'll back you. I said, but if we don't go ahead with this, it'll never ever go to trial. And he looked at me and said, let's go.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

March 20, 2008. Dawn, cool and clear, the air crisp with the first day of spring as Raymond Jennings, jailhouse pilot, was led through passages the sun had never seen to the ninth floor of LA's high security criminal justice center. Famous place, ninth. Infamous. Maybe it's where tabloid defendants like O.J. simpson and Phil Spector were tried. To get to the courthouse, Michelle's parents had to make the same two hour drive Michelle took on her last day. An emotional journey on the Antelope Valley Freeway, cresting it over 3,000ft through the Soledad Pass before descending into the LA Basin. And then they had to find parking and wait for notoriously crowded corporate courthouse elevators and then were met by deputies with metal detectors.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Michael Keefe, Just getting, getting to the courtroom after you got down there took, you know, 30 to 45 minutes every day. Besides the time that you spend in the courtroom, you've got six plus hours a day just, you know, dealing with the commuting part of it. And it just really took its toll.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

In fact, it had been eight years since an excited 18 year old Michelle helped make that music video. Just across downtown of the grand old Olympic Auditorium, when Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson called the courtroom to order. L A courtrooms are a world away from the Antelope Valley where Michelle was killed and where Michael Blake, the prosecutor, usually worked. At the time, right or wrong, downtown LA juries had gained something of a reputation for being defense friendly, difficult for prosecutors. I asked Blake about that. If you were to take the popular conception of what it does to a case to move it to LA and give it to an LA jury, then most of the country would say, oh, you poor SAP, you're stuck with an LA Jury.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

I've had as much success in Los Angeles as I have up here.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

So you weren't worried about that?

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

No, no. We're going to an experienced judge on the ninth floor, which is where the most experienced long cause judges are in the central district of Los Angeles.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Michael Blake seemed to take a certain presence with him to the courtroom. Intelligent, tough, lantern jaw, youthful vigor. Blake told the nine men and three women of the jury and then later us that Raymond Jennings assaulted Michelle o' Keeffe for his own ugly reasons and escalated his attack when she resisted.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

He knows she's still alive. That makes those remaining three shots to her face an execution and first degree. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

In fact, said Blake, Jennings in a way convicted himself when he talked so freely to investigators, even to civil attorney Rex Perez, without a lawyer, he knew too much to be innocent. What would you expect an innocent person to have said if he were standing 100ft away?

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

Say, I don't know, I wasn't there.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

I don't know. But the shot must have come from.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

I don't know, Detective. I don't know. You're asking me where the shooter was standing? I never saw a shooter. Well, see, that's the other thing. He never saw a shooter, but he's able to tell us where the shooter was standing, how the shots were fired. And there's even, in that tape, there's even a part where he stands up before he says a word. He's almost on automatic. He's with his hand, he's making the gesture like a firearm and he's pulling the trigger, like recoil, and it's almost like an automatic response. And that's why I argue that he was remembering. He, he wasn't describing events, he was

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

remembering them, reliving them.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

Reliving them. Right, right. So, yeah, I would expect a person who had no involvement simply to say, gee, I don't know where the shooter was standing because I never saw the shooter. How easy would that have been?

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

Of course, if he had had a

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

lawyer present from the get go, would you have had a case at all?

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

Well, he had an opportunity to do that.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

I know, but you wouldn't have had all of that stuff. Could you possibly have prosecuted the case without him?

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

You're asking me if we would have had a case? Let me make sure I understand what you're saying. Would we have had a case if Mr. Jennings had not made those statements correct? I can't speculate on that.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

There's no way you'd have a case.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

I will have to say his statements were very important. They were pivotal in this case.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Sure, the trial lasted six weeks, and then it went to the jury.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

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.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

How very true. Four days went by. No word from behind the jury's closed door. And then April 28, 2008, they all filed into the courtroom and the foreperson stood up and told the judge they could not get beyond nine to three for conviction. The judge declared a mistrial. Here's Michael Keefe.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

The foreman came to us right after the trial, you know, and apologized. And he goes, look, I thought he was guilty.

[Commercial Announcer]

He actually had a tear in his eye.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Yeah, I felt pretty strongly about it. And he said of the three that had voted not guilty, he said, I felt like two of them could easily been swayed. But there was one individual who had a bad dream of all things.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

A vision.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That. That it was some sort of drive by shooting or some sort of gang kind of thing.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

A dream. Or perhaps a haunting.

[Commercial Announcer]

You know how everything's a subscription now. Music, movies, even socks.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

I swear, if to continue this ad, please upgrade to premium plus platinum.

[Commercial Announcer]

Uh, what? No. Anyway, Blue Apron, this is a PA Listen ad.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Please confirm your billing.

[Commercial Announcer]

Oh, that's annoying. At least with the new Blue Apron, there's no subscription needed. Get delicious meals delivered without the weekly plan.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Wait, no subscription?

[Commercial Announcer]

Keep the flavor. Ditch the subscription. Get 20% off your first two orders with code APRON20. Terms and conditions apply. Visit blueapron.com terms for more. 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 choices 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 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.

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

Hey, guys, Willie Geist here.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

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

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

for one night only at City Winery in New York on April 7th. An intimate, in person evening I promise

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

you won't want to miss. Tickets are limited, so grab yours [e-mail]. After the hung jury, life lost its focus for Pat and Michael Keefe.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

You go through the motions and just sort of pretend, you know, and you're just sort of sitting there waiting, and every minute seems like hours. And it goes on for days.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

After the eight years it took to go to trial, now limbo. What happens inside?

[Commercial Announcer]

I thought he was gonna be let free. That was my first thing.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Oh my gosh, they're gonna let him go. Then the o' Keeffes got the news there would be a second trial.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Justice has to be served. I know if it's not served here in this world, it certainly will be done in the next. But I certainly think it would do people a lot of good to know that it's happened here on this earth.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Do you some good, too. Trial two began just January 8, 2009. Jennings had already been behind bars for a little more than four years. And all that time he'd continued to maintain he was an innocent man. This time, Dateline cameras rolled in the same LA courtroom with the same judge, Michael Johnson. We'll start with the people's opening statement.

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

And Mr. Blake.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

And the same prosecutor, Michael Blake.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

Morning, everyone. This is our last opportunity to speak directly to you. So rather than slow things down or distract with images and so forth, I'd just like to take a moment to tell you what I believe the evidence in this case will prove. As the evidence unfolds in this case, you will have the sensation of stepping into a time capsule. Much of the evidence that you will hear is coming forward after years of an exhaustive investigation by the sheriff's department. And it will reveal in conclusion that Michelle o' Keefe was murdered that night by Raymond Lee Jennings, a security guard working at the park and ride lot.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Raymond Jennings, head cleanly shaven, goatee, stubble, was seated at the short end of the defense table. He was wearing a long sleeved blue oxford cloth shirt and dark tie.

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

Will the defense be giving a statement at this time?

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

Yes, please, Mr. Houchen.

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

Thank you.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Jennings Defense attorney David Houchin took off his reading glasses and gathered his notes. He too wore a goatee. Here's a salt and pepper version. And now he rose and turned his big frame toward the jury and began to speak Good morning.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

I represent Mr. Jennings. You see him seated at the end of the table. As the evidence comes out in this case, you will find that no fingerprint evidence connects Mr. Jennings to this crime. There exists gunshot residue, none connecting Mr. Jennings to this crime. There exists no blood evidence of which there was plenty, but none of which connects Mr. Jennings to this crime.

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

She put up a fight.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

It was brutal.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

And she has DNA recovered from her left hand, fourth finger nail. It is a mix of a male, not Raymond Jennings. And when this case is concluded, there's only one direction the evidence points and it points away from Mr. Jennings.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Michelle's friend, Jennifer Peterson was the first person called to testify. She kept it together when she was shown several frames of blurry footage zoomed into an extreme close up of herself and Michelle. They were frozen in time at the Kid Rock video shoot hours before Michelle was murdered.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

You see yourself and Michelle and us, yes.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

And then the drop off at the park and ride.

[Michael Blake (Deputy District Attorney / Prosecutor)]

Did you see Michelle o' Keeffe again after that?

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

No.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

So what happened this time? The prosecutor opted to give the jury an idea about motive. So he called a retired FBI profiler named Mark Safarik. By that time, Safarik was a well known expert.

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

I typically, you know, in these cases come in as the last or near the last prosecution witness because one, all that evidence has to already been introduced. I can't talk about things that haven't come in, but really what I'm doing is I'm drawing the big picture.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

And that picture Saffarik told the jury told the story of an attempted sex attack.

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

Michelle had never parked in this park and ride. Now this was an interesting location because here is where when you're looking at a dynamic between your offender victim and the scene, the scene becomes important because this park and ride is out in the middle of nowhere. There's nothing out here. When you look at an aerial view of this park and ride, it's just fields all the way around. And then in the distance you have some residents. You come here, you park your car, you get in with somebody else, you get in a van and you travel into Los Angeles because it's right off of the freeway.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Lonely place.

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

It's a lonely place. She'd never been there. Neither of them had ever been there before. So there's nobody that follows her there. There's nobody that knows that she's going to be there at some point in the night. So she wasn't targeted victim. So I'm looking at is she targeted or is this an opportunistic event for the offender. In other words, does he see an opportunity happen in front of him and take it? And that's what happened here. That's what I think happened here.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

In other words, a sex assault. That is what must have happened in that dark parking lot, said Mr. Safarik. There was no rape.

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

There's no rape, but there is a sexual assault. There's no completion. This sexual assault doesn't go to a completion. It starts and then it, and then it ends. But, but there's a sexual component to the homicide.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

So what does that tell you?

[David Houchin (Defense Attorney)]

Well, it gives you a motive.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Then the jury took the case. February 17, 2009. Five weeks after the beginning of that second TR, Pat and Mike O' Keefe looked out the window of their Palmdale home. The weather was the same as it had been nine years earlier, the night Michelle was murdered. It was cold and stormy in the high desert. There was rain and snow in the San Gabriel mountains. And that's when the O' Keeffes got the word. Another hung jury, this time 11 to 1 for guilt.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

It's horrible, you know, 11 to 1. You know, I think the answer was obvious across the jury. You just had one, one wild card juror in there.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

And what was the reason for that hung jury?

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

There was a woman that just didn't want to testify, didn't want to deliberate. She, she took exception to the manner in which I interrogated Mr. Jennings on video. They were shown the video.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Sure.

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

And I never raised my voice. I didn't throw telephone books around, that type of thing. It's what you have to do during an interrogation, a hung jury and the

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

person who hangs it is pointing directly at you. And there have been two trials. All that expenditure of public money that time, that focus, commitment, what did that feel like?

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

It was crushing, it really was.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

During the trial, Michelle's brother Jason had been seated in the front row of the spectator gallery, as close as he could get to prosecutor Michael Blake and to Jennings. To actually be in there and listen to the testimony, to watch that guy sitting there at the defense table. Did you look at him?

[Raymond Jennings (Suspect)]

Yeah.

[Jason O'Keefe]

Me and Mr. Jennings actually had a number of stare down matches for whatever reason, where he would just stare at me and I would just stare back and I wouldn't, I wasn't going to break the stare. And then he'd finally look away or something to that effect. But where I was seated, I was literally three feet behind him.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

And then the jury went out and came back and said, we're hung. You can't convict the man. What was that like for you?

[Jason O'Keefe]

Well, I was a pre law major at Widener College, so I was very familiar with the law system. I would actually talk with district attorney before court and about certain motions and stuff like that, strategies that we could use of the legal system.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

So said Jason, there was reason to feel hope and gratitude.

[Jason O'Keefe]

Plan on going on and being a prosecutor and after this is all said and done, that's been the.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

The influence of this case has made you think of being a prosecutor.

[Jason O'Keefe]

Yeah, without a doubt. The relationship that the district attorney has is so close to the family. And I want to be able to do that and help other families the same way that Michael Blake's doing that for us.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

You can see how much he cares about you.

[Jason O'Keefe]

Yeah.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

And you want to do the same for somebody else.

[Jason O'Keefe]

Yeah, without a doubt.

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Yes. But the question that gloomy February was far more immediate than that. After two juries failed to convict, would they set him free but try him yet again? A question that would have sounded like it came from Mars had you asked this man back then.

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

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

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

Some force indeed. Next on the Girl in the Blue Mustang. I realized that either this was an innocent man or this was a sociopath

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

who deserved an Academy Award. And I just had to know, which one was it?

[Narrator / Keith Morrison]

The Girl in the Blue Mustang is a production of D Dateline and NBC News. Scott Frazier 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 as technical director. Sound mixing by Bob Mallory. Nina Bisbano is associate producer.

[Commercial Announcer]

Hey, girl. What's happening? Is that your antiperspirant?

[Michael Keefe (Michelle's Father)]

Uh, yeah.

[Commercial Announcer]

Let me see that can. Aluminum butane. I cannot pronounce that. You have to switch to native deodorant. Native's simple formula has only clean ingredients. It gives you effective 72 hour odor protection with no hydrocarbon propellant. Wow, this smells heavenly clean. Effective 72 hour odor protection isn't a myth. It's native.