Forty-five years after her death, California police are using Twitter to share the story of an 11-year-old girl's unsolved murder, in hopes of gaining new information that might help solve her case.
Linda O'Keefe was last seen alive on July 6, 1973 while she was walking home from summer school, according to the Newport Beach Police Department. Her body was found the next day. No arrests were ever made.
Now, new DNA technology has helped police create a sketch of her suspected killer.
Police partnered with Parabon NanoLabs to predict the killer's physical traits, such as eye color, hair color and skin color. Authorities have released a photo of what the killer might have looked like at the time of O'Keefe's death, as well as an age progressed version showing what he may look like today.
The photos were released Saturday, on the 45 year anniversary of O'Keefe's death.
The sketches were preceded by a series of tweets, accompanied by the hashtag #LindasStory, that covered in real-time the last hours of Linda's life through her eyes.
The first tweet went out Friday, on the anniversary of the day Linda disappeared. The series ended on Saturday morning at the time her body was found.
In the tweets, "Linda" recounts the events leading up to her disappearance, and provides details about her life and personality. She loved science class, cats, playing piano and was "really good at spelling."
"Linda's" tweets also include details about her appearance and her actions on the day of her disappearance.
While she usually rode her bike to and from school, on that day she had been dropped off. While waiting to use the school phone to call her mother for a ride home, Linda went outside. Her friends later described seeing a turquoise van stopped next to her as she walked.
Linda then called her mother, but was told to walk home because she was busy. Witnesses describe seeing her with a turquoise van once again. This time, Linda is seen talking to the driver.
After not hearing from Linda for three hours, her mom begins to call her friends and neighbors, but no one has seen her. The O'Keefe family gets into their two cars and begins searching for their daughter. They check the local Youth Center and the community church. before returning home.
In a tweet, "Linda" says "Everyone returns home. Everyone but me, that is."
Linda O'Keefe was officially reported missing by her parents at 6:42 p.m. Police joined the effort to search for the four-foot-tall girl with long brown hair and blue eyes.
That night, a woman in the bluffs above Back Bay heard a voice saying "Stop, you're hurting me." A man found Linda's body a couple hundred yards away from the woman's house the next morning.
Newport Beach Police ended their story with a video about Linda's case and the number to the cold case tip line. Response to the the department's tweets have been largely positive. Many praised the way the department presented Linda's story. In the days since the tweets were published, the department told ABC News that it has received some new tips.
In a tweet, they said they "hope that this is the last anniversary of Linda's death where we don't know who her killer is."
The entire series of tweets has been compiled into a Twitter moment here.
Anyone with information on Linda's murder is encouraged to call the Newport Beach police department's Cold Case Tip Line at 949-644-3669.
