0:06

Deep

0:06

in the California desert, perhaps 20

0:09

miles above Mexico, on a great

0:11

empty swath of sun-baked sand

0:14

and scrub, two dozen white buildings

0:16

squat in semi-circles, hemmed

0:19

in by rows and rows of razor

0:21

wire.

0:23

sentinel a prison.

0:25

An inside in a six by ten foot cell

0:27

serving forty to life, Raymond

0:30

Jennings peered through a narrow slit of window

0:32

at the sky

0:34

and waited. For what or

0:36

when? He did not know.

0:39

By now,

0:40

he'd been locked up for eleven years, had

0:43

been able to see his children only once every

0:45

year or two. He was

0:47

about to turn forty-two. You'd

0:50

look in that mirror and I'd be like, why me? I'd be in the cell

0:52

by myself. Why me? What

0:55

am I supposed to be learning? What's going on

0:57

on the outside?

0:59

Something impending out there

1:02

to hope for or dread,

1:05

depending on the view. When

1:07

the only comfort that you've had for

1:11

a decade is

1:13

the belief that the man who killed

1:16

your daughter is in prison And

1:18

that man is Ray. I

1:21

understand why it's hard to let go of that.

1:24

Change was coming. Ready

1:26

or not? Who

1:28

in the heck is banging on my door? Finally,

1:31

after about 20 or 30 knocks, he says, I

1:33

need to talk to you about Raymond Lee

1:35

Jennings.

1:39

In this episode, Justice

1:42

will get a jolt. And accepted

1:44

facts will be tossed in the air like

1:46

so many playing cards. The

1:48

land and place is entirely unexpected

1:51

and for some unwelcome.

1:54

You know, I've always had a lot of respect for

1:56

law enforcement and what they do and

1:58

come the five.

2:00

out you know it's it's not all you

2:02

know sugars and cookies. I'm Keith

2:04

Morrison and this is The Girl

2:06

in the Blue Mustang, a podcast

2:08

from Dateline. This is our

2:10

sixth and final episode, Finding

2:13

John Doe.

2:25

It was a winter's day, six

2:27

years after Raymond Jennings was convicted

2:29

of killing Michelle O'Keefe.

2:32

Jeff Ehrlich was sitting in his law office

2:34

in LA's San Fernando Valley,

2:37

and the phone rang.

2:39

I picked up the phone and the

2:42

voice on the other end said, this is Ken Lynch. as

2:45

in director Ken Lynch of the Los

2:47

Angeles DA's Conviction Review

2:49

Unit, or CRU.

2:52

I'm not particularly good at describing feelings.

2:54

I guess I'm a left brain kind of

2:56

guy. But when I got

2:59

that call and he said, I want to

3:01

meet with you, I was

3:02

like, wow.

3:05

Clearly the airlick's letter about Raymond Jennings

3:07

had hit a nerve. Enough

3:09

to get them a meeting at least. Nothing

3:12

more yet. The date was

3:14

set from March 9, 2016. A

3:17

warm day and sunny

3:20

on West Temple Street in downtown LA. Inside

3:23

members of the Conviction Review Unit had assembled

3:26

in a conference room to hear the airlick's pitch,

3:28

in person. The stakes

3:30

could hardly have been higher. Were

3:33

the questions any more intense?

3:36

After all, in this first seven months since the CRU

3:39

was formed, 700

3:39

other

3:41

cases had appealed for review, too.

3:56

good

4:00

at that. He was really,

4:02

really in my face and

4:06

giving me a hard time. They

4:07

were back home when they got the news

4:09

from CRU head Ken Lynch.

4:12

Out of all those applicants,

4:14

the Conviction Review Unit had chosen

4:16

to reinvestigate

4:18

theirs first. And

4:20

then instead of assigning it to one of the

4:23

other attorneys in the unit, He assigned

4:25

it to all of them to work on collectively, so

4:28

that there are three other

4:30

attorneys who work with him. And they're

4:32

all experienced, very experienced prosecutors.

4:35

By the time those prosecutors went to work,

4:38

Michelle O'Keefe had been dead for 16 years. The

4:41

CRU mined the Ehrlich's

4:43

34-page letter in granular

4:45

detail and investigated

4:48

new leads about others in

4:50

the park and ride lot that night. For

4:53

three months, Ken Lynch and the CRU

4:56

dug into the case, until they

4:58

reached a tipping point. And

5:01

then, one day in June, in a coordinated

5:03

operation, they fanned out to key parties

5:06

in the case. Up

5:08

in the Antelope Valley, Pat O'Keefe was at home,

5:11

the home she once shared with a husband

5:13

and two children. There

5:15

was a knock at the door.

5:17

She ignored it.

5:19

But it didn't stop. Who in

5:21

the heck is banging on my door? Finally,

5:24

after about 20 or 30 knocks, he says, I

5:26

need to talk to you about Raymond Lee

5:28

Jennings. I said, can you tell me

5:31

what it's about? He said, no, we're gonna tell you in person.

5:33

I said, is he dead? And he said,

5:35

no, tomorrow we'll have a meeting and discuss

5:37

it.

5:38

Michael Keefe, now divorced from

5:41

Pat, was at his place a few miles away.

5:44

How did you get the word? She

5:46

actually called me and said they were heading over to

5:48

my place. The

5:51

O'Keeffe's didn't know it yet, but a chief

5:54

deputy DA by the name of John Spillane

5:56

had taken the CRU's findings and

5:58

summarized them in a letter to the American National

6:00

to the Superior Court, where a

6:02

judge put it under seal. A hearing

6:04

was scheduled. It was June 23,

6:08

2016, one of those beautiful first

6:10

days of

6:15

summer when the O'Keeffe's made that

6:17

all too familiar two-hour drive to

6:19

L.A.'s criminal justice center, just

6:22

as they had done day after day after

6:24

day during the trials of Ray Jennings.

6:27

Clinton and Jeff Erlich had

6:30

already gone through security. And one by one,

6:32

Clint

6:33

and Jeff, Pat and Mike, entered the

6:36

courtroom. Jeff Erlich

6:39

sat down at the defense table. The

6:41

air bristled with tension. The hearing

6:45

about to begin would reveal what the judge had

6:47

decided to do about the CRU's

6:49

first case. first case.

6:58

That is Los Angeles County Superior

7:00

Court Judge William Ryan. Raymond

7:13

Jennings was seated next to Jeff Erlich

7:16

wearing a dark blue throwaway paper

7:18

jumpsuit But the white zipper

7:21

is shaved head shining in a soft

7:23

fluorescent light of the courtroom. Everybody

7:26

was telling me that I would be sent back to state

7:28

prison.

7:29

I literally just started praying as hard

7:31

as I could. And just asking,

7:34

you know, asking the father, don't send me back there.

7:37

Don't send me back. Release me from here. I

7:41

also now have a letter

7:44

signed by Yeti yesterday, attorney

7:47

student chief, John

7:50

Spillane.

7:51

As the judge began speaking,

7:53

Jennings looked down as if

7:55

studying the floor beneath him. What

7:58

happened here could send him back to prison.

8:00

for 30 years or more,

8:02

or could set him free. His

8:05

eyes were unreadable. He

8:08

stroked the stubble on his chin. People

8:11

now believe that Mr. Jennings

8:13

may not be able to get the prime of which

8:15

is that other people are

8:18

implicated by new habits.

8:20

I think I could wait for that. And

8:23

there it was. The judge had

8:26

raised doubt about Jennings' conviction.

8:29

Now Deputy DA Robert Grace spoke

8:32

and he went a step further.

8:35

We're prepared to say that the people

8:37

no longer

8:37

have confidence in the conviction

8:40

based upon what we feel is

8:44

third party culpability evidence.

8:47

Third party culpability? There

8:50

could be no question what that meant. There

8:52

must be other potential suspects, someone

8:54

else in the parking ride when Michelle was killed.

8:58

As he announced his decision, the judge

9:00

was careful not to say very much. He'd

9:02

been told the investigation was continuing,

9:05

and he didn't want to jeopardize it. But

9:07

what he did say

9:08

was as momentous as

9:11

it was terse. The

9:13

Department of Corrections has ordered

9:15

to replace the defendant. I'm

9:18

in homework diagnosis, and I will

9:20

send an email to an appropriate deputy

9:22

here advising them of

9:25

my order today.

9:27

It was surreal. Did he say it? I'm getting released.

9:31

Yes, released. But

9:33

Ray Jennings' case was not officially closed. Though

9:37

that day, it didn't seem to matter to

9:39

Ray Jennings and the Ehrlich's. Here's

9:42

Clint Ehrlich. It was overwhelming. It didn't

9:45

feel real. It's going to be one of the defining

9:47

moments of your life, one of the important defining

9:49

moments. I

9:52

will never forget it. In fewer

9:54

than seven swift minutes, Jennings'

9:57

sentence of 40 years to life suddenly

10:00

ended. Anything further

10:03

we need to do, Mr. Grace? Oh, nothing

10:05

further on. Nothing further

10:07

on. Thank you very much.

10:10

The DA's letter had slashed the prosecution's

10:12

own circumstantial case against Ray Jennings

10:15

to shreds, and it all

10:17

fluttered down like weightless white

10:19

ribbons to the ground. This

10:22

is Jeff Erlich. Getting

10:24

someone who was innocent, who

10:26

should not have been convicted, convicted and getting

10:28

the system to acknowledge that and let him out is an

10:31

amazing thing. One person. You've

10:33

got to start with one person, Keef. But

10:36

Joy, on one side of the courtroom, was

10:39

matched by its opposite on the other.

10:42

To the O'Keeffe's, it was as if the world around

10:44

them had gone mad. Released

10:46

Jennings?

10:48

But surely he was guilty. As

10:50

guilty now as ever, nothing in their

10:52

long and terrible experience could prepare

10:54

them for this abomination.

10:58

Michael Keefe held an impromptu press conference

11:01

just outside the courtroom. Do

11:03

you have no doubt that he's been killed in the car? I

11:05

have nothing that

11:07

can show me, prove to me otherwise at this

11:09

time. Nobody showed me anything otherwise

11:12

that he wasn't at least involved.

11:14

This thing's went through three trials. Over 30

11:17

jurors found this guy guilty. And

11:19

then this little unit can kind of go in and kind of

11:21

add a hawk without anything really

11:23

solid to say, hey, we want to release him, goes

11:26

completely against our whole

11:28

judicial system in the United States, in my opinion. Pretty

11:33

harsh words. And

11:35

I'm a pretty pissed off dad. We're the parents.

11:37

We're Michelle's mom and dad. I said, well,

11:39

if you're going to release them, why? And

11:45

why can't you tell us what the evidence is? And

11:47

they said, no, we can't tell you. I go, it doesn't make

11:49

sense. As the O'Keefe's talked,

11:52

a bailiff escorted an overwhelmed

11:54

Ray Jennings into a hallway behind the

11:56

courtroom,

11:57

waiting for something.

12:00

was this real was

12:02

he'd dreaming and

12:05

so i

12:07

just remember leaning against the wall and

12:10

as i was i was in prayer it

12:13

it is an overwhelming still small voice

12:15

came it's a call me again as a you'll be released

12:17

from here and it was just as

12:19

clear as day and then

12:22

the moment the bail of came

12:24

back she had the

12:26

close at i love prison where she

12:29

had i'm in her hair

12:31

and at that time at a

12:34

time ago time

12:37

ago raymond jennings took

12:39

his first unshackled steps outside

12:42

escorted by three deputy sheriffs they

12:45

were jennings protectors now which

12:47

the can actually like walk by quick he

12:50

climbed

12:50

the steps to the sidewalk wearing the farthest

12:52

thing from prison close you could imagine

12:55

untucked t shirt over baggy

12:57

sparkling white basketball shorts

13:00

and white sneakers

13:03

reporters

13:08

surrounded him he hurried past

13:10

to follow current airlock to they're waiting car

13:13

clint who carried a cardboard file

13:16

box everything re jennings

13:18

owned inside it he

13:21

moved away then moved as

13:23

soon as he could back home

13:25

to north carolina far

13:27

far away from the antelope valley

13:30

and that terrible events that it's stolen

13:32

so many years of his life well

13:40

well well china

13:46

and that is where after all those

13:48

years of reporting i

13:50

finally sat down was re jennings

13:52

free man would have

13:55

liked to be in the situation you're in now

13:57

what does it feel like it's it's surreal

14:01

Shocking, adjusting.

14:04

I mean, you carry yourself in a completely different way inside

14:07

versus outside. Absolutely. Are you

14:09

angry? Not angry. I

14:13

hold no anger, no bitterness. There's

14:16

no place for it. Is that real or is that kind

14:19

of just something you plan? No, that's absolutely

14:21

real. And if you spend enough time around

14:23

me, you'll see for yourself that there

14:26

is none of that.

14:27

And then he showed me photographs of his family.

14:30

His eldest daughter had never been able to make

14:32

the trip from North Carolina to visit

14:34

her dad behind bars way out in California.

14:38

So this was the first time they had all been together

14:40

since the day he was arrested, 11 years earlier. You

14:44

can hear a lot in a

14:46

few words. So these are

14:48

my two oldest right here. This is Brianna, she's

14:50

here. And this is Reuben,

14:53

Gabriel, Colonia, and Xavier.

14:56

So of course she's the baby. The fine

14:58

looking bunch. Yeah.

15:01

And so, it's

15:03

all good with them, huh? Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

15:07

This was the first time they've been together in over 11

15:09

years. They're joyful that their daddy

15:11

is home.

15:13

And I'm, you

15:16

know, I can't, I can't, you know, hey,

15:23

I missed my kids. Hmm.

15:28

Yeah. And

15:31

now they know. Yeah,

15:34

they let me know.

15:38

A few months after Ray Jennings release, there

15:41

was another hearing in Judge Ryan's courtroom.

15:44

Ray Jennings wasn't there, didn't have to

15:46

be. And yet the result

15:48

of that hearing was to make him whole

15:50

again. With a simple declaration,

15:53

Judge Ryan wiped the record clean.

15:56

He declared Ray Jennings a factually

15:59

innocent man. man

16:00

that wasn't all that happened

16:02

that month. Judge Ryan asked

16:04

to deputy days and to

16:06

homicide detectives

16:08

to join him in his chambers. What

16:11

was said there remained

16:13

a secret Until

16:15

now.

16:33

before

16:44

you get your

16:44

podcast or not subscribe and follow

16:47

today to start listening.

17:25

When a man

17:25

convicted of murder is declared

17:27

factually innocent, it leads quite

17:30

naturally to an important question.

17:33

If not him, then who?

17:37

That

17:37

question was at the very heart of the letter

17:39

from Chief Deputy D.A. Spillane.

17:43

As you're about to hear, it revealed

17:45

potential new suspects in great

17:47

detail without naming

17:51

them. The untold story goes all the way back in

17:53

time to that cold, windy night in

17:55

the park can ride.

18:00

it

18:02

starts with another young woman we

18:04

met her before her name is victoria

18:06

richardson she was seventeen years old

18:09

back then and she was parked just

18:11

a few spaces away from michelle's blue

18:13

mustang smoking marijuana

18:16

and listen to music with two of her

18:18

friends victoria

18:19

you may remember testified

18:22

for the prosecution enrage innings

18:24

first trial as a witness

18:26

now

18:27

years later the see

18:29

are you had uncovered more information

18:31

about richardson and the others in her car

18:33

that nine is what they found

18:38

victoria was a hard core member

18:41

of the flushing fifties blood gay

18:43

with an extensive rap sheet that included

18:46

assault with a deadly weapon for

18:48

years the bloods and their rivals the crips

18:50

had been the scourge of l a drive by

18:52

shootings murders by the score

18:56

the see are you looked hard the interview

18:58

she'd had with the police it took place

19:00

a few weeks after a show was murdered or

19:02

vittoria richardson was arrested on a

19:04

quite separate charge

19:07

to see

19:07

are you discovered she had actually given investigators

19:10

the name of a particular male

19:12

passenger in her car referred

19:15

to in the da's letter as john

19:17

doe

19:18

according to the see are

19:20

you he was young eighteen

19:23

years old same as michelle o'keeffe

19:26

but he i victoria was

19:28

a member of the flushing fifties blood gang

19:31

and he'd already established a reputation

19:33

for committing carjackings

19:36

with a nine millimeter pistols just by

19:38

the gun that killed michelle when

19:41

he read the da's better good heroic

19:43

was struck by several things well

19:47

there's there's a there's a lot of evidence

19:49

first you'd look at his list of priors

19:52

at the fact that a ban violent

19:54

towards women before i have to select

19:56

one the fact that he had committed

19:59

point of a

20:00

and robberies and carjackings. And

20:02

there was more. The

20:04

fact that he was found with an earring

20:07

that matched the description of an earring taken from

20:09

Michelle O'Keefe. And then I think most

20:11

importantly, that there's ballistics evidence

20:13

showing a very particular defect

20:16

in the shell casings that were ejected from

20:18

the weapon used to kill Michelle O'Keefe

20:20

that happened to match the shell casings

20:23

found at a crime scene that

20:25

appeared to be connected to John Doe.

20:28

Again, John Doe, meaning that 18-year-old

20:31

felon in the car was Victoria Richardson.

20:34

Investigators working with the CRU talked

20:36

to him. He denied ever

20:39

getting out of Victoria's car at the park

20:41

and ride. He also was given a polygraph

20:43

test and he passed. But

20:47

the CRU discovered he'd been convicted

20:49

of one carjacking a few months after Michelle's

20:51

murder and was linked to a second.

20:54

What kind of car was that? a

20:57

Mustang, and he

20:59

asked the victim if it was a manual

21:02

or an automatic.

21:04

Clint Ehrlich has a theory about why

21:07

he asked that question.

21:09

It appeared that he didn't know how to drive

21:11

a stick, and so he was

21:13

very interested in whether they were automatics

21:16

or not. And so the detectives always acted

21:19

as if it was mysterious why Michelle's

21:22

manual Mustang hadn't been taken, but that

21:24

would be one clue.

21:26

because he didn't know how to drive it. Because

21:28

he didn't know how to drive it. And then also

21:31

because he had put bullet holes in it and

21:33

blood in it. That's another fact that I think was

21:35

sort of overlooked in the initial investigation. They

21:37

acted as if it was mysterious. Why didn't he just

21:40

drive it away? Well, because it was evidence

21:42

of a murder.

21:44

Then there was the weird business of the color,

21:47

the blue Mustang. Those

21:49

were the waning days of the LA gang

21:51

wars, when just being

21:54

in blue the color of the crypts could

21:56

get you shot by the bloods.

21:59

anyway. In spite of all that, sheriff's

22:01

detectives, including Longshore, appeared

22:03

to ignore the violent young carjacker,

22:06

and they followed instead something else

22:09

said by Victoria Richardson about

22:11

somebody else altogether. Ray

22:14

Jennings told us about that.

22:16

What'd she tell Detective Harris? That she had

22:18

witnessed out of her rearview mirror a

22:22

Toyota Tercel drive-by

22:24

with a white male occupant, with

22:27

a tank top and

22:29

a red hat turned to the side. Well,

22:32

well, well. Another witness. Another witness.

22:35

A witness

22:37

or a participant, I wonder? You and me both.

22:40

It was a strange story,

22:42

the alleged sighting

22:44

by Victoria of the guy in the red cap.

22:46

Ray was there, remember, and he said he never

22:49

saw such a thing. But

22:52

Victoria's story, true or not, true or not, caught

22:54

the attention of sheriff's detectives because

22:57

they'd heard about a red hat guy

23:00

who drove a similar car and

23:02

happened to be wingman to a local

23:04

drug dealer. Did that

23:06

mean the drug dealer was also in the

23:09

park and ride?

23:10

They couldn't nail that down, but

23:14

the detectives did hear rumors that Michelle

23:16

O'Keefe may have encountered that drug

23:18

dealer.

23:19

Even though they occupied different

23:21

worlds, they may

23:23

have crossed paths of the same parties.

23:26

And they heard that the drug dealer boasted of

23:29

committing the murder. But

23:31

when they found him and brought him in, he denied

23:33

he ever said that. And neither

23:35

his DNA nor Victoria's story

23:38

could put him at the crime scene.

23:41

And the trail fizzled out.

23:43

Here's Michael Keefe. Well,

23:45

this is something that Detective

23:47

Longshore, the evening after he finished interviewing

23:50

him, it was a Saturday evening and he came

23:52

to the house. And he says you're going

23:54

to hear some grumblings about this guy and

23:58

that he was involved in But

24:00

he says, we interviewed him, and

24:04

I'm here to tell you he's not the guy.

24:08

Besides, by then, Longshore

24:11

and others were focused almost entirely

24:13

on their theory that Raymond Jennings, who

24:16

seemed to know too much, had to

24:18

be the guilty party.

24:20

Two stories, two potential

24:22

suspects, one overlooked

24:25

altogether. Those

24:27

were the stories that detectives and prosecutors

24:29

told Judge Ryan in his chambers

24:32

around the time Ray Jennings was finally declared

24:34

innocent. That was the secret

24:37

we promised to reveal. Dateline

24:40

has obtained an unsealed court transcript

24:42

of that meeting, and for the first

24:44

time we're revealing the names of

24:46

the two potential suspects they discussed.

24:50

They are gang member Andrew

24:53

Stewart, then 18 years old.

24:56

Victoria Richardson told investigators

24:58

he was in her car that night.

25:00

They referred to him as John Doe.

25:04

And the second one?

25:05

Brian Kellogg, the drug

25:08

dealer detectives believed may

25:10

have been at the park and ride that night.

25:13

Curiously, as the transcript reveals,

25:16

the detectives seemed most interested

25:18

in the drug dealer Kellogg,

25:21

Quinterlick. If you listen

25:23

to the detectives in that unsealed

25:26

document, they want very badly to believe

25:28

that somehow that was Brian Kellogg. Is

25:30

there any established evidence

25:32

to show a connection between Brian

25:35

Kellogg and Michelle O'Keefe?

25:37

I only know what is in

25:39

that unsealed transcript,

25:42

where they talk about the investigation,

25:45

placing them in the same circles, that

25:47

there were, it sounded like to me,

25:50

very weak rumors trying to

25:53

connect them together. And again, Keith,

25:56

everything that I've seen has indicated

25:58

that Michelle Keith was... a really

26:00

good person and a good girl. And

26:03

it really bothers me that they're straining to make it seem

26:05

like somehow she was involved in the drug trade.

26:08

Still,

26:10

CRU investigators did find

26:12

evidence Kellogg was abusive towards women.

26:15

And they heard those local rumors, though

26:17

never confirmed, that

26:19

Michelle may have crossed paths

26:21

with him.

26:22

Also, curiously, in that sealed

26:24

meeting,

26:25

Andrew Stewart, the card-jacking

26:27

gangbanger, was mentioned relatively

26:30

little. By the way, we reached out

26:32

to Andrew Stewart, haven't heard back. But

26:35

then the hearing ended and Michelle's murder

26:38

remained unsolved. And

26:40

then the courtroom door closed and the trail

26:42

ended and that was six years ago. To

26:45

date, there's been no update from the DA. The

26:48

O'Kees did not hear a word from anyone

26:50

about any of it. And then,

26:53

just in recent weeks as we prepared our story,

26:56

a new prosecutor was assigned to the

26:58

case. But he

27:00

or she will encounter a surprise,

27:04

just like we

27:05

did.

27:12

Hey guys, it's

27:14

Hoda Kotb from The Today Show. My podcast

27:16

making spaces full of conversations

27:19

with spiritual leaders and teachers

27:21

people like Viola Davis Wynonna Judd

27:24

Oprah Winfrey Mel Robbins and

27:26

so many more here how they found

27:28

the strength to make changes in their lives and

27:31

how you can do it

27:32

to all of them inspire

27:34

me today. Listen to all 3 seasons

27:36

of making space because of copy available

27:39

now

27:39

just search making space where you're listening

27:41

now.

28:00

to life. And now, Top Story

28:02

is available as a podcast, so you can

28:04

listen anytime and anywhere. Subscribe

28:06

now for new episodes every weeknight.

28:17

It was a twist we didn't see coming.

28:20

As we prepared this story, this final

28:22

episode,

28:24

we called the California Department of

28:26

Corrections and Rehabilitation.

28:28

We asked about a drug dealer named

28:30

Brian Kellogg, who was in prison

28:32

at the time. We were curious. Would

28:35

he be getting out of prison anytime soon?

28:39

Oh, you don't have to worry about him, they told

28:41

us.

28:42

Brian Kellogg had just died

28:44

the

28:45

night before we called.

28:48

He was 45 years old. Natural

28:51

causes, they said, he'd been in the hospital.

28:55

Now, whatever he may have known about the

28:57

murder of Michel O'Keefe is lost forever

29:00

in his grave.

29:04

Andrew Stewart, however, is very

29:06

much alive. He is currently

29:08

serving a 31-year sentence for a

29:10

carjacking committed six months after

29:13

Michel's murder. He

29:15

might have come up for parole soon. Except...

29:19

Violent offenses committed while in prison

29:21

extended his sentence by years.

29:24

He is stuck on stupid, said a

29:26

prison official familiar with his case. His

29:28

current release date is November 2032.

29:33

Clint Ehrlich has his own theory about

29:35

why the DA has been so tight-lit

29:38

about Andrew Stewart and the status

29:40

of the investigation. They would have to acknowledge

29:42

that

29:43

they knew that this individual

29:46

was present at the crime scene and

29:48

they didn't even interview him. And

29:51

the degree of embarrassment from that is such

29:54

that I think they just don't want to touch it.

29:56

This is Raymond Jennings.

29:58

You think the people who actually The person who actually

30:00

did it will be caught. Absolutely.

30:03

Makes you say that. It's

30:07

gonna happen.

30:09

You have information.

30:12

I just know that there was other people in that parking

30:14

lot that night. That's all I know.

30:18

Clint

30:18

Herrlich, who happened to cross our Dateline

30:20

story about Michelle all those years ago,

30:23

is officially a lawyer now. He

30:25

was sworn in by Conviction Review

30:28

Unit Director, Ken Lynch in

30:30

the same LA courtroom where Ray Jennings

30:32

was set free. Will you please

30:36

raise your right hand and

30:38

repeat after me?

30:40

Aye.

30:41

Aye. Clinton Edward Ehrlich

30:44

Quinn. Clinton Edward Ehrlich Quinn.

30:47

The biggest tragedy in all of this

30:49

is the death of Michelle

30:52

O'Keefe. Ray Jennings lost 11 years

30:54

of his life. Michelle O'Keefe lost

30:57

her entire life And I've

30:59

met her father. He's a

31:01

gracious man, and he deserves

31:04

the solace of knowing who killed

31:06

his daughter. He's still not sure that

31:10

your thinking has been correct, is

31:13

he? He has been told

31:15

many things that are false by the

31:18

sheriff's department, by the prosecution.

31:21

And so I don't expect him to uncritically

31:24

accept this new outcome,

31:26

this new twist. It's

31:29

a twist, all right. It's my

31:31

hope that we'll be able to build

31:33

a strong enough case. Well,

31:36

I should say. It's my hope that

31:39

there will be strong enough evidence

31:41

against the real killer

31:43

that Mr. O'Keefe and Mrs.

31:45

O'Keefe will

31:47

come to accept that Ray Jennings is

31:49

innocent.

31:50

The experience also changed

31:52

Jeff Ehrlich.

31:54

You know, on any given day, there

31:56

are probably, I don't know, well over 2 million

31:59

people behind the U.S. bars in America, you've

32:02

spent a long time and a terrific

32:04

amount of effort on your own money to

32:08

right what you perceive as a wrong with

32:10

one of them. Right. And

32:12

yet it seems to me like have

32:14

given you more pleasure than anything I can imagine.

32:18

It has given me more pleasure as

32:20

a lawyer than anything I've ever done. And

32:23

it rates for

32:26

me with the kind

32:28

of personal milestones that of getting

32:31

married, having your children born,

32:33

things like that. I get to see

32:35

little ripples.

32:37

I'm at the center along with Clint

32:39

and Ken Lynch and the CRU. We

32:41

did something good for Ray Jennings. And

32:44

now

32:45

the ripples of good. Go

32:47

out.

32:49

Ray Jennings, his family, to the Ehrlich's

32:52

now. When Ray got married exactly

32:54

a year after his release, the Ehrlich's

32:57

were there to witness it. Ray himself

32:59

officiated at the wedding of Jeff Ehrlich's

33:01

youngest son.

33:04

And

33:04

Ray is forever grateful to Clint, who

33:07

noticed, but no one else did, that

33:09

something didn't look right

33:12

and did something about it.

33:14

This is a friend for life. He is part of my

33:16

extended family now. All of them,

33:18

his family included everybody. They

33:22

have changed my life.

33:27

In a small town in North Carolina,

33:30

a world away from L.A. and the Atalope

33:32

Valley, Ray Jennings

33:34

is a manager of an auto parts

33:36

store, and he enjoys

33:38

life,

33:39

lessons learned. It

33:42

never dawned on me to ask for an attorney. That never dawned

33:44

on me that these people were going to use

33:49

things that you have said or helped with

33:51

against you later on in life. I've

33:55

always had a lot of respect for law enforcement and what

33:57

they do. Come

34:00

to find out you know it's it's not all no

34:03

sugars and cookies. I guess that's how you want to say Yeah,

34:05

why did you tell him so much? You

34:11

know there's a preconceived notion about

34:13

security guards and I

34:16

didn't want to fit that model. What

34:18

do you mean preconceived? No, you know you see them

34:20

in the movies and You

34:22

know they're just portrayed in a very dumb

34:25

ignorant fashion and

34:28

I didn't want to be perceived as a Man,

34:31

all you can get is this basic security job

34:33

and things like that So I

34:35

took on the role of playing dr.

34:37

Dr. Doogie Howser and inspector

34:40

gadget per se You want

34:42

to be extra help? I did want to be extra helpful

34:44

and it was and

34:46

that's pretty much what it was It

34:48

was nothing,

34:49

you know mischievous about it. It was just simple

34:52

a young man very immature

34:54

in his

34:55

time wanting to impress

34:58

the detectives or whoever else was

35:00

out there.

35:03

And by the way, Raymond Jennings told us

35:05

he never laid his hands on

35:07

civil attorney Rex Parris' neck,

35:10

as Parris told us he had in

35:12

that deposition, never

35:14

harmed a hero in his head.

35:16

And you're not bitter for the loss of those 16 years. No,

35:20

I'm not bitter. You know, like I said, I

35:23

have moved forward in my life. I moved

35:25

forward in prison, and I now move forward

35:28

outside of prison. Again,

35:31

the choice is yours.

35:37

And back where it all happened,

35:38

back in the Antelope Valley,

35:40

Mike and Pat O'Keefe still can't

35:43

quite believe that Ray Jennings did not

35:45

kill their daughter and thus start

35:47

the chain of terrible events that

35:49

destroy their family.

35:52

Michael Keefe is a kind man and

35:55

talkative himself, like Ray

35:57

Jennings.

35:58

Of all the things my Michael Keefe

36:00

told me over the years. I

36:02

love the story he told me the first time we met 14

36:04

years ago. This

36:07

was before the divorce with Pat,

36:10

before Michelle's little brother Jason died.

36:13

It was about a kind word from a coworker.

36:16

She came to me just the other day and said, you

36:19

know, I was at the

36:21

Emerald Valley graduation ceremony when

36:23

you and your wife and son received

36:27

her diploma. She said,

36:30

I knew from then on as a role model. She said

36:32

it was not only a role model for me, I use Michelle

36:34

as a role model for my kids now as

36:36

well.

36:37

So

36:40

in that sense, it helps.

36:43

And she's still fulfilling some kind of role,

36:45

even 10 years after she died. I think so.

36:48

Yeah, she's touched many people's

36:50

lives.

36:53

How much does that live with you now? How

36:55

much does she live with you now? We

36:58

used to live with us, she's in our hearts every day. Yeah,

37:00

every day.

37:03

Once there was a smart and pretty girl with

37:06

a shiny blue Mustang and

37:08

a whole new life ahead of her. You

37:10

can't ever, ever forget me, okay?

37:13

Because I know I'll never, ever forget you.

37:16

And a younger brother named Jason, who

37:19

made a promise at her funeral. I

37:24

will love you forever and I'll see you in heaven

37:26

when it's my time to go. Love your brother

37:28

Jason. And

37:30

if there is a heaven, perhaps they're there.

37:35

Spirits catching up drafts in

37:37

the high desert. MUSIC

37:40

SOUND SOUND

37:44

SOUND SOUND

37:48

SOUND MUSIC

37:53

The Girl

37:53

in the Blue Mustang is a production

37:55

of Dateline and NBC News. Scott

37:58

Frazier is a producer.

38:00

Brian Drew, David Varga,

38:02

and John Koster are audio editors.

38:04

Thomas Kemmon is assistant audio editor.

38:07

Ke'Ani Reed is associate producer.

38:10

Adam Gorefein is co-executive producer.

38:13

Liz Cole is executive producer. And

38:15

David Corvo is senior executive

38:17

producer. From NBC News

38:20

Audio, Bryson Barnes is technical

38:22

director, sound mixing by Bob

38:24

Mallory. Nina Bizbano

38:26

is associate

38:27

producer. the

38:45

Hey everybody, it's hoda kopi and Jenna Bush Hager

38:48

and we got big news. Our

38:50

show is now a I

38:52

can't that's right you

38:53

can take it anywhere you go in your your car

38:56

to the gym even just at home on your own

38:58

couch with the glass of wine like spending

39:00

time with each other and now we love that we

39:02

can

39:03

spend even more time with you are

39:05

you sick of us yet don't be because you can

39:07

never have to miss a moment of fun

39:09

laughs or friendship subscribe listen to

39:11

today with Kota and Jenna where we get

39:14

the cast.