Cold cases: Two separate US killings of children solved by DNA

James Neal, left, and Edward Donell Thomas, right, were arrested this week. Linda O'Keefe was strangled in 1973, and William Tillett was suffocated in 1990. Photos / AP

Authorities said on Wednesday that they solved two decades-old cold cases that stunned Southern California, arresting suspects in the separate killings of a boy and a girl who disappeared while walking home from school.

Linda O'Keefe was strangled in 1973, and William Tillett was suffocated in 1990. They were both 11.

James Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and charged with murder with special circumstances in Linda's death — a case that has long shaken the seaside community of Newport Beach, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.

Linda Ann O'Keefe was found strangled to death in 1973. Photo / Supplied

"The detectives dogged this case," Spitzer told reporters, saying advances in technology have made it possible to close old cases. "We have every opportunity in the world to solve so many of these cold cases that we never had hope in the past of solving."

Authorities published sketches of the suspect last year based on genealogical evidence taken from a DNA sample at the crime scene. Investigators got a hit from a genealogical database earlier this year and got a DNA sample from Neal that matched, Spitzer said.

Neal was expected in court in Colorado on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. The voicemail was full on a number listed for Neal.

Linda was walking home from summer school in Newport Beach on July 6, 1973, when she vanished. She was last seen talking to a stranger in a van and never made it home, Newport Beach police Chief Jon Lewis said.Her body was found in a ditch the next day. She had been strangled, Lewis said.

Neal lived in Southern California when Linda was killed and went to Florida soon afterward, where he changed his name, prosecutors said.Authorities said they never gave up the search for her killer, even after decades passed and her parents had died. Linda's two living sisters have been told about the arrest, authorities said.

James Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and charged with murder. Photo / AP

Edward Donell Thomas who was arrested and is in custody in connection with the kidnapping and killing of an 11-year-old boy. Photo / AP

In the 1990 case, a 50-year-old Edward Donell Thomas was in custody in connection with the kidnapping and killing of William Tillett outside Los Angeles. Prosecutors said they charged him with murder Tuesday.

Eleven-year-old William Tillett was kidnapped and killed while walking home from school in 1990. Photo / AP

Investigators didn't say what linked Thomas to the slaying. William disappeared while walking home from school in Inglewood on May 24, 1990. His body was found in a dark carport later that day. The coroner determined he had been suffocated.

Thomas, a resident of Pomona, was being held without bail. It wasn't known if he has an attorney. Arraignment is scheduled for April 4.

- AP