Keith Morrison

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

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 L.A.

County Sheriff's Deputy Jim Jeffra 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.

Jeffra 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.

Jeffra 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 L.A.

And after a 28-year stint at L.A.

County Sheriff's, he was up for a new challenge.

Jeffra had a throwback look and sound to him, part Columbo, 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.

Jeffra wanted to try something completely different, turn the investigation upside down.

Instead of proving Ray Jennings was guilty, Jeffra decided he'd like to try to show that Jennings was innocent.