DIVERS SEARCH BOTTOM OF LAKE.Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer PALMDALE - Members of a local dive club combed the murky bottom of a Palmdale lake Saturday to search for a gun used to kill an 18-year-old Palmdale girl more than two years ago. Pat and Mike O'Keefe, parents of slain Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. student Michelle O'Keefe, watched from the shore as the divers swept the bottom of Palmdale Lake for more than six hours but turned up nothing more than debris and a fisherman's lost cell phone. ``We're just going to keep pressing until we get this taken care of,'' Mike O'Keefe said. ``I'll remain optimistic op·ti·mist n. 1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome. 2. A believer in philosophical optimism. op , at least while there's still breath in my lungs.'' Michelle O'Keefe was shot to death behind the wheel of her 2000 Ford Mustang For other Ford Mustang models and concepts, see . The Ford Mustang is an automobile produced by the Ford Motor Company, originally based on the Ford Falcon compact.[1] in a Palmdale Park and Ride Lot on Feb. 22, 2000, just after 9 p.m. A security guard who was on the lot the night she was killed has been named in a wrongful death The taking of the life of an individual resulting from the willful or negligent act of another person or persons. If a person is killed because of the wrongful conduct of a person or persons, the decedent's heirs and other beneficiaries may file a wrongful death action lawsuit filed by her parents. The murder weapon has not been recovered, and homicide investigators found themselves with very few leads in the case. Seven divers from the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley Desert Divers Club arrived about 6:30 a.m. at the western cove of the lake, and they continued searching the bottom until just before 1 p.m. Divers said the bottom of the 200-by-200-foot area they searched was so cloudy cloudy (clou´de) 1. murky; turbid; not transparent. 2. marked by indistinct streaks. they could see only inches in front of them. ``The visibility was zero,'' said diver diver, general term used to refer to many diving birds, e.g., the loon, the grebe, and some ducks, auks, and penguins. Bob Laven. ``The real problem is that you have soft sediment and muck from your elbow to your shoulder. You really can't touch the bottom with all that. Something thrown in there could just sink in that.'' The divers divided the area into a grid, then swept the bottom in careful lines, making sure they covered every inch, Laven said. The club had been asked to make the dive more than a year ago by a private investigator working on behalf of the O'Keefes' attorney, R. Rex Parris, who is handling the wrongful death lawsuit. About four weeks ago, they got a call asking that they organize the dive as soon as possible. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: At right, Mike and Pat O'Keefe, parents of murder victim Michelle O'Keefe, watch a diver from A.V. Desert Divers Club come up from a murder-weapon search in Palmdale Lake. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion