A break in the case? Former police detective Derrick Levasseur and forensic psychologist Kris Mohandie take on the unsolved murder of Michelle O’Keefe in this exclusive sneak peek at the season finale of ID’s Breaking Homicide.
The aspiring actress, who was only 18 at the time of her death, was murdered in Palmdale, California, in February 2000 in a parking lot on her way home from appearing in a Kid Rock music video.
The parking lot security guard Raymond Lee Jennings was eventually arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison for her murder. After serving 11 years behind bars, he was exonerated.
“This case was so fascinating to me and Kris because there are really two victims in this – of course, the tragic death of Michelle O’Keefe, but also the wrongful incarceration of Ray Jennings,” Levasseur tells Us ahead of the chilling final episode. “We were really eager to look at everything with fresh eyes and hopefully get some answers for Michelle’s family. Going into every case, our goal is to move the investigation forward in some way, and I believe that we turned over information that propels this investigation into a new direction that has not been fully looked at before.”
The duo do indeed meet up with Jennings in the episode and he explains why he turned into a suspect in the first place: “I gave a lot of information out and I talked myself into a hole for the most part. I didn’t want to be perceived as the low-paying security guard as they do have a reputation. … It’s like a joke, wannabe police officer.”
He says he was “young, dumb and stupid” while talking to authorities at the time, and Levasseur wanted to get to the bottom of that story.
“In every case, it’s imperative to talk to any and all key players, so it was so valuable to sit down with Ray and hear his story firsthand,” Levasseur adds. “During our conversation, I was listening for any changes in his speech, while also closely watching Ray’s body language for clues that he may be lying or bending the truth.”
Jennings had submitted to a polygraph at the time, and failed. “I don’t believe I failed the polygraph,” Jennings tells Levasseur and Mohandie in the sneak peek. “That’s impossible because I didn’t take anybody’s life. I didn’t kill this young lady.”
Breaking Homicide airs on Discovery ID Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
