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Dateline NBC

Talking Dateline: The Girl in the Blue Mustang

Dateline NBC

NBC News

Society & Culture, News, True Crime, Culture, Social

4.440.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2026

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Andrea Canning sits down with Keith Morrison to discuss his original podcast series, "The Girl in the Blue Mustang." After 18-year-old Michelle O'Keefe was found murdered in a California park-and-ride in 2000. In 2009 -- after two juries deadlocked -- security guard Raymond Lee Jennings was convicted of her murder at a third trial. But everything changed in 2015 when a Dateline viewer saw the story and vowed to prove Jennings's innocence. The conviction was overturned by a judge and Jennings was released after more than a decade in prison. Keith tells Andrea what it was like covering this story for decades, both in and out of the courtroom. Later, they talk about other stories they’ve done involving multiple trials. Plus, Keith shares two exclusive clips: one from his interview with that curious Dateline watcher, Clint Ehrlich, and another with the man Clint helped get exonerated. Have a question for Talking Dateline? DM us a video to @DatelineNBC or leave a voicemail at (212) 413-5252. Your question may be featured in an upcoming episode. Listen to the series on Apple: https://apple.co/4rIm9Um Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5E7c5QCqNMihKSQx5eX4aa

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey everyone, I'm Andrea Canning, and we are talking Dateline. And today we are here with Keith Morrison to talk about his original podcast series called The Girl in the Blue Mustang. Before we get into the discussion, we're dropping the full series in the Dateline feed as a bonus, while Dateline is taking a break for the Winter Olympics.

0:23.0

So go take a listen and then come back here.

0:25.4

And later, we'll have two extra clips for this episode.

0:28.4

The first is from Keith's interview with the man once convicted of the murder.

0:32.2

The second is from Keith's interview with the Dateline viewer who believed he was innocent.

0:37.3

Okay, let's talk Dateline. Hey, Keith.

0:39.5

Thank you, Andrea. It's nice to be here. Let me give you a quick recap of what happened in this

0:45.3

story, what it's all about. It's a young woman who had gone to a music video taping, and when she

0:52.9

arrived back to the parking lot where she left her car,

0:55.4

she was attacked and killed in a very violent way. And it was a story of really the next

1:01.8

couple of decades of back and forth and who was responsible. And they found somebody,

1:07.6

tried him three times, finally convicted him of murder, and then several years

1:13.3

later, an auto-didact, a very smart guy happened to see Dateline on his computer and turned the

1:19.0

whole thing upside down. And events have transpired ever since then that sometimes confound

1:24.5

the senses. As of, I think, next week, it'll be 26 years since this happened.

1:31.5

Oh, wow. And those 26 years, you know, there are still people holding a candle for one side or

1:39.0

another in this crazy, crazy story. Yeah. I'm not surprised. I texted you, well, because I've been listening to this all week. I started listening to it and I could not stop. Well, good. Thank you.

1:51.5

I was listening to it in my bedroom, in the car, in the kitchen. It was just so incredibly powerful. And wow, what a roller coaster, Keith.

2:00.6

Indeed, a roller coaster. Yes, yes.

2:02.9

Let's start with Michelle, the victim here. I was so taken aback by this premonition that she had.

2:13.1

We'll just remind everyone, Michelle, they were watching TV and there was a guy in a coffin he couldn't

2:19.0

get out and she said to her dad, I just have this feeling, I'm going to die. And then two more

...

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