Murdered Man Remembered As A Community Helper Despite Checkered Past

NORTH PALM SPRINGS – There are new developments in the murder of a 75-year-old man. Ed Keeley may have been murdered as part of a robbery.

Ed Keeley often left the gates at his ranch near Desert Hot Springs unlocked. His family and local church group say he helped out the poor and homeless who often just wandered in.

Ed Keeley’s friends remember him as a cowboy and a retired school principal. But the 75-year-old was found murdered in his backyard Monday evening. And, with Keeley’s car stolen, the clues are pointing to a robbery.

“It was driven away and then burned up, at least partially burned up and left. We know that whoever was here drove that car away,” says Troy DeHart, Keeley’s son-in-law.

Keeley’s ranch was a haven and a rest stop for the poor and homeless living near Desert Hot Springs.

His son-in-law remembers how Keeley invited hundreds of people each Thanksgiving, “Three-hundred people came in and out of this place. All of them, he would go out and find them. If they didn’t have a ride, he would go out and bring them in for the day.”

Keeley had been in trouble with the law and was a registered sex offender for lewd acts with a girl younger than 14. But detectives say it’s not connected to his murder.

Keeley was a regular at the Old West Ministries in Sky Valley. The cowboy-themed Christian ministry remembered Keeley as one of their most dependable volunteers.

Keely’s friend, Jesse Hanna, says, “He had the simplicity, non-complexity of the country lifestyle. He performed weddings. He was involved in this community. He was just part of the texture of the desert, that one texture that seems to be going away more and more.”