Mount Olive grad slain in Mongolia
MOUNT OLIVE — When John Martin Keane stopped posting on Facebook one day in early January, his friends and family knew something was wrong.
Keane, 45, a 1985 graduate of Mount Olive High School and Air Force veteran, kept in daily contact with his loved ones from his home in Taiwan where he lived with his wife and 12-year-old daughter.
When his newsfeed went silent Jan. 7, Keane had arrived in Mongolia — the most sparsely populated independent country in the world — to pursue a business venture in the capital of Ulaanbataar.
For two months friends and family lived in limbo. His mother, Margaret Keane, who last spoke to him when he landed in the capital, appealed to the State Department and the American Embassy to find out what had happened to her son.
On March 13, the embassy told Keane, 70, of Dunedin, Fla, that her son had been killed. They later disclosed that the woman who lured Keane there on the pretext of running a hotel/restaurant business had confessed to his murder.
Mount Olive High School classmates who reconnected with Keane on Facebook were key to finding out what had happened in the East and Central Asian country.
“John was very active on Facebook and, since he was in the Air Force, always posted pictures of aviation models he built. He was an awesome cook, and I looked forward to seeing what he was cooking with friends in Taiwan,” classmate Jennifer Ostrander of Washington Borough said.
“One Friday night when I came home from work and I saw there were no posts, I knew something was up. I’m not the type to sit by and do nothing. I had to help.”
On March 8, days before Mongolian authorities confirmed Keane’s death, Ostrander and several other classmates asked fellow 1985 grad Jeffrey Barberi, a private investigator and computer forensics examiner, to look into Keane’s disappearance.
Barberi, owner of JdB Forensics and Investigation in Bridgewater, said Keane was roped into an Internet scam through Facebook.
“He was going through a very hard time in his life, and he fell for the scam,” Barberi said. “We were able to read every single correspondence between John and the suspect in custody, and she was very convincing. Yet, we know that 99 percent of what she said was a lie.”
Barberi said a woman posing as a Mongolian university student contacted Keane through Facebook and persuaded him to wire $10,000 for a hotel/restaurant venture.
“John told his mother, Margaret, that it seemed like a great opportunity to own or help run a restaurant business. She transferred the money for the venture on Dec. 28, 2011,” Barberi said.
Keane flew to Mongolia on Jan. 5 via Korea, Barberi reports.
“He landed in the capital, and the woman picked him up from the airport. John called his mother and they spoke at length. His mother said everything sounded normal.”
But when Keane did not hear from her son on Jan. 7, she knew something was wrong, Barberi said.
“It was out of character for him to not talk to his mother for a single day — whether by phone or email. They were extremely close.”
Within days, Barberi was able to trace all emails and pinpoint the location of the suspect.
“By March 13, I passed my findings over to the Mongolian authorities, and by March 14 they had tracked her and brought her in,” he said. “We were thrilled. Since then, we’ve been working with them to apprehend others.”
A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said the investigation into Keane’s death is ongoing.
Barberi said he and the family are trying to keep further details, such as the name of the suspect and others involved, “controlled and contained” until John Keane’s body arrives in the U.S.
“We don’t want to delay Margaret’s closure in this matter,” he said. “We just want John home.”
Keane served in the Air Force for seven years and received various medals for his service in the first Gulf War. Keane was an English teacher in the public schools in Taiwan.
“John was a standup guy,” Ostrander said. “What I remember most about him in high school was that he was quiet but had a great sense of humor. That’s what keeps me going when I think about our loss.”
Keane, 45, a 1985 graduate of Mount Olive High School and Air Force veteran, kept in daily contact with his loved ones from his home in Taiwan where he lived with his wife and 12-year-old daughter.
When his newsfeed went silent Jan. 7, Keane had arrived in Mongolia — the most sparsely populated independent country in the world — to pursue a business venture in the capital of Ulaanbataar.
For two months friends and family lived in limbo. His mother, Margaret Keane, who last spoke to him when he landed in the capital, appealed to the State Department and the American Embassy to find out what had happened to her son.
On March 13, the embassy told Keane, 70, of Dunedin, Fla, that her son had been killed. They later disclosed that the woman who lured Keane there on the pretext of running a hotel/restaurant business had confessed to his murder.
Mount Olive High School classmates who reconnected with Keane on Facebook were key to finding out what had happened in the East and Central Asian country.
“John was very active on Facebook and, since he was in the Air Force, always posted pictures of aviation models he built. He was an awesome cook, and I looked forward to seeing what he was cooking with friends in Taiwan,” classmate Jennifer Ostrander of Washington Borough said.
“One Friday night when I came home from work and I saw there were no posts, I knew something was up. I’m not the type to sit by and do nothing. I had to help.”
On March 8, days before Mongolian authorities confirmed Keane’s death, Ostrander and several other classmates asked fellow 1985 grad Jeffrey Barberi, a private investigator and computer forensics examiner, to look into Keane’s disappearance.
Barberi, owner of JdB Forensics and Investigation in Bridgewater, said Keane was roped into an Internet scam through Facebook.
“He was going through a very hard time in his life, and he fell for the scam,” Barberi said. “We were able to read every single correspondence between John and the suspect in custody, and she was very convincing. Yet, we know that 99 percent of what she said was a lie.”
Barberi said a woman posing as a Mongolian university student contacted Keane through Facebook and persuaded him to wire $10,000 for a hotel/restaurant venture.
“John told his mother, Margaret, that it seemed like a great opportunity to own or help run a restaurant business. She transferred the money for the venture on Dec. 28, 2011,” Barberi said.
Keane flew to Mongolia on Jan. 5 via Korea, Barberi reports.
“He landed in the capital, and the woman picked him up from the airport. John called his mother and they spoke at length. His mother said everything sounded normal.”
But when Keane did not hear from her son on Jan. 7, she knew something was wrong, Barberi said.
“It was out of character for him to not talk to his mother for a single day — whether by phone or email. They were extremely close.”
Within days, Barberi was able to trace all emails and pinpoint the location of the suspect.
“By March 13, I passed my findings over to the Mongolian authorities, and by March 14 they had tracked her and brought her in,” he said. “We were thrilled. Since then, we’ve been working with them to apprehend others.”
A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said the investigation into Keane’s death is ongoing.
Barberi said he and the family are trying to keep further details, such as the name of the suspect and others involved, “controlled and contained” until John Keane’s body arrives in the U.S.
“We don’t want to delay Margaret’s closure in this matter,” he said. “We just want John home.”
Keane served in the Air Force for seven years and received various medals for his service in the first Gulf War. Keane was an English teacher in the public schools in Taiwan.
“John was a standup guy,” Ostrander said. “What I remember most about him in high school was that he was quiet but had a great sense of humor. That’s what keeps me going when I think about our loss.”
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