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This story initially aired on Nov. 19, 2022. It was up to date on Aug. 26, 2023.
The day after Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer disappeared in January 1982, her physique was discovered on the facet of a snowbank on Hoosier Cross — 10 miles exterior Breckenridge, Colorado. She had tragically been shot. Six months later, the physique of Annette Schnee was additionally discovered, about 10 miles south in a desolate space — mendacity face down in a stream. She had additionally been shot. As “48 Hours” contributor Natalie Morales reviews, the thriller of what occurred to those two younger girls would hang-out their households and investigators for years.
BOBBIE JO OBERHOLTZER
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: Day by day that I made this drive and acquired to see all of the surroundings, and the sunrises and sunsets, and particularly from the highest of Hoosier, it is like “I’m so fortunate to stay right here.”
However for 40 years, the towering, craggy Rockies exterior Breckenridge, Colorado, held a darkish and silent secret: the unsolved murders of Annette Schnee and Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer. They’d outline the profession of now Park County Detective Sergeant Wendy Kipple. However again in 1982, when each girls had been killed —
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: I used to be a senior in highschool, doin’ highschool teenage stuff. … We had been simply principally footloose and fancy-free … and by no means giving the primary thought that one thing might occur to us.
It was an perspective from one other time — a sense Wendy shared with Bobbie Jo.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer was any individual that I believe I’d’ve been associates with.
Natalie Morales: How a lot is she missed by her household?
Laurie Merlo: Quite a bit. Nonetheless.
Laurie Merlo’s reminiscence of massive sister Bobbie Jo is frozen in these gentler instances.
Laurie Merlo: Top-of-the-line issues that ever occurred in my life was bein’ her youthful sister.
Natalie Morales: How do you describe her?
Laurie Merlo: A free spirit. Loving particular person.
Jeff Oberholtzer: Very fairly. … you realize, fell head over heels for her.
Natalie Morales: You fell laborious.
Jeff Oberholtzer: Yeah. Yeah. I did.
Jeff Oberholtzer and Bobbie Jo dated for just a few years earlier than making it official in 1977. And shortly, the newlyweds from the Midwest headed for the mountains.
Jeff Oberholtzer: Colorado was calling, you realize.
They’d name the city of Alma, half an hour south of Breckenridge, “house.”
Jeff Oberholtzer: Yeah. … Simply gave the impression to be the place to be. You understand? … Us hippies.
Natalie Morales: You had been a hippie again then?
Jeff Oberholtzer: Oh, certain.
Natalie Morales: Yeah. And was Bobbie Jo a hippie too?
Jeff Oberholtzer: Oh yeah.
Jeff opened an equipment restore enterprise; Bobbie Jo labored for an actual property firm in Breckenridge. She’d typically hitch a trip to work. Again then, many individuals did.
Jeff Oberholtzer: Individuals would search for you … They noticed you standing by the facet of the street, they’d choose you up.
Nonetheless, Jeff knew hassle might be only one trip away. So, he had handmade Bobbie Jo a secret weapon.
Jeff Oberholtzer: It was a big brass clip, very heavy, with a big brass ring hooked up to it. And it was made for self-defense.
On January 6, 1982, it was bitter chilly with snow within the forecast. Bobbie Jo hitched to work, the place that very same afternoon she’d be pleasantly shocked with a job promotion. She known as Jeff with the excellent news and advised him she deliberate to have a good time with associates after work and could be house quickly.
Jeff Oberholtzer: OK … Every thing’s good.
However when Bobbie Jo wasn’t house by midnight, Jeff acquired apprehensive, and drove to the house of the chums Bobbie Jo had been celebrating with.
Jeff Oberholtzer: Woke ’em up, requested them, you realize, the place Bobbie was, in the event that they knew. And – she did not know.
Natalie Morales: And it wasn’t like her to not come house?
Jeff Oberholtzer: Oh, in no way.
Jeff went to the Breckenridge Police Division however was advised it was too quickly to file a lacking particular person’s report. So, he headed again to Alma — alone.
Jeff Oberholtzer: The cellphone rang I take into consideration 1 / 4 to eight … It was a rancher … He had discovered her driver’s license and a number of the contents of her pockets blowing in his driveway. … Oh, oh. Then I knew one thing was horribly unsuitable.
Jeff and a few associates all headed in the direction of the ranch the place Bobbie Jo’s license had been discovered.
Jeff Oberholtzer: That is once I noticed her backpack out within the snow. … And I acquired out of the car and went by means of the snow … that is when I discovered her glove — within the snow. And, uh, it was coated in blood. And, oh –
A bloody tissue additionally lay within the snow. However nonetheless no Bobbie Jo. Jeff went again to their home. And associates headed up Hoosier Cross — the route Bobbie Jo normally took house.
Jeff Oberholtzer: They went up with cross-country skis to the cross. They usually discovered her physique.
Now investigators joined Bobbie Jo’s associates, spreading out throughout the stark panorama. Bobbie Jo’s brass key ring, with the hook, was discovered within the parking zone.
Jim Hardtke: … that her husband Jeff Oberholtzer had put collectively for her to make use of as a weapon if she wanted to.
Former Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Jim Hardtke was on the crime scene.
Jim Hardtke: The opposite merchandise that was discovered up there … was an orange bootie … like an ankle sock. … It did not belong. … It did not match something related with Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer.
And off the facet of the street, within the grim shadows of the mountains, lay Bobbie Jo.
Jim Hardtke: The physique was frozen. … She was absolutely clothed … Her arms had been shut collectively.
One hand had been zip-tied. And Hardtke believes Bobbie Jo had been shot at shut vary within the chest.
As soon as a free spirit, the lifeless 29-year-old was positioned in a bag. Jeff pleaded to look.
Jeff Oberholtzer: They unzipped the bag. And — (his voice breaks) it was my Bobbie Jo (cries).
Natalie Morales: Did you could have any thought who might have carried out this to your spouse?
Jeff Oberholtzer: None.
However Jeff’s tears weren’t what cops had been on the lookout for.
Natalie Morales: When did police name you in and say, “We have now some questions for you?”
Jeff Oberholtzer: Perhaps the — the subsequent day or so.
Jim Hardtke: I advised him he is the primary suspect.
LOCAL NEWS REPORT: Proof thus far signifies the girl might have been making an attempt to flee into the timber when she was gunned down.
However the investigation was about to develop into much more difficult when police discovered of the disappearance of Annette Schnee, who vanished the exact same day as Bobbie Jo.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: They most likely simply handed one another and did not even know … they might be related.
“ANNETTE IS MISSING”
The primary inkling Cindy French had that her massive sister Annette was lacking, got here when her mom answered the household’s outdated rotary phone.
Cindy French: I heard her on the cellphone, I heard her begin to cry … and I mentioned, “What’s unsuitable?”… And he or she mentioned, “Annette is lacking.”
All of the police might inform the household was that Annette Schnee had vanished. The information appeared inconceivable. Solely 21 years outdated, Annette had left the household’s house in Sioux Metropolis, Iowa, a yr earlier and gave the impression to be thriving in Colorado. She had two jobs — housekeeper by day and cocktail waitress by evening.
Cindy French: She was associates along with her roommates, and the people who she labored on the Vacation Inn at had been her associates that she would speak about fairly regularly to mother.
And it was a buddy from work who reported Annette lacking. It was January 8, 1982 — the day after Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer’s physique was discovered. As quickly as older sister Karen Riessen heard the information, she rounded up relations and headed to Colorado.
Natalie Morales: what had been you pondering might’ve occurred to her in that second, not understanding?
Karen Riessen: Knowin’ she hitchhiked, we figured any individual picked her up. Yeah. We had been all hopin’ she was nonetheless alive. You understand, you do preserve that hope. However at the back of your thoughts, you are most likely thinkin’ not. However you do not wanna assume that.
As investigators tracked Annette’s final actions, they found she had really disappeared the identical day as Bobbie Jo. However the twist was that Annette vanished hours earlier than Bobbie Jo.
Jim Hardtke: Annette was final seen … at about 4:30 within the afternoon … in Breckenridge. Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer was final seen in Breckenridge at about 7:30 within the night.
From the outset, former CBI Agent Jim Hardtke suspected the 2 circumstances could be related.
Jim Hardtke: It was — a reasonably all-out effort to search out … any info from anybody.
Investigators discovered that after Annette left her job on the Vacation Inn on January 6, she had visited a physician’s workplace after which hitchhiked to a drug retailer in Breckenridge.
Natalie Morales: So, she went in to get some medicine?
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: She went in to get some medicine … She was speaking to a girl that we have by no means been capable of establish. And that was the final time she was seen.
Cindy says not understanding the main points of Annette’s disappearance haunted their mom.
Cindy French: I do know Mother would simply say, “I simply wanna know why, how? You understand, that is all I need to know … no person can provide it to me. No one is aware of why or how.”
And in a wierd flip of occasions, Jeff Oberholtzer, already a suspect in his personal spouse’s homicide, advised police when and the place he thought Annette’s physique could be situated.
Natalie Morales: How would you realize that?
Jeff Oberholtzer: I’ve at all times had completely different premonitions all my life … I had advised them that I felt that she’d be discovered … 4 miles … from my home … on the Fourth of July.
Natalie Morales: That is fairly particular.
Jeff Oberholtzer: Yeah. And it wasn’t far off … that certain made me look fairly dangerous.
Actually, when Annette’s physique was found almost six months after she vanished, Jeff’s premonition turned out to be scarily correct. She was discovered on July 3, 1982, a day earlier than Jeff’s prediction, and her physique was roughly seven, not 4, miles from Jeff’s home. It was a younger boy who got here throughout the crime scene.
Charlie McCormick: He was fishing and located her. Reported it to his dad, and the dad known as … the sheriff’s division.
Charlie McCormick, a non-public investigator employed by the Schnee household, says Annette was mendacity face down and absolutely clothed in Sacramento Creek, about 23 miles from the drug retailer the place she was final seen.
Charlie McCormick: She’d been shot as soon as within the again … Exit wound, entrance, on a downward angle of about 30 levels.
Natalie Morales: So, what does that inform you?
Charlie McCormick: It might be … she was on her knees … May very well be she was working … downhill away from … the one that shot her.
Authorities suspected Annette may need been sexually assaulted.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: Proof kinda signifies that … her clothes was present in disarray.
Jim Hardtke: Her blue denims’ zipper was damaged. We consider that the sneakers had been on the unsuitable ft when she was discovered.
Former CBI Agent Hardtke attended Annette’s post-mortem and his eye was drawn to one thing that will ceaselessly change the course of the investigation.
Jim Hardtke: On her left foot I observed an orange bootie. And in my thoughts, I am remembering the orange bootie that was discovered on the high of Hoosier Cross … very near the place Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer’s physique was discovered.
Jim Hardtke: And … I am saying, “Holy s***. That is wonderful. This ties … the circumstances collectively.
Up till that time, Hardtke says investigators by no means knew what to make of that orange sock or bootie from the Bobbie Jo crime scene.
Jim Hardtke: It was simply a type of mysterious issues that you simply choose up at against the law scene.
Kipple believes Annette misplaced her orange sock within the killer’s car and there it remained till hours later when he picked up Bobbie Jo and attacked her.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: She jumps out, and when she jumped outta the truck, the orange sock will get kicked out of the truck.
And that sock was not the one piece of proof discovered on Annette’s physique. Within the pocket of her jacket, they found a enterprise card with a well-recognized title: Jeff Oberholtzer.
Jeff advised police he recalled giving Annette a trip in November 1981 when she was out hitchhiking. Jeff says that, on the time, he was selling his equipment restore enterprise with these playing cards.
Jeff Oberholtzer: I gave them to everybody.
Natalie Morales: So, now police know that you simply had met Annette.
Jeff Oberholtzer: Sure.
Natalie Morales: Did that add to their suspicion?
Jeff Oberholtzer: Oh sure.
Natalie Morales: Jeff, did you could have something to do with the homicide of your spouse, Bobbie Jo?
Jeff Oberholtzer: Not a factor. Nothing.
Natalie Morales: Did you could have something to do with the homicide of Annette Schnee?
Jeff Oberholtzer: Nothing. No.
Regardless of now being related to 2 murdered girls and having that very correct premonition. Jeff finally was cleared. His blood kind didn’t match the blood discovered on Bobbie Jo’s glove and the close by tissue. And, as advances had been made with DNA know-how, Jeff’s DNA was not a match.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: I advised him, I mentioned, “Jeff, in my guide, you are not a suspect.”
However after almost 40 years, might DNA assist establish the true killer within the murders of Bobbie Jo and Annette? Early in 2020, Kipple and her crew determined to try to discover out.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: And I mentioned, “Let’s do this family tree factor … perhaps it might work for us.”
She despatched the DNA pattern generated from the Bobbie Jo investigation to United Knowledge Join. The Denver firm runs crime scene DNA profiles by means of publicly accessible genealogical databases.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: On January 9, 2021, I get a cellphone name from the genealogist, says, “I’ve two extra names for you.” And a type of turned out to be the one.
A SUSPECT AND A DNA MATCH
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: I knew from the beginning this was gonna come right down to DNA.
In January 2021, Park County Detective Sergeant Wendy Kipple acquired a name about these new DNA take a look at outcomes, and it turned on the market was not one, however two attainable matches for blood discovered on Bobbie Jo’s glove and that tissue that had been recovered again in 1982.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: I will always remember the day I acquired that cellphone name — and I acquired these names.
Natalie Morales: And what had been the 2 names you got?
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: Alan Phillips and Bruce Phillips.
Alan Lee Phillips, then-69, and his older brother Bruce Phillips. Kipple reached out to Bruce first.
In response to Kipple, Bruce mentioned he by no means lived in Colorado, however that his brother – from whom he was estranged – had. And when Kipple dug deeper, she found that not solely had Alan Phillips beforehand lived simply exterior Breckenridge and labored in an area mine —
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: Alan Phillips nonetheless lived close by. … He had his personal mechanic store. And he was nonetheless right here.
Alan Phillips had been married thrice and had a daughter and two stepsons. Kipple needed to be taught extra about his previous.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: Once I checked out his legal historical past, it confirmed that he had been arrested in 1973 for assault and housebreaking … And that simply kinda set off all kindsa purple flags.
So, she got down to discover the arrest file. However she was met with useless finish after useless finish. The courts had no report of the case; neither did the DA’s workplace.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: I knew I needed to discover that case file. So … I went over to the archives for the sheriff’s workplace … there was a fireplace … and quite a lot of them had been destroyed.
However Kipple was undeterred. She says she combed by means of lots of of packing containers and submitting cupboards, discovering nothing, till —
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: I get right down to the final submitting cupboard.
Natalie Morales: Are you kidding me? The final one?
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: The final submitting cupboard. … And even right down to the … second to the final drawer … Midway again I see this tab, says, “Alan Phillips.”
Natalie Morales: Wow.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: I used to be like, “That is it. This … is our golden egg, proper right here.”
In that police report from July 1973 — almost a decade earlier than the murders of Annette and Bobbie Jo — Kipple discovered a signed confession from Phillips, then simply 22 years outdated, explaining how he attacked a younger girl.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: The primary sentence reads, “I noticed a girl hitchhiking on the south fringe of Breckenridge, and I finished and gave her a trip over to Fairplay.” After which he goes on and describes what he did to her.
What Kipple learn was chilling. Phillips mentioned that he “stopped at an empty cabin” alongside the street … “pulled the woman from the Jeep” … after which “picked up a rock” and used it to “hit her a number of instances.”
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: Once I noticed that first sentence I used to be like, “That is him. That is our man.”
Extremely, the younger girl – who did not need her identification revealed – was capable of persuade Phillips to let her go, and later reported the incident to police.
Natalie Morales: Did he say in that confession why he did it?
Sgt. Wendy Kipple: He did not know. He advised her, “I do not — I do not know why I do that.”
Natalie Morales: I imply, that offers — makes your pores and skin crawl.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: Yeah.
Phillips was convicted of assault and housebreaking and served six months behind bars. Kipple additionally discovered that Phillips’ title had come up in reference to the double homicide again in 2005, when an nameless caller gave a tip to Crimestoppers. Investigators checked it out. However in response to Kipple, the lead went chilly when the knowledge could not be verified. However now, Kipple was assured she was on the verge of nabbing a killer who had eluded them for many years. There was just one factor left to do.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: We needed to get surreptitious DNA. That is what we would have liked.
Natalie Morales: So, you are on the lookout for something … he is throwing out –
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: Something.
In late January 2021, Kipple and her crew started secretly surveilling Phillips. It turned out acquiring a pattern of his DNA wasn’t straightforward.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: He would not throw something away. He did not even throw out his rubbish.
Natalie Morales: The place did he put his rubbish?
Sgt. Wendy Kipple: I do not know.
That wasn’t the one problem.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: This man’s sort of a hermit. He stays at house. He does not work together with individuals an excessive amount of.
Lastly, after 5 weeks, there was a break. Phillips left his house and went to a Sonic Drive-In.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: We’re all, like, sitting there, watching and watching. And he will get his meals, eats, after which he leaves. I am like, dang it, he did not throw his trash away.
So, Kipple and her crew adopted Phillips as he drove to a submit workplace. He walked in carrying the Sonic bag, however on the best way out, he was solely holding mail. The second Phillips pulled away, investigators recovered that all-important bag from a trash can.
Sgt. Wendy Kipple: It is like, (sighs) “OK, (laughs) this could be it.”
Natalie Morales: That bag was, like, gold.
Sgt. Wendy Kipple: It was like gold.
The bag was taken to a lab, the place Phillips’ DNA was pulled from saliva on a serviette.
Natalie Morales: And what had been the outcomes?
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: It was Alan Phillips’s blood that was on Bobbie Jo’s glove and that Kleenex.
KCNC NEWS REPORT: Practically 40 years after the murders of two girls close to Breckenridge, investigators make an arrest on this chilly case.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: I acquired to place {the handcuffs} on him. … And he was shocked.
Natalie Morales: Actually —
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: The look of shock on his face is simply priceless.
Alan Lee Phillips was initially charged with two counts every of first-degree murder, kidnapping and assault. He denied any involvement within the crimes. For the households of Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer and Annette Schnee, it was a second almost 4 a long time within the making — one they thought may by no means come.
Laurie Merlo | Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer’s sister: That was a shock. … the best way that they had been capable of get the DNA to search out him … and catch him was wonderful.
Karen Riessen | Annette Schnee’s sister: Honestly, I did not assume it will occur in my lifetime.
Cindy French | Annette Schnee’s sister: It was simply mind-blowing, jaw-dropping. I did not know what to assume.
Natalie Morales: Was it, like, reduction … all of sudden, too?
Karen Riessen: Sure, a reduction and … you are completely satisfied however but it does not take the harm away.
However the surprises did not finish there. In one other unusual twist, after Phillips’ arrest, an area man recalled a harrowing story of how he helped rescue Phillips from a snowstorm the very evening of the murders.
Sgt. Wendy Kipple: Once I heard this story … my thoughts was blown.
THE RESCUE OF ALAN LEE PHILLIPS
On January 6, 1982, simply hours after Bobbie Jo and Annette had been murdered, an airline passenger seemed down at Guanella Cross from a aircraft flying overhead and noticed lights flashing. He recalled it was SOS — a name for assist. It got here from the motive force of a truck stranded in a raging snowstorm.
Dave Montoya: His rear finish sunk within the snow. So, his headlights had been pointed up.
Dave Montoya was an area fireplace chief on the time who additionally labored within the native mines.
Dave Montoya: And lo and behold, right here comes the aircraft. He sees it, flashes, “SOS, SOS.” Effectively, he did not know if anybody noticed him or not. However he took the possibility. Effectively. Someone did see him.
Natalie Morales: Up within the sky.
Dave Montoya: Yeah.
The passenger notified the pilot, who radioed down the approximate coordinates to dispatchers on the bottom.
Dave Montoya: So, I used to be down there. I had my radio with me … So, I mentioned, “let me go test it out.”
Natalie Morales: What had been you pondering as you are driving?
Dave Montoya: I am pondering “who does that?” I believed it was a vacationer. I believed, “That loopy vacationer. He acquired up right here and now he is gonna ask us all to save lots of him. “
However when Montoya arrived on the scene, he noticed it wasn’t a vacationer. It was somebody he knew: a person named Alan Phillips.
Dave Montoya: And he comes working down and he says, “Man, am I glad to see you.” And I says, “Alan, what the hell are you doing right here?”
Natalie Morales: You knew who he was?
Dave Montoya: I knew who he was. … as a result of I labored with him within the mines. … He says, “Effectively, I acquired drunk. And I made a decision to return house, and I did not wanna go on the freeway to get caught. So, I went over the cross as a result of the cops ain’t there.”
Natalie Morales: Did you occur to note something about him on the time?
Dave Montoya (runs a finger excessive of his proper eye): Yeah, he had a giant outdated reduce proper right here on the attention.
Montoya says when he requested him how he acquired the damage, Phillips mentioned he hit his face on his truck.
Dave Montoya: I kinda laughed. I mentioned, “Boy you might be actually silly.”
Montoya says Phillips refused medical therapy and he dropped him off close to his house. He gave an oral assertion to police in regards to the incident. That week, native newspapers reported the bizarre rescue and included a photograph of the then 30-year-old Alan Phillips.
Dave Montoya: If I woulda identified what I identified then, I most likely woulda left him.
Montoya would solely be taught in 2021 after Phillips’ arrest that he was probably concerned within the murders of Bobbie Jo and Annette.
Dave Montoya: Who — who has luck like that? I — actually? You commit two murders, you get caught up on the high of a cross making an attempt to flee the scene and every little thing else, and also you get caught the place you realize you are most likely gonna die and also you ask for mercy, and also you get it? God gave him the mercy, however he says “You are not gonna get away ceaselessly. You bought your mercy, however you gotta pay.”
Alan Philips might have escaped again then, however now 40 years later, his destiny could be within the arms of a jury.
On August 31, 2022, Alan Lee Phillip’s double homicide trial started in Fairplay, Colorado. Annette’s sisters and brother flew in from throughout the nation to be there.
Cindy French: We needed to ensure that the household was represented … You understand? That when the jury appears over, you need them to see the involved — not leftovers, however the left behinds.
At instances, seeing Alan Phillips in court docket was painful for Annette’s sister Cindy.
Cindy French: I used to be disgusted. You bought to stay 40 years of your life. You took my sister … to see him sit there so emotional-less — no emotion in any way, simply very stoic, was very irritating.
Natalie Morales: Due to the DNA match did you assume it is a slam dunk in a trial?
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: To me a slam dunk, however to attorneys they’ve methods … to make it not seem to be such a slam dunk.
And that is what Alan Phillips’ protection crew got down to do. They’d query the validity of the DNA and different proof and as a substitute blame Jeff Oberholtzer for murdering his spouse and Annette Schnee — despite the fact that he had been cleared by investigators years earlier than.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: They pointed the finger at Jeff each step of the best way. … it is so maddening as a result of that is not the place the proof led to.
When Jeff took the stand, the protection was relentless.
Cindy French: They raked him over the coals — and like he hadn’t been by means of this for the final 40 years.
Jeff Oberholtzer: They undoubtedly needed to place the crimes again on me — the murders again on me. … It was fairly painful.
The protection claimed Jeff had motive to kill his spouse … They mentioned he was offended at Bobbie Jo as a result of the day earlier than her homicide she introduced house chilly pizza … Jeff had advised investigators in regards to the pizza years earlier ….
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: I kinda discovered that slightly bit ludicrous. … I could not fathom Jeff killing Bobbie Jo over a chilly piece of pizza!
And the protection questioned Jeff about his weird conduct. Like when he advised investigators about that premonition he had about the place and when he thought Annette’s physique could be discovered — particulars the protection argued solely the killer would most probably know.
Natalie Morales: This might be seen as fairly damning to some. Proper?
Jeff Oberholtzer: And so, it was. … I simply tried to inform the reality and — and reply the questions.
And what in regards to the DNA proof towards Alan Phillips? Hoping to create cheap doubt, the protection claimed proof had been tampered with and mishandled all through the years.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: There was some contamination. … It wasn’t identified, “Oh, I’ve to watch out and put on gloves, so I do not get my DNA on that merchandise.” … However the backside line is … the blood that’s on Bobbie Jo’s glove, and the tissue … was Alan Phillips blood. How do you clarify that?
The prosecution mentioned there was a easy clarification: Alan Lee Phillips was the one, and the one one, who murdered Bobbie Jo and Annette.
Natalie Morales: I imply, what are the percentages that it might be anyone else?
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: On the glove, it was one-in-17 quadrillion, which is 2,275,000 instances the inhabitants of the Earth.
Natalie Morales: Wow.
Phillips’ DNA was discovered on Bobbie Jo’s belongings, says Kipple, solely as a result of Bobbie Jo fought for her life and prompted him to bleed.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: She was a fighter … and with out her being a fighter we would not have the DNA that we would have liked to unravel this case.
And what about these orange bootie socks? DNA testing performed months earlier than trial revealed that Annette’s DNA was on the within and Bobbie Jo’s DNA was on the skin of that orange bootie sock discovered on Hoosier Cross not removed from Bobbie Jo’s physique.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: In order that ties (claps her arms) each girls to that one sock.
However regardless of the sturdy DNA proof towards Phillips, investigator Charlie McCormick was involved. Would the best way DNA was challenged by the protection confuse a jury?
Charlie McCormick: Are they going to purchase it. Are they going to know it?
After two weeks of testimony, the case lastly went to the jury. Jeff and Sgt. Kipple had been nervous.
Natalie Morales: Had been you apprehensive the jury is gonna have cheap doubt?
Jeff Oberholtzer: I felt that that was attainable.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: There’s at all times doubt. There’s at all times doubt, ‘trigger you realize that there is most likely one juror which may cling up everyone. And — and also you by no means know.
SEEKING JUSTICE
Natalie Morales: Inform me what it was like for you ready for the decision?
Laurie Merlo: Pins and needles.
On Thursday Sept 15, 2022, the households of Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer and Annette Schnee anxiously awaited the jury’s choice. Was Alan Lee Phillips responsible, or not responsible?
Cindy French: It simply takes one — one juror that did not consider it.
The ready was the toughest half says Detective Sergeant Kipple. Fortunately, the jury stored it quick.
Det. Sgt. Wendy Kipple: 4 hours and 45 minutes.
The jury’s verdict on eight fees, together with two counts every of first-degree homicide, felony homicide and kidnapping: responsible as charged.
Karen Riessen: He is gonna get what he deserves now … oh, and I simply could not consider it was occurring. I used to be so completely satisfied.
Natalie Morales: Inform me in regards to the feelings you had been feeling as the decision was learn. “Alan Phillips, responsible.”
Jeff Oberholtzer (sighs): I believe I set free a sigh.
For Jeff Oberholtzer, justice had lastly been served, and a long time of suspicion decisively lifted.
Jeff Oberholtzer: And there was an incredible (sighs) weight lifted f — from my shoulders
Karen Riessen: We hugged and mentioned, you realize, we had been completely satisfied for him, and for us, and that it was over –
Cindy French: Over for everybody.
Karen Riessen: Over for everybody.
Alan Lee Phillips confirmed no emotion. However his daughter did.
Karen Riessen: His poor daughter cried. I felt dangerous for the household, ‘trigger … What they had been goin’ by means of needed to be dangerous. … ‘Trigger they most likely needed to consider, you realize, that he did not do it.
“48 Hours” reached out to the Phillips household and authorized crew for interviews, however all of them declined our requests. A little bit over seven weeks later, Phillips was again in court docket for sentencing. His lawyer insisted that his consumer had been wrongfully convicted.
DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He maintains his innocence … and he maintains that the unsuitable man is being sentenced.
However Decide Stephen Groome wasn’t persuaded and handed down two consecutive life sentences with out the potential for parole. He then addressed the households of Annette Schnee and Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer.
JUDGE STEPHEN GROOME: I want you the most effective and hope the therapeutic begins right this moment.
However it appears that evidently justice for Annette and Bobbie Jo might not be the tip of this story. Some investigators consider that the case towards Alan Lee Phillips isn’t but closed.
Natalie Morales: There’re quite a lot of lingering questions, however the one principal one is: are there extra victims? What do you assume?
Charlie McCormick: Brief reply, sure. … I believe … there are a number of that — he definitely might qualify for.
Natalie Morales: There’s simply no proof to show it?
Charlie McCormick: Not but.
Whereas investigators keep on, two households nonetheless wrestle.
Jeff Oberholtzer: You understand, when you give somebody your love, you’ll be able to by no means take it again. And it — I do not need to. … There is a particular place in my coronary heart and Bobbie will at all times be there.
Laurie Merlo: I used to be cheated out of 40 years with out my sister. … we might nonetheless be the most effective of associates right this moment if she was nonetheless right here.
Cindy French: He took a very good particular person away from this world, and … it saddens me that we can’t ever get to understand how she was when she was 30, or when she was 40, or 50.
And since Allen Lee Phillips maintains his innocence, they nonetheless have yet one more agonizing query.
Cindy French: Why, you realize? “Why did you’re taking these two lovely ladies?”
In honor of Annette and Bobbie Jo, Annette’s sisters and brother determined to go to the place the younger girls had been murdered.
They had been there to thank Bobbie Jo for combating again and inflicting Allen Lee Phillips to go away behind his DNA.
Russell Schnee | Annette’s brother: With out her we would not be right here.
Karen Riessen Nope.
Russell Schnee: Thanks, Bobbie Jo.
Karen Riessen: Sure, thanks Bobbie Jo.
On the place the place Annette’s physique was discovered, they delivered a protracted overdue message to their sister.
Russell Schnee: Effectively Annette, they caught him. He’ll be in jail for the remainder of his life. Allan Phillips. Simply needed you to know.
Karen Riessen: Love and miss you.
Alan Phillips died by suicide in jail on Feb. 27, 2023.
Produced by Chris Younger Ritzen. The event producer is Elena DiFiore. The present can also be produced by Jamie Stolz, Paul LaRosa, Betsy Shuller and Judy Rybak. Richard Barber is a producer editor. David Dow is a growth producer. Lauren Clark is the sphere producer. Michael Loftus is the affiliate producer. Marlon Disla, Mike Vele, Diana Modica and Marcus Balsam are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.
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