EP. 123 COLORADO - The Breckenridge Killer: Caught After 40 Years

A bird's-eye view of Earth, there are ant-like cars, homes that look like dollhouses and bodies of water that resemble small rain puddles. When you're up that high, everything seems so small. And if you're lucky enough to get a window seat, you'll likely spend a few minutes staring down at Earth, taking in everything there is to see. On the night of January 6th, 1982, a man named Harold E. Bray was doing just that.

His Rocky Mountain Airways flight was from Denver to San Francisco, and as the plane flew over the Colorado Mountains, he stared out the window, taking in the beautiful scenery. It was a cold and snowy day, so all he could really see for miles and miles was the thick white snow beneath him.

Suddenly, as they fly over a canyon, something catches his eye. Amongst the vast white snow were several flashes of lights. First, there were three short flashes, then three long ones, followed by another three short flashes. And as soon as he saw this, Harold E. Bray knew exactly what he was looking at.

An SOS signal someone was in need of help. So from here, Harold immediately gets up from his seat and alerts the pilot. Mike Wilcox, who then radioed the Federal Aviation Administration about the SOS. And soon enough, there are two airplanes flying over the location, trying to locate the person in distress. Once they find him, the fire department goes out and finds 30-year-old Alan Lee Phillips.

He had been traveling through a canyon in the middle of a snowstorm and along the way, his truck got stuck in a snowdrift. And luckily for him, they were able to rescue him just in time. Alan had a pretty bad injury to his face, which he said he got from hitting his head while trying to maneuver through the snow. And with negative 20-degree weather, who knows how long he would have lasted out there? After being rescued, Alan's story was quickly picked up by the media.

After all, everyone loves a good story about people escaping death, but little did anyone know the man being rescued was not the victim. In this story. Their names were Annette Schnee and Bobbie Jo Oberholzer, the women he murdered just hours before being rescued. So this is the story of Alan Lee Phillips. I'm Courtney Brown.

In 1979, Annette was a vibrant young woman with long blonde hair and a very friendly smile, and she was ready to leave her hometown and follow her dreams. She moved to Breckenridge, Colorado, just one year prior to our story, to pursue her career as a model. And according to everyone who knew her, Annette was kind-hearted, generous and dedicated to her work. Her mother, Eileen Franklin, said All I know was she loved people.

She was a fun-loving person to be around, she was a wonderful person. Annette also had big dreams for her future and hoped to one day become a flight attendant, but obviously she wasn't qualified for the job just yet.

Annette worked as a maid at a holiday inn in Frisco, Colorado, during the day, and a cocktail waitress at a bar called The Flipside at night.

In the afternoon hours of January 6th, 1982, Annette left her job at Holiday Inn because she wasn't feeling well. So she went to the doctor. And afterwards, she stopped by a pharmacy called the Drug Store in Breckenridge. She would pick up her prescription around 4pm. And while there, she was seen having a conversation with an unknown dark-haired woman. Someone in the store overheard Annette, reminding the dark-haired woman to purchase her Marlboro cigarettes. The witness would later describe the woman as being 5'4 with a slender build.

They also noticed that she looked a little disheveled, almost like she had been camping the last few days. Now. To this day, police have never been able to identify the woman Annette was speaking to. Around 4.30pm, Annette would leave the pharmacy and decided to hitchhike back to her house in Blue River. She had to get ready for her waitress job at the flip side, where her shift started at 8pm now.

In the 1980s, hitchhiking was very common, of course, now we know that that's how many serial killers found their victims in the past. But back in the 80s, it was normal, especially when you didn't have a car. Hitchhiking was a much better option than walking in the cold.

So that afternoon, Annette stood on the side of the road and eventually a man pulled over and rolled down his window.

Something just wasn't right, and as they continued down the road, that bad feeling inside continued to grow. It's unknown if Annette confronted the driver, but soon enough, her worst fears would come true. As the driver took a sharp turn down a dead-end road about 20 miles south of Breckenridge, Annette's heart started pounding. We aren't sure if she was forced to remove her own clothing or if they were forcibly removed. But once the truck came to a stop at the end of the desolate road, she was sexually assaulted.

Afterwards, the man ordered her to put her clothes back on. But as she was putting on her orange sock, she couldn't seem to find the other one, so instead, she quickly put on her sock. And once she was fully clothed, she opened up the door and made a run for it. Annette ran as fast as she could, with the cold air burning her throat. She likely even screamed, hoping someone in the area would help her. But soon enough, her attacker would emerge from his vehicle and from here, he would raise up his gun and pull the trigger. As Annette was running, she suddenly felt a lot of pressure in her back, and then she dropped to the cold ground, not long after 21-year-old Annette Schnee would succumb to her injuries.

They asked Eileen if she knew anyone who could have taken Annette, but Eileen told them that she had no idea. A few days later, she arrived at Annette's home in Blue River to retrieve her belongings. And everything was in place and very organized. In the first few weeks after her disappearance, Eileen and Annette's siblings walked the desolate roads in Summit and Park counties in search of clues. But unfortunately, every time they came up empty-handed.

From here, she was taken to the coroner's office for an autopsy and they quickly discovered that she had been shot in the back. This was not a tragic accident like they initially thought this was a murder. At the time, police believed that the gun used to murder Annette was likely a .38 or a .357 caliber weapon. And they concluded this because of the entry and exit wound, but the actual bullet was never found. Detectives also concluded that whoever killed her likely knew the area pretty well.

She had been found close to a shooting range. This meant that if anyone in the area heard a gunshot on the night of her murder, it wouldn't have raised any red flags now. Annette's body was also found fully clothed. But after further inspection, they did find that her clothing was in disarray, which led investigators to believe that she had been sexually assaulted. The zipper on Annette's jeans was broken.

Annette was also found to have had a zipper on the wrong feet and, more importantly, she only had on one single orange sock. The reason this immediately stood out to investigators is because they had seen this exact orange sock before at another crime scene. In fact, on January 7th, 1982, the very day after Annette disappeared, police found the body of another young woman named Bobbie Jo Oberholzer. She was found lying off the road in a snowbank on Hoosier Pass, nearly 10 miles away from Breckenridge, Colorado, and lying near her body. Was Annette's missing orange sock.

And in the late 1970s, Bobbie Jo would meet the love of her life, a man named Jeff Oberholzer Jeff said he fell head over heels for Bobbie Jo. They dated a couple years and then, in 1977, they tied the knot and got married. And shortly after, they packed up their belongings, said goodbye to their families and moved across the country, to Alma, Colorado. To everyone in Alma who knew the couple, Jeff and Bobbie Jo seemed to have a wonderful marriage and were always extremely happy and sweet to those who met them.

In a later interview, Jeff said that on New Year's Day in 1982, just a few years into their Grand Colorado adventure. Bobbie had sat him down and told him that she was ready to try for a baby. You see? Although Bobbie already had an 11-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, she wanted she and Jeff to have one of their own. So Jeff agreed that it was a great idea and they decided to start trying. At the beginning of the year 1982, things seemed to be going better than ever for the young couple. Bobbie had recently been promoted from a receptionist to an office manager for a company she worked for in Breckenridge, and Jeff now owned his own business, repairing electric appliances.

Bobbie was also known as a meticulous planner and often carried around a notebook filled with elaborate plans. Plans and a budget for a horse. Corral that she and Jeff had planned on adding to their property in Alma. But that would never happen. The morning of January 6th, 1982, started out like any normal day for the couple. And on.

And left the couple's home at 7.

15 a.

M to hitchhike, to work. To everyone who knew her, Bobbie was a free spirit who often got around town by hitchhiking. It was just what she did. According to Sergeant Wendy Kipple of the Park County Sheriff's Office. Hitchhiking was quite common at the time and still is today, due to the popular ski area nearby.

The presence of this skiing area had attracted wealthy tourists to the small town and caused the cost of living to rise. And so many residents, some, to this day, had been left struggling to keep up with the and simply couldn't afford to purchase a car of their own.

And right then, he knew something wasn't right. The night of Wednesday, January 6th, 1982, was one of the coldest nights that winter, and temperatures dipping as low as negative 20 degrees. Jeff waited anxiously by the phone until 2 a..m. By then, all of the bars in the city were closed and Bobbie Jo should have been home by then. So in the dead of night, Jeff decided to go out and look for her himself.

But surprise, surprise. They advised him that it was too soon to file something and that he would have to wait 24 hours. And from here, Jeff had no other choice but to go home and pray that his wife would eventually make her way back.

45 a.

M.

Jeff awoke to the sound of a ringing phone. On the other end of the line was a local rancher who lived about 30 miles outside of Breckenridge, and the rancher told Jeff that he had found Bobbie's driver's license on his property. So, hearing this, Jeff and his two friends quickly get into his car and drive out to retrieve her license. And along the drive, he kept his eyes peeled for any signs of his wife.

The group would drive past a big open field and up in the distance. Jeff spots something blue sticking out of the snow, so they quickly pull over to see what it is. And as soon as he grabs it, his heart drops. It was Bobbie's blue backpack that she would carry every day to work, and even worse was that next to the backpack was one of Bobbie's wool gloves. Spattered with what appeared to be blood, and next to that were a few bloody tissues.

There, lodged in a snow embankment, was the lifeless, frozen body of Bobbie Jo Oberholtz.

As police got to the crime scene, they noticed that the only footprints in the snow belonged to Bobbie, which was strange. Her body was frozen due to the frigid temperatures and there was a zip tie around her left wrist. The evidence seemed to indicate that she had fought her attacker inside of a parked car and then eventually escaped down a steep embankment. According to Charlie McCormick, a member of the Homicide Task Force quote, it appears she popped him in the nose.

But as Bobbie Jo tried to escape, her attacker fired off a Winchester hollow-point copper bullet that immediately pierced her right breast. He then shot her again and that bullet lodged into her chest from the back. The crime scene evidence indicated that she had hesitated and staggered backwards before she fell to the ground. Sadly, it also appeared that Bobbie hadn't been killed immediately before succumbing to her bullet wounds.

There was evidence that she had tried to claw and climb her way out of the snowbank, Charlie McCormick said. QuoTe She collapsed on her back and froze or bled to death. It's difficult to tell end quote. And like we mentioned earlier, investigators also located a single orange sock next to her body, and it didn't appear to belong to Bobbie. Police were puzzled at the finding.

Keep in mind they hadn't yet found Annette Schnee's body, so they had no idea where the sock came from. Agent Jem Hardkey, an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, told 48 Hours Quote It didn't belong, it didn't fit. Anything connected to Bobbie Jo. It was just one of those mysterious things you pick up at a crime scene. End Quote also found at the top of the embankment was a large brass hook key ring that was made by Bobbie's husband, Jeff.

He had given it to her to use for self-defense, just in case she ever needed it. But the brass hook was no match when Bobbie came face-to-face with a man with an overwhelming desire to kill. Now, on January 8th, 1982, one day after Bobbie's body was discovered. A coworker of Annette Schnee reported her missing. And although her body wouldn't be found for another six months, police believe that the two murders were connected. For one, both Annette and Bobbie Jo looked very similar both were attractive blondes, and they both frequently hitchhiked in the same area.

Investigators also determined that they had been killed within hours of each other. So seeing the connection between these cases, local authorities knew that they had a monster on their hands.

After Jeff was married to one of the victims and had given his business card to the other agent. Jim Hardke said When I first asked Jeff if he knew Annette Schnee, he denied it. It was several days later, after seeing her picture in the newspaper, that he came to me and said he did know Annette. And he gave her a business card now. Jeff also claimed that he had picked up Annette one day while she was out hitchhiking. And that's how she ended up. With his business card, he said that due to him starting his own business in the area, he gave his business cards to everyone. He came across as a sort of grassroots marketing strategy. And he adamantly denied killing her or even speaking to Annette after that interaction.

But as you can tell, investigators were clearly very suspicious of him. Park County Sheriff Robert Harrison believed that Jeff knowing the two victims was no coincidence, saying the fact that two victims would both be associated or known by one individual. Well, it makes the investigation tend to focus on Jeff Oberholzer as the primary suspect.

I might not be very accurate either. But Jeff continued to maintain his innocence from day one, and in an interview with Unsolved Mysteries, he said.

With anger being pointed at me, I'm still very, very angry about that. If different agencies had pursued different avenues and not concentrated so much on trying to find me guilty, we may have found who did this to these girls. The Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI wrote a psychological profile of the suspect, saying quote The killer isn't sure he committed the crime because it appears as a dream to him. It is believed that this suspect does not feel good about what he has done. Although the suspect carries this heavy emotional burden, investigators know he'll feel very relieved when he admits to the crime.

End quote. The FBI also released similarities between the two women, which were quite shocking. Both were around 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 100 pounds. Both women got around by hitchhiking to and from the Breckenridge area. Both had long blonde hair, were fully clothed when found, and both had suffered from gunshot wounds to the back.

It was clear that both of these women had been murdered by the same man and that their killer had a type.

According to reports, Tracy would pick up male hitchhikers and use them as accomplices during his spree. Another interesting tip was received by Summit County sheriff's investigator Tom Flores in 1983. That indicated that serial killer Henry Lee Lucas had confessed to murdering in Colorado in 1982. But even though this seemed like a solid lead. Henry Lee Lucas was later convicted of a murder in Texas and would eventually recant the statements he made about committing other murders in other states. But even though all of these tips seemed like they could have led somewhere, they never did. In the meantime, though, grasping for straws, the authorities laid it hard on Thomas Luther, the cab driver who had allegedly confessed to the killings.

While in custody, Thomas was given two lie detector tests that he ultimately failed.

We were sure it was Luther, but there wasn't enough evidence to take the case to trial. No physical evidence tied him to the murder scenes, and when investigators interviewed him, he denied involvement. Interestingly enough, though, about a decade later, in 1993, Thomas Edward Luther was indeed charged with the murder of a woman, a woman named Cher Elder. According to the police, Thomas had shot her in the head and dumped her body in a snowbank. He had also cut off her ring finger and her lips because, according to Thomas, she was.

After being charged with this murder, he was also charged with the rape of a 30-year-old woman in West Virginia. In his trial, the prosecutors stated that Thomas attacked women who looked like his mother, who had abused him when he was a child.

The only real piece of evidence they had was that DNA found on Bobby Jo's wool glove and on the tissues that were found near her backpack. But back at this time, we were not nearly as advanced in DNA, and there was nothing really they could do with it. It wouldn't be until 1998, over 16 years after the murders, when investigators were finally able to test the DNA for a potential match. After they tested it, it was determined that the DNA belonged to an unidentified male subject. But when they searched the criminal database, there were no matches.

The results, however, did clear Bobby Jo's husband, Jeff.

And finally, he could breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that all the eyes weren't on him.

Willing to try anything? Jeff and investigators turned to two psychic mediums who they believed could possibly help solve the mystery as to what happened. Their findings were recorded for a television program called Sensing Murder and featured lead psychics Pam Coronado and Lori Campbell. The two women reviewed evidence and they weren't able to come up with much, but they did have something. A description of the killer's car The psychics told Jeff that they believed the killer drove a Ford Ranchero style vehicle.

Now, obviously, there is some skepticism with psychics, so they weren't completely convinced, but at least they had something new. Following this, investigators started looking for people in the area who owned similar cars in the early 1980s, but sadly, this didn't give them any answers.

He would later say Quote it just kind of lit my fire, and I've been on it ever since. End quote. Annette Schnee's family even tried to hire him, but he only charged them $1 for every year he worked the case. However, Charlie had no idea that Annette and Bobby Joe's case would go unsolved. For nearly four decades, he worked hard to try and bring their family's answers, but there was only so much he could do with the evidence he had.

And decade after decade, everyone was beginning to think that this case might not ever get solved. At the turn of the century, murder cases around the world were getting solved with advancements in DNA testing. So, in a last-ditch effort, Charlie reached out to a former prosecutor named Mitch Morrissey.

Of a forensic genealogy company called United Data Collect, he sent all of the evidence in Annette and Bobby Joe's murder cases. And Mitch said he was quote struck by the photos of these women lying in the snow after being shot in the darkness by themselves, dying, basically freezing to death. End quote now, as a little background on Mitch's company. It essentially runs DNA profiles through all publicly available genealogical databases to help catch murderers and rapists. And the suspect's own DNA doesn't even have to be in the database to catch them. They could even have a distant relative that sent in their DNA to, let's say, ancestry..com.

And through that familial DNA, they can narrow down their suspect, so in 2020, the DNA from Bobby Joe's crime scene was retested.

And what do you know? They found a family tree of about 12,000 people who potentially matched the DNA profile of Bobby's killer. Now that is still a lot of people to go through, but this is the closest they've gotten in nearly 40 years. So from here, they started contacting people within this family tree. And on January 9th, 2021, they finally got a potential match.

The killer's DNA was either from 69-year-old Alan Lee Phillips or his older brother Bruce. And now all they had to do was figure out which brother was responsible. An investigator in this case, named Wendy Kipple, ended up calling Bruce. And he told her that he is estranged from his brother, Alan, and that he never lived in Colorado. So it was pretty clear that he was not their suspect. And now they start looking into Alan, and as it turns out, Alan had a pretty violent past.

I gave the girl a ride, she said. She was going to Blank. I told her I would take her to Fair play. We talked about her old job at the Blank and my present job at the London Mine. Little was also said.

Until we got to Alma, I stopped once to zip up my window as it was getting chilly, then went on at the north entrance to Valley of the Sun. I suddenly said I had to drop off a toolbox and did she want out? She said No, she would keep the ride.

The toolbox was actually my own. I stopped at an empty cabin, said no one was home and took the tools out of the jeep. I then turned and pulled the girl from the jeep, throwing her to her knees. She fought and I began to hit her with my hands, She ran behind the jeep, or I threw her down again.

She began to scream. I knew there were people living in the area and I panicked. I picked up a rock and I hit her several times. When I realized that she was hurt and bleeding. I pulled her back beside the jeep, took a hammer from the toolbox and led her to the cabin. I took the girl inside, where I started to clean her head.

I tried to explain that I did not know why I hurt her. We left the cabin and drove back to the highway. I offered to drive her home, she said. She wanted me to take her home. When we got to Fair Play at the intersection of 285 and Highway 9, she suddenly said she wanted out here.

I let her out at the intersection and drove home. I took a bath and showered, and then the marshal came to my house. I was so upset over what I did and my wife told him I was not home. After I calmed down and explained to my wife what had happened, I sent her out to find the marshal again. When she found him and came home, I called him on the phone.

After talking for a few minutes, I met him at his friend's house and wrote this statement. Then went to the hospital to see the doctor and let the girl identify me. She could not see me then because of medication. I will say I had not been drinking at all or had I been using any form of drugs. Signed Alan Phillips.

So for two full months, investigators carefully watched him from afar. By now, he was living in Dumont, Colorado, a town less than 20 miles from where the bodies were discovered almost 40 years earlier. At the time, he was working as an auto mechanic. He had also been married three times throughout his life, with two step-sons and one daughter of his own. Throughout their surveillance of Alan, investigators tried their best to get trash from him that would have his DNA on it. Like cups or the crust of a pizza.

But as simple as it sounds, it wasn't easy. According to Wendy Kibble, Alan never threw anything away, including his own trash that he kept inside of his house. In fact, it was baffling to them because they actually had no idea where he even put his garbage. It practically vanished into thin air, which is interesting because with all of these killers getting caught through DNA these days. He was probably very nervous that one day his crimes would catch up to him, so he never left his trash out on the street.

Investigators also said that Alan barely even left his house, but in late January of 2021, after five weeks of surveillance.

Alan drove to a local Sonic drive-in to grab some lunch, and once he was finished, he drove to a post office near his house and discarded his trash. This must have been how he got rid of everything, driving to other trash cans in the area. Alan thought he was being smart. But once he left that post office parking lot, investigators quickly retrieved his trash and they found a napkin inside with his saliva on it.

The napkin was immediately sent in for testing, and once they got the results back, they found that he was a perfect match for. The DNA found at Bobby Joe's crime scene, so finally, after 40 years, they had found their killer.

Here are the investigators at the press conference following his arrest. These two vibrant women, with their lives ahead of them, were last seen outside of Breckenridge in January of 1982. While they were not together at the time of their disappearance, they are forever connected. Through the suspect who allegedly took their lives, and through the exhaustive work by investigators who never faded in their determination to solve these cases. Before I announce the rest, I want to focus on the most important part of this case, and that is Bobby, Joe and Annette and their families. I cannot begin to understand the pain and sufferings their families have had to face for nearly four decades.

With each year that has passed, they have remained vigilant in their unwavering commitment to seek justice. For Bobby, Joe and Annette, I'm here to tell them that their journey, their journey for justice, has a much clearer path. While the families did not want to speak today, understandably so, I have statements I'd like to read on their behalf. I pray that the rest of Alan Phillips for the murder of my wife, Bobby Joe and Annette Schnee. Will finally, after all these decades, bring closure and peace to this hideous nightmare. For myself, along with all the lives he has horribly affected by his actions.

I cannot thank enough all who never gave up the search for the truth. They are without doubt extremely dedicated and extraordinary individuals. Phillips is finally in the hands of the judicial system. May justice be served. This is from Jeff, better known as Obi Oberholzer, the husband of Bobby Joe.

And here's Mitch Morrisey, with United Data Collect, who worked with Charlie McCormick to get this case solved. And the real reason we wanted to work on this case is that if you read the facts of this case. And you think about these two young, beautiful women that you've seen pictures of lying in the snow after being shot in the darkness by themselves, dying, basically, freezing to death. It would make you not give up, like Charlie didn't, and it'd make you want to answer the question of who would do such a horrible thing to somebody? So it's been our honor at United Data Connect to be part of this case.

And we're glad that we are part of getting us to where we are today. Thank you. And believe it or not. In 2005, an anonymous caller actually left a tip with Crimestoppers that mentioned Allen's connection to the murders. The tip was investigated, but it couldn't be verified, so nothing happened with it. But now he would finally face the consequences.

Annette Schnee's mother, Eileen Franklin, now 88 years old, said I just thought, before I leave this earth, I would like to see some closure. It's been a rough 40 years and I'm just so thankful that she was able to get that closure while she was here. Because there are so many families out there that never get answers. And I think everyone in this case kind of came to the conclusion that they never would. In fact, one of Annette's sisters, Karen Reeson, said Truthfully, I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime. But now Annette and Bobby Joe were finally going to get the justice they deserved.

During Allen Lee Phillips preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented a key piece of evidence that linked the two murders. That one orange sock. It's believed that when Annette was kidnapped, her sock was left on the floorboard of Allen's vehicle. And then, hours later, when Bobby Joe was kidnapped. And she got out of the car, she accidentally knocked the sock onto the ground and thank God she did. Because that is the reason they were able to connect the two murders. Through DNA testing, they determined that Annette's DNA had been found inside of the sock.

On the outside of the sock, and that was a huge piece of evidence in connecting the murders, prosecutors also presented evidence on how each woman had died. Bobby had fought her attacker and broken free, leaving one single zip tie on her left wrist. And had then been shot in the chest. While she tried to escape, eventually collapsing into a snowbank and dying from her wound.

Similarly, Annette had been found a few miles away in a creek, with a single gunshot wound to her back.

As a lifelong resident of the area, Allen was equipped with an emergency blanket and warm clothing, but without tire chains. He knew he would never be able to make it out of the drift, so that's when he decided to signal the SOS to the airplane flying overhead.

He had a cut on the side of his face, but other than that, he looked to be in near perfect health. Authorities questioned him as to why he had tried to drive through the dangerous Guanella Pass at night when he knew the area was extremely dangerous in the winter. Then he told them that he had been heavily intoxicated and was just trying to get home. When asked about the cut, Allen said that when he got out of his truck to urinate, a large drift of snow had hit him in the head. A blow which caused him to trip and smash the side of his face on the corner of his truck. First responders weren't sure what to make of Allen's story and what to do about his intoxication.

He was cold. He was also thankful for two passing airplanes. End quote. Many people in Breckenridge read this story and everyone agreed that. If he wouldn't have been helped, Allen Phillips likely would have died out there in that snowstorm, as it turns out Allen wasn't inebriated that night.

He had just got stuck in a snowstorm just as he was trying to flee his crime scene that he had left behind. Which is eerie to think about. Clear Creek County investigators were saving the man who they would be looking for for the next 40 years. And he was right there all along, the first responder that saved him that night told 48 Hours Quote. If I would have known, then what I know now, I probably would have left him.

The defense also argued that Allen's DNA was not found on Bobby's body, nor was it found in the general vicinity of the crime scene. Colorado Bureau of Investigation DNA analyst Yvonne Woods also argued in Allen's defense, suggesting that the DNA collected from Bobby's clothing couldn't conclusively be determined as belonging to her. Now, throughout the trial, public defender Daniel Zetler did everything he could to try and cast the blame on Bobby's husband, Jeff. Because his business card had been found in Annette Schnee's backpack. At the crime scene, Jeff had to take the stand at trial and the defense absolutely tore into him. Which is horrible because he, too, was a victim in this story and had already lived through decades of accusations. The defense also tried to claim that Jeff had a motive to kill his wife. Because a few days before her murder, she had brought home cold pizza for dinner, which allegedly had sent Jeff into a rage, which is ludicrous.

In a later interview, Wendy Kipple said I kind of found that little bit ludicrous. I couldn't fathom Jeff killing Bobby Joe over a piece of cold pizza. And until the very end. Allen and his attorneys did everything in their power to try and convince the jury that he was being accused of a crime he did not commit. He maintains his innocence and he maintains that the wrong man is being sentenced.

Two first-degree murder charges for each victim, two counts of felony murder and two counts of second-degree kidnapping. District Attorney Linda Stanley said Bobby Joe was a fighter and is a hero. She fought back. And because of that, we were able to get DNA evidence to convict Annette and Bobby Joe's killer. After all this time, the conviction also brought closure and justice to the surviving family members.

Her daughter, who was 11 years old at the time of the murder, and Annette's mother and two sisters. All of whom were beginning to think that their loved one would never get the justice they deserve, Deputy D.A Stephanie Miller said this is not only closure for Jeff Oberholzer, Bobby Joe's husband, to know what happened to his wife, but also a relief for him to have his name cleared after being named the main suspect for so long. End quote In early November 2022, Allen Lee Phillips was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murders of Annette Schnee and Bobby Joe Oberholzer.

Saying quote This absolutely gives hope to people. This case being so old, this shows that there's no case that can't be solved. End quote now. Allen Lee Phillips declined to speak to the court during his trial and sentencing, however, his daughter, Andrea Shelton, addressed the court to speak for her father.

She expressed sympathy for the victims and their families, but said that her father deserved forgiveness and redemption for his crimes. Growing up, she said she knew him to be a good man and a good father, saying that he taught her honesty and ethics. She said He is a good man and I thought someone should say something. End quote note to me, he doesn't deserve redemption.

He got to live the majority of his life a free man, he got to have kids, get married, grow old. While Annette and Bobby Joe were selfishly taken from this world, forever frozen in age, where was their mercy?

She also stated that many friends and family members thought she looked like her mother, which at times caused them to become sad when they talked to her. And ultimately, she began to believe that she was causing people to be unhappy. Today, Jackie has a daughter of her own, which gives her life a whole new perspective. She said that she can often see her mom through her daughter's eyes and has learned how to handle her own emotions.

On February 27th, 2023, just six months after his conviction.

At the Arkansas Correctional Facility, where he was serving his two consecutive life sentences, an autopsy later confirmed that his manner of death was suicide. He went his whole life a free man, living under the radar. And then, instead of facing the consequences and spending the remainder of his life in jail, he decided to end it all. But after everything, many people still had one lingering question Alan Lee Phillips Have other victims? Are there more women out there that haven't been discovered?

After all, he murdered two women within hours of each other. We also know he assaulted a woman 10 years prior to the murders, so clearly he was a troubled man. And it makes you wonder if there are others out there. Women whose bodies were never found. Investigators that worked this case believe other murder victims.

Could have also been his victims, but unfortunately there isn't enough evidence to prove it, and now that he's dead, we might never get those answers. But this case also makes you think about all of the other unsolved murders in our country and how their killers got to walk free. But every year, with advancements in technology, these monsters are being exposed.

In 2018, the Golden State killer, Joseph James D'Angelo was arrested after he was identified through forensic genealogy. The same way Alan Lee Phillips was caught. And then, just recently. The Gilgo Beach killer was arrested after investigators retrieved his pizza crust from a trash can in Manhattan. Every year, we hear more and more stories about these monsters being exposed, many of whom thought that they'd go to their graves with their dark secret. And we can only hope that other killers out there, whose murders have never been solved, are anxiously waiting, looking over their shoulders, hiding their trash, dreading the day when justice finally catches up to them.

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Hey everybody, it's Colin here. Thank you again for tuning in for this week's episode of Murder in America. This is a really wild story and I'm just so glad that there's finally some closure in this case after so many years. And it really makes me wonder just how many cases are going to be solved in the next decade. With this new technology that's evolving and improving every day, week and month, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of old cold cases that are solved. But I want to shout out our new patrons this week.

We have so many of them. Missy Fuller, James Chase, Maria Miranda, Carol Brianna, Jessica Caldwell, Emily Smith, Trinta Robinson, Lacey Lynn, Kate Alma, Miranda Tolgren, Christina Bowman-Sanders, Sherry Rogers, Roxanne Brooklyn Schaefer, Zoe Perez, Kevin Korzaniewski, Fantasia Singleton, Ryn Layman, Meredith, Yana Hayes, J..H, Haley Smith, Liz Ralph, Cynthia Melinus Jaden, Julia Elmore, Stephanie Armenta, Nate Dett, Brittany Degarmo, Luke Kasny, Nicole Poulsen and Ariel Moore. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry if I missed or mispronounced anybody's names. I want to thank everybody, though, for joining our Patreon, and those are all people that signed up two weeks ago. And we have a super long list of new patrons to read. So keep tuning in for the episode every week to see if we read your name that week, but you can sign up on Patreon right now.

For $5 a month, you get the episodes early and ad-free. For $10 a month, you get all of that. Plus two full-length bonus episodes that aren't available anywhere other than Patreon, and for $20 a month, you get a bonus episode every week. They're 30 to 40 minutes long, people are loving them, but yeah, thank you guys so much for listening, for supporting us on Patreon.

Follow us on Instagram at MurderinAmerica to see photos from every case that we cover. And once again, that was a mouthful, but we love you guys so much.