Alan Lee Phillips is a native of Clear Creek County, who was arrested February 24 for the deaths of Annette Schnee, 21, and Barbara “Bobbi Jo” Oberholtzer, 29, according to investigators.
Authorities, including longtime investigators, held a news conference Wednesday afternoon about the recent arrest of a Colorado man suspected in the deaths of two young women, whose bodies were found near Breckenridge, in 1982.
Age
He is 70 years old.
Annette Schnee And Barbara “Bobbi Jo Death
The two women worked in Breckenridge and were believed to be hitchhiking home, separately, when they were both abducted and shot on Jan. 6, 1982.
Oberholtzer’s body was found on the summit of Hoosier Pass the day after her disappearance. Schnee’s body was found six months later in a rural area in Park County.
McGraw said he can’t begin to fathom the pain and suffering that the victims’ families have endured over the past 39 years, but with the arrest “their journey for justice has a much clearer path.”
Jeff Oberholtzer, Bobbi Jo’s husband, described the nearly four decades since the murder as a “hideous nightmare.” Family members asked for privacy at this time, McGraw read statements from Oberholtzer and others. One family member said that she has “lived with a monster in my mind since I was 11 years old.”
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Charlie McCormick, a retired Denver police detective, has been working on the cold case since 1989.
“I’ve been trying to define my emotions and it’s been hard to do,” McCormick said at Wednesday’s news conference. “I never thought I would see the day. It’s been a long haul.”
Alan Lee Phillips Arrested
Phillips was arrested on several charges, including kidnapping and murder, for the 1982 deaths of Annette Schnee, 21, and Barbara “Bobbi Jo” Oberholtzer, 29, the Park County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.
Authorities say the women, who didn’t know each other, had been working in Breckenridge, Colorado. They went missing on Jan. 6, 1982, after hitchhiking.
Police Report
In a Wednesday press conference, Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw said their big break in the case came after forensic genetic genealogy investigators were able to connect Phillips to the crime scenes.
Phillips’ DNA sample was located on a genealogy database and investigators took him into custody during a traffic stop. He’d been living in Clear Creek County, working as a part-time mechanic.
“I cannot begin to understand the pain and suffering their families have had to face for nearly four decades,” McGraw said. “With each year that has passed, they have remained vigilant in their unwavering commitment to seek justice for Bobbi Jo and Annette. I’m here to tell them that their journey for justice has a much clearer path.”
