Alan Lee Philip, 70, was arrested by and charged with murder, kidnapping and first-degree assault in the killings of Annette Schnee, 21, and Barbara "Bobbi Jo" Oberholtzer, 29, who were most likely hitchhiking when they were targeted, police said.
Two young Colorado women both went missing in 1982. Police found their bodies months apart from each other and now police have arrested a man who they believe is their kidnapper and murderer.
Alan Lee Philip, 70, was arrested by Colorado authorities and charged with murder, kidnapping and first-degree assault in the killings of Annette Schnee, 21, and Barbara "Bobbi Jo" Oberholtzer, 29, who were most likely hitchhiking when they were approached by their attacker, the Park County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday.
Phillip was stopped by Clear Creek County authorities on Feb. 24 as he was driving near his home in Dumont, Denver7 reported. After years of chasing leads to break the case, authorities were finally led to Phillips through genetic genealogy using DNA from the crime scene, officials said.
Schnee's mother, now 88, told the outlet she never thought there would be closure in her daughter's case.
"It was 39 years of hell," she said. "I thought maybe I'd be gone before I had closure to this case. So that really — I'm ready to go when it's my time now."
Schnee and Oberholtzer both worked in the same town of Breckenridge, Colorado, but did not know each other.
They went missing on Jan. 6, 1982, just hours apart from each other.
Oberholtzer went missing around 7:50 p.m. after leaving a local bar where she went with coworkers, the Daily Beast reported. She was found the next day in a snowbank almost 11,000 feet in elevation near the Hoosier pass summit.
Schnee went missing just a few hours earlier, around 4:45 p.m. It took the police six months to find Schnee's body, which was ultimately located fully dressed, face down in a small stream in an "isolated" area and about 30 minutes from where she was last seen. A boy found her body in the creek, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigations.
They were both shot to death, police 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," said Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw said at Wednesday's news conference.
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