Every Town - Twin Murders Linked By Orange Socks - Breckenridge, CO

Episode Date: July 1, 2022

What are the chances that two women, complete strangers to each another, would be murdered on the same freezing January night in a small town with a population of 1,200? This was the misfortune that befell Barbara  Oberholtzer and Annette Schnee and both would eventually be linked by a pair of orange socks.  --------------------------------------------💀 Exclusive Video Content & Access: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries 🥇 Watch This Episode on Youtube!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3qoh7dmuKU&ab_channel=ScaryMysteries--------------------------------------------🎧 Scary Mysteries PodcastApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scary-mysteries/id1273612861Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkTAll Others: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579 Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a dark side. What are the chances that two women, complete strangers to one another, would be murdered on the same freezing January night by the same man in a small town with a population of 1,200? This was the misfortune that befell Barbara Oberholter and Annette Schnee, both residents of Breckenridge, Colorado, which is a ski resort town in the Rocky Mountains.

Both women were allegedly hitchhiking when they went missing and later found dead. And both would eventually be linked by a pair of orange socks. I'm Manny Vich Gerald and welcome to this week's episode of Everytown. Please go check out this episode and many others over on our YouTube channel called Scary Mysteries if you'd like to watch with compelling visuals. But for now, let's head back to 1982 to Breckenridge, Colorado, To learn more about this creepy case that only recently enmasked the killer who was free for 39 years. On the cold night of January 6, 1982, a man was trapped in his vehicle during a snowstorm,

Aquanella Pass, in the Rocky Mountains of Central Colorado. But he was prepared with an emergency blanket, clothes, and a flashlight, which he pointed at the sky, flashing SOS and Morse code. By a stroke of luck, a commercial flight was flying overhead, and one of its passengers was Jefferson County Sheriff Harold Bray, who deciphered the SOS. Sheriff Bray alerted the flight crew, who in turn notified the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office and a rescue team headed by local fire chief, Dave Montoya, soon arrived, which made the man blurt out, Oh God, I'm saved. The fire chief identified the man as a local resident named Alan Phillips. His face had been badly bruised, yet he refused to seek medical attention.

But at that point, very close nearby, rescuers had no idea that earlier in the night, Barbara Oberholzer and Annette Schnee were separately shot to death. 29-year-old Barbara, aka Bobby, and her husband, Jeff, were both originally from Racine, Wisconsin. Jeffrey in an appliance repair business, and Bobby worked as a receptionist in Breckenridge. They got married on July 1st, 1977, and lived 14 miles away in Alma. And after four and a half years together, the couple wanted to have kids in 1982. But Bobby and their dreams were taken away on the night of January 6th. The temperatures in January normally sit below 32 degrees.

So those who live in nearby towns would regularly hitch rise. from the frequent vehicles heading to the ski slopes in Breckenridge. Everybody hitchhiked. You got to know people in town and they got to know you. And they'd look for you to take you over and back if you need a ride, said Jeff. Which gave the impression that Breckenridge was a safe and friendly community. That particular day was freezing cold at below 32, which was favorable for skiers but terrible for those who didn't have vehicles

and needed to hitch rides to go around town like Boston. Bobby. According to Jeff, things were normal that day as his wife left home at 7.15 a.m. and hitchhiked to work. At around 6.20 p.m., Bobby called up Jeff informing him that she was out drinking with friends at the village pub to celebrate her promotion. Her husband offered to pick her up afterwards, but Bobby assured him that she had a ride to hitching and would be home shortly. Jeff then made dinner and waited for her to come home, but Bobby hadn't gotten there by 12 midnight, as Jeff found out when he woke up from a nap. He said, I thought maybe she's kicking up her heels just a little bit, and I've forgotten about the time. Only, she never came home, and I knew something was not right.

Mr. Oberholzer then rang his wife's friends who told him she left the pub just before 8 p.m. Bobby was seen around this time at a mini-mart, very close to the pub, where she presumably flagged down a ride. Jeff then drove in to Breckenridge to look for her, as well as tell the police that she was missing. At that point, however, it was still too early to file an official report, so Jeff went home and waited for his wife because that's all he could do. The next morning on January 7th, Jeff then received a clue as to what might have happened to Bobby when a farmer who lived 30 miles outside Breckenridge found Bobby's driver's license on his property.

Jeff then, accompanied by his two friends, immediately went to pick up his wife's license, and he discovered another disturbing clue along the way. They spotted a blue backpack in the snow, similar to what Bobby had when she had left for work the previous day. Along with the backpack, the victim's blood-splattered wool gloves and a blood-stained tissue. The contents of Bobby's wallet were later found scattered along the same highway, and a search team was organized by Jeff's friends who insisted he stay home, while they set out to search the area.

Two hours later, at 3 p.m., they found the body of Mrs. Oberholter, near a parking lot at the Hoosier Pass summit along Colorado Highway 9, which is about 10 miles south of Breckenridge, where Bobby was last seen leaving the village pub. She was found lying on her back, approximately 20 feet from the highway, down a snow embankment. They also discovered a pair of 18-inch zip ties on one of Bobby's wrists, which indicated someone had tied her hands together. Evidence at the scene also indicated that Bobby may have gotten out of the suspect's vehicle at the top of Hoosier Pass. Her key ring, with a metal hook as a defense weapon made for her by Jeff, who's found 50 feet from her body. As blood was discovered on the glove and tissue, it seemed likely that she used the ring to fend off her killer.

Bobby may have run downhill along the road approximately 300 feet and was possibly again confronted by the assailant, which implied a struggle took place as she attempted to flee. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation ruled that death was due to loss of blood from a gunshot wound of the chest with a second grazing wound to the right breast and appeared to have occurred. at the location of the body. Authority said, Bobby was killed with a hollow point bullet, fired from a 38 or 357 handgun, and she was shot at close range of between one and two feet.

Strange enough, an orange booty sock was found sitting alongside her body, which Jeff swore didn't belong to his wife. So, where was the other sock? Well, it was worn by another woman who went missing that same night but found lifeless six months later. Annette Schnee was a 21-year-old who lived in Blue River, a statutory town in Summit County, Colorado, located in the Blue River Valley, and was part of Breckenridge.

She worked as a cocktail waitress in Frisco, a municipality in Summit County, about nine and a half miles away from Breckenridge. On the afternoon of January 6, 1982, Annette asked if she could leave work early because she didn't feel well. At 4 p.m. that day, she was seen in a Breckenridge pharmacy, having a serious conversation with a dark-haired anonymous woman. But witnesses said looked as though she had been camping out for a few days. Annette was overheard reminding the woman to buy a cigarette, but this was the last time that she was ever seen alive. It's believed Annette set out to hitchhike home at 4.45 p.m.

Take a rest, pick up her uniform for her other job, and then hit her. hitchhike back to Breckenridge for 8 p.m. shift at Flip Sidebar. But her uniform remained in her house and she never reported to work. It was unusual because Annette was known as a very reliable person and it's thought that she may have been headed home to get ready for work when she disappeared. On July 3rd, 1982, a 9-year-old boy was fishing in a remote mountain valley around 25 miles south of Breckenridge. When he stumbled. stumbled upon a lifeless frozen body. When authorities came to the scene,

they identified the remains as that of a net sneeze. The body was around two and a half miles from the nearest highway, which explained why it wasn't discovered for half a year. She was found faced down in a small stream, fully clothed, but her clothes were in disarray. The weather, with sub-zero temperatures the night she was slain, and the cold water of the Sacramento Creek preserved Ms. Schnee's body. for an autopsy.

Authorities said she was shot outside in a rural, isolated mountain valley area where there would be no witnesses. Annette's death was due to loss of blood from a single gunshot wound to the back and, out her chest, and it appeared to have been committed at the location where her body was found. Experts determined that Annette was killed with a 38, 357 or 9mm handgun. but no bullet was found in her body. Authorities believed Annette was picked up by her killer while hitchhiking and taken 20 miles south of Breckenridge

down to a small dead-end street. She was then either forced to disrobe or undressed by her captor and sexually assaulted and allowed to get dressed again. She apparently managed to escape but was fatally shot in the back and what was noticeable too was both her boots were on, but her socks were dissimilar. Annette wore a brown and blue-striped knee-high sock on her right foot, with the other one found in the pocket of her hoodie, and she had an orange ankle sock worn on her left foot.

The orange sock was familiar to the police because they had seen it six months ago. It was the exact match found near Bobby Oberholzer's body, It established a clear link between the murders of the two women and authorities were now assured that the same person killed Annette and Bobby, and the media then quickly dubbed the crimes as the orange sock murders. But there was also something else that authorities found in a Nett's backpack that was recovered along the side of the stretch of road between Breckenridge and where Bobby's body was found. Police now speculated that the killer had murdered Ms. Schnee, hours of the woman.

before he picked up, Miss Oberholter, and had disposed of her belongings between the two killings. The orange sock had somehow been overlooked, then later it must have fallen from the car and down the embankment where it was found with Bobby's body. What intrigued the police was they found Jeff Oberholter's business card in and that's wallet. He quickly became the primary suspect for her murder, but he denied knowing her when police asked him the first time about Annette. But when he saw her picture in the newspaper days after, he contacted the police and told them he picked her up a few months earlier when Annette was hitchhiking and gave her his business card when the woman mentioned about a defective appliance. But Jeff said he neither saw nor heard from Annette

after that. And he had actually volunteered up this information to authorities. around six months ago when Bobby was found murdered. So police were already aware of this connection between Annette and Jeff prior to finding his card and her wallet after her murder. But police were still suspicious of him, so Jeff took a polygraph test, which he passed. His alibi was on the night Bobby and Annette died that he claimed to be hanging out at his friend's house while waiting for his wife. But his friend left the area of his only transgender.

back down eight years later. Jeff's friend confirmed they hung out on the night of January 6, 1982, but the times he mentioned didn't match Jeff's statements. Through all the years of the investigation, Jeff had maintained his innocence saying, as far as the finger being pointed at me, I'm still very, very angry about that. If different agencies have pursued different avenues and not concentrated so much on trying to find me guilty, we may have found out, who did this to these girls. Jeff believed that Bobby was killed by someone she knew. He didn't believe that she would have gone with a stranger

because he had given her the option to be picked up by him. The DNA of the blood found on Bobby's gloves and tissue had become integral during the time DNA testing was introduced in solving cold cases. It was determined that the blood belonged to a man, and authorities hoped that it could zero in on the side. suspect in the killing of Bobby and Annette. Jeff was the first to undergo DNA testing, of course. He wasn't a match, so authorities ruled him out as a suspect. Other suspects, even one who claimed

he had committed one of the murders, didn't match the blood either. So the case continued to be in the doldrums despite establishing a DNA profile of the killer in 1988. So searches and the FBI's combined DNA index system, or CODIS, found no matches, not until the advent of genetic genealogy in 2018. This works by uploading a suspected killer's genetic profile into public DNA databases and combing through thousands of possible relatives to find close matches. When a potential pool of suspects is narrowed down, investigators use other public records to reinforce their work and determine which of the possible offenders were in the area during the

period of the crime. The process was laborous, with over 12,000 people in the family tree considered before coming up with an investigative lead to the Park County Sheriff's Office. But the day came when the data pointed to a man named Alan Phillips, who by this time was a 70-year-old part-time mechanic with three children. Metro Denver Crime Stoppers and United Data Connect, a company that works in the genetic genealogy industry, collaborated to track down Mr. Phillips. Cold case detectives then spent six weeks doing investigations and surveillance

in order to obtain a sample of Allen's DNA, which matched the blood found on Bobby's gloves. Finally then, on February 24, 2021, Claire Creek County authorities followed Alan, driving near his home in Dumont, and pulled him over. He was handcuffed and told he was a suspect in the killings of Annette and Bobby. He was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, and first-degree assault. Seven months after that in September, a Park County judge ordered Mr. Phillips to stand trial for the murders, and currently he's being held without bond at the Park County Jail.

Mr. Phillips, you'll recall, from the start of our story, was the man who put up the SOS signal and was saved by police on the very night that he had killed the two women. By the time he made contact with authorities, not even a few hours had passed since he violently murdered those girls. Police had him in their custody, but had no clue that he was a killer at that time. The development in the cases of Annette and Bobby, after 39 long years, was great news for the ladies' families. Jeff issued a statement expressing his gratitude to everyone who never gave up in the search for his wife's murderer.

He also prayed that the arrest of Alan Phillips would bring an end in peace to his hideous nightmare. Jeff said, Phillips is finally in the hands of the judicial system and may justice be served. Annette's 88-year-old mom, Eileen Franklin, thanked everyone involved in solving the case, including TV shows that highlighted it like Unsolved Mysteries. As she's in the twilight years of her life now, she didn't believe that a time would come when she would see Annette's killer behind bars. She said poignantly,

I thought there'd be no closure. I thought maybe I'd be gone before I had closure to this case, so that really. I'm ready to go and it's my time now. Bobby Oberholzer and Annette Schnee hopefully are now truly resting in peace. Thanks so much for tuning in and if you want even more creepy stories from us then check out our YouTube channel and podcast called Scary Mysteries. Over there on the YouTube channel, you'll find each episode of Everytown as well

complete with a cool video component if you'd rather watch it like a show. And if you really want to show us some love and support and watch truly terrifying videos, then check us out at patreon.com slash scary mysteries. There's a new video every week over there, plus the chance to get involved with ideas and picking the videos that we post each week. So head on over there to get involved, and I'll see you soon. So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown, guys. Hope you enjoyed it.

And tune in next week for another one full with Scary Strange and Mysterious stories, because who knows? Maybe your town will be next.