1 00:00:08,775 --> 00:00:11,978 [tense music] 2 00:00:15,415 --> 00:00:18,251 CHARLES MCCORMICK: January 6, 1982, was a Wednesday. 3 00:00:18,284 --> 00:00:22,555 It was 22 degrees below 0 in Summit County. 4 00:00:22,589 --> 00:00:26,126 JIM HARDTKE: That night it was dark, dark. 5 00:00:26,159 --> 00:00:29,796 There's no lights other than stars or the moon. 6 00:00:29,829 --> 00:00:32,665 [tense music] 7 00:00:34,300 --> 00:00:37,237 MARK HURLBURT: A United Airlines flight was going over. 8 00:00:37,270 --> 00:00:40,407 WENDY KIPPLE: A passenger saw somebody flashing an SOS 9 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:44,244 signal with their headlights. 10 00:00:44,277 --> 00:00:46,613 CHARLES MCCORMICK: The pilot called the Denver tower. 11 00:00:46,646 --> 00:00:50,650 The word gets back to the county sheriff. 12 00:00:50,684 --> 00:00:53,253 MITCH MORRISEY: When the fire chief found him, 13 00:00:53,286 --> 00:00:56,489 this guy had a gash in his forehead. 14 00:00:56,523 --> 00:00:58,825 KAREN RIESSEN: The guy who rescued him was thinking 15 00:00:58,858 --> 00:01:01,261 he was saving somebody's life. 16 00:01:01,294 --> 00:01:03,930 He didn't know what happened that night. 17 00:01:03,963 --> 00:01:07,300 [tense music] 18 00:01:07,334 --> 00:01:09,402 JIM HARDTKE: When you first saw the body, 19 00:01:09,436 --> 00:01:12,472 there was a lot of blood. 20 00:01:12,505 --> 00:01:14,607 STEPHANIE MILLER: She was a fighter. 21 00:01:14,641 --> 00:01:17,277 She fought her way through her attacker 22 00:01:17,310 --> 00:01:19,346 and managed to run from him. 23 00:01:19,379 --> 00:01:21,147 MARK HURLBURT: She started running. 24 00:01:21,181 --> 00:01:23,350 It is knee deep, thigh deep snow. 25 00:01:23,383 --> 00:01:26,319 [tense music] 26 00:01:26,353 --> 00:01:29,656 We found the second body four miles up the creek 27 00:01:29,689 --> 00:01:32,525 from Highway 9. 28 00:01:32,559 --> 00:01:35,528 The only real connection between these two cases 29 00:01:35,562 --> 00:01:39,165 was this blood on this glove that was found near the bodies. 30 00:01:41,701 --> 00:01:44,971 WENDY KIPPLE: The suspect's DNA was not in CODIS. 31 00:01:45,005 --> 00:01:47,140 CHARLES MCCORMICK: We're looking at evidence 32 00:01:47,173 --> 00:01:50,710 that's 40-plus years gone by. 33 00:01:50,744 --> 00:01:53,646 WENDY KIPPLE: It's like a big 2,000 piece puzzle. 34 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:55,315 (OFF) STEPHANIE MILLER: Is this DNA 35 00:01:55,348 --> 00:01:59,352 evidence going to be the answer to decades of heartache? 36 00:01:59,386 --> 00:02:02,389 [tense music] 37 00:02:19,572 --> 00:02:20,874 MARK HURLBURT: Hoosier Pass 38 00:02:20,907 --> 00:02:27,480 is this 11,000 foot windy pass. 39 00:02:27,514 --> 00:02:30,617 The pine trees give way to the tundra 40 00:02:30,650 --> 00:02:33,453 as you're going up and over the pass. 41 00:02:33,486 --> 00:02:35,455 It is absolutely gorgeous. 42 00:02:35,488 --> 00:02:38,224 And at the top is the Continental Divide. 43 00:02:38,258 --> 00:02:41,494 It's kind of the backbone of the continent. 44 00:02:41,528 --> 00:02:44,364 [tense music] 45 00:02:47,567 --> 00:02:50,570 In the winters, it can be very inhospitable if you 46 00:02:50,603 --> 00:02:55,342 are driving over Hoosier Pass. 47 00:02:55,375 --> 00:02:57,243 It becomes really difficult. 48 00:02:57,277 --> 00:03:00,613 [tense music] 49 00:03:02,482 --> 00:03:04,250 WENDY KIPPLE: In the beginning 50 00:03:04,284 --> 00:03:10,156 of the year in January 1982, there was a lot of snow coming. 51 00:03:10,190 --> 00:03:11,591 It seemed like we just kept getting 52 00:03:11,624 --> 00:03:14,427 pounded with storm after storm. 53 00:03:17,497 --> 00:03:20,533 January 6, law enforcement got a report 54 00:03:20,567 --> 00:03:23,203 that a woman went missing. 55 00:03:23,236 --> 00:03:25,772 Her husband said she wasn't coming home, 56 00:03:25,805 --> 00:03:28,441 he couldn't find her. 57 00:03:28,475 --> 00:03:31,478 [tense music] 58 00:03:36,850 --> 00:03:40,854 That time of year, the snow banks were high. 59 00:03:40,887 --> 00:03:44,691 The friends that were searching went on cross-country skis. 60 00:03:44,724 --> 00:03:47,727 They kind of went around behind those snow berms. 61 00:03:50,397 --> 00:03:58,104 They are looking for tracks, any disturbances in the snow. 62 00:03:58,138 --> 00:04:01,708 And as they're skiing along, a couple hundred feet 63 00:04:01,741 --> 00:04:08,348 from the road, one of them looked up and sees 64 00:04:08,381 --> 00:04:12,686 something buried in the snow. 65 00:04:12,719 --> 00:04:13,753 They could see a body. 66 00:04:15,722 --> 00:04:17,824 STEPHANIE MILLER: They don't get close enough 67 00:04:17,857 --> 00:04:19,959 to touch her, but from what they can see, 68 00:04:20,060 --> 00:04:21,561 they believe it's their friend. 69 00:04:26,166 --> 00:04:28,301 JIM HARDTKE: There was no question that she 70 00:04:28,335 --> 00:04:29,636 was deceased at that point. 71 00:04:33,073 --> 00:04:35,408 - Her body is essentially frozen. 72 00:04:35,442 --> 00:04:38,378 [tense music] 73 00:04:39,546 --> 00:04:41,147 WENDY KIPPLE: If the friends hadn't have 74 00:04:41,181 --> 00:04:45,819 been diligent and insisting on going to look for her, 75 00:04:45,852 --> 00:04:49,856 she certainly would have continued to be buried by snow. 76 00:04:49,889 --> 00:04:51,891 STEPHANIE MILLER: Her friends were shocked, 77 00:04:51,925 --> 00:04:54,094 and they were horrified. 78 00:04:54,094 --> 00:04:56,296 No one knows what happened to her. 79 00:04:56,329 --> 00:04:58,932 [tense music] 80 00:05:01,368 --> 00:05:03,536 They managed to get back to the top of Hoosier, 81 00:05:03,570 --> 00:05:07,307 and flag down a car, and say, go call the police. 82 00:05:07,340 --> 00:05:10,043 [tense music] 83 00:05:11,544 --> 00:05:13,713 JIM HARDTKE: When I got the call, 84 00:05:13,747 --> 00:05:18,585 my first thought was that it could have been accidental. 85 00:05:18,618 --> 00:05:23,390 It was 20 to 25 below 0. 86 00:05:23,423 --> 00:05:25,592 STEPHANIE MILLER: When police find the body, 87 00:05:25,625 --> 00:05:26,926 she was covered in blood. 88 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:30,063 And there was blood on the snow around her. 89 00:05:30,063 --> 00:05:33,066 It looked as though she had been shot. 90 00:05:33,066 --> 00:05:37,904 - There was a tie wrap on one of her wrists. 91 00:05:37,937 --> 00:05:43,209 So as soon as I saw that, I said this is no accident. 92 00:05:43,243 --> 00:05:45,578 The victim was murdered. 93 00:05:45,612 --> 00:05:48,548 [tense music] 94 00:06:06,099 --> 00:06:10,103 WENDY KIPPLE: Breckenridge is a ski town. 95 00:06:10,136 --> 00:06:14,841 Back in the '70s, people were coming from all over the place. 96 00:06:14,874 --> 00:06:18,578 Everybody wanted to come here to be in nature, to ski, 97 00:06:18,611 --> 00:06:23,049 to just be themselves. 98 00:06:23,049 --> 00:06:26,052 [mellow music] 99 00:06:29,456 --> 00:06:31,091 JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: Back in the '70s, 100 00:06:31,124 --> 00:06:35,061 there was an allure to go to Colorado for a lot 101 00:06:35,061 --> 00:06:39,165 of the Midwest younger folks. 102 00:06:39,199 --> 00:06:42,102 [mellow music] 103 00:06:47,073 --> 00:06:51,678 My wife Bobbie Jo and I both grew up in the same town, 104 00:06:51,711 --> 00:06:55,682 Racine, Wisconsin. 105 00:06:55,715 --> 00:07:02,655 When I met her in 1973, I was on a motorcycle riding 106 00:07:02,689 --> 00:07:05,725 down the road, and this convertible kind of 107 00:07:05,759 --> 00:07:09,462 pulled up alongside. 108 00:07:09,496 --> 00:07:13,433 Bobbie Jo was about the prettiest thing I'd ever seen, 109 00:07:13,466 --> 00:07:14,668 I guess. 110 00:07:14,701 --> 00:07:19,673 I made a date with her, and we clicked. 111 00:07:19,706 --> 00:07:21,675 I fell pretty much head over heels. 112 00:07:26,046 --> 00:07:32,052 In May of 1980, Bobbie and I decided 113 00:07:32,052 --> 00:07:36,589 that we were gonna try to move to Colorado and set up shop. 114 00:07:39,059 --> 00:07:40,894 We ended up setting up, you know, 115 00:07:40,927 --> 00:07:43,763 outside of Alma on the other side of Hoosier Pass 116 00:07:43,797 --> 00:07:47,067 about 20 miles from Breckenridge. 117 00:07:47,100 --> 00:07:50,637 It was like a small hippie town, in a sense. 118 00:07:50,670 --> 00:07:52,806 A lot of people hitchhiked. 119 00:07:52,839 --> 00:07:56,543 It was kind of rough and tough and rowdy with all the miners 120 00:07:56,576 --> 00:08:00,647 who worked in the Climax Mine or the Henderson Mine 121 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:02,549 in Summit County. 122 00:08:02,582 --> 00:08:05,752 We knew pretty much everyone. 123 00:08:05,785 --> 00:08:10,190 Bobbie Jo was working for an investment company 124 00:08:10,223 --> 00:08:14,761 and was the receptionist. 125 00:08:14,794 --> 00:08:20,166 I was starting out my business, which was Alpine Appliance. 126 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:22,736 We were gonna begin a family. 127 00:08:22,769 --> 00:08:23,937 We were building a life. 128 00:08:28,274 --> 00:08:31,578 Bobbie Jo was just gentle, and critters 129 00:08:31,611 --> 00:08:35,382 got along with her really well. 130 00:08:35,415 --> 00:08:37,183 She raised birds. 131 00:08:37,217 --> 00:08:39,919 And I remember I came home one day, 132 00:08:39,953 --> 00:08:44,224 and she was sitting in the rocking chair. 133 00:08:44,257 --> 00:08:48,962 She was sleeping, and the bandit, the cedar waxwing, 134 00:08:49,062 --> 00:08:52,565 was just also asleep sitting on her finger. 135 00:08:52,599 --> 00:08:54,401 And it-- and it was just-- 136 00:08:54,434 --> 00:08:58,405 just a picture that I'll never, ever forget. 137 00:08:58,438 --> 00:09:01,474 [mellow music] 138 00:09:06,179 --> 00:09:09,783 Being up so high in the mountains, it was-- 139 00:09:09,816 --> 00:09:13,019 it was a winter wonderland. 140 00:09:13,019 --> 00:09:15,055 But it was not for the weak. 141 00:09:21,695 --> 00:09:23,663 WENDY KIPPLE: In January 1982, 142 00:09:23,697 --> 00:09:30,036 I remember it snowing so much the plow drivers were running 143 00:09:30,070 --> 00:09:31,271 out of places to put snow. 144 00:09:33,940 --> 00:09:36,576 Even with snow coming in, nothing ever 145 00:09:36,609 --> 00:09:38,044 really shut down completely. 146 00:09:38,044 --> 00:09:40,647 It's-- it's a way of life here. 147 00:09:44,351 --> 00:09:48,054 CHARLES MCCORMICK: January the 6th, 1982 was a Wednesday. 148 00:09:48,054 --> 00:09:52,659 It was 22 degrees below 0 in Summit County that night. 149 00:09:52,692 --> 00:09:54,794 I've never seen it colder than that. 150 00:09:58,498 --> 00:10:02,102 JIM HARDTKE: Bobbie called me after work 151 00:10:02,135 --> 00:10:07,007 and said that she had gotten a promotion at her job. 152 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:11,011 She said she was gonna celebrate with her friends. 153 00:10:11,044 --> 00:10:13,179 I was excited for her. 154 00:10:13,213 --> 00:10:16,483 She said she was going to get a ride home or hitchhike, 155 00:10:16,516 --> 00:10:18,718 which was a normal thing. 156 00:10:18,752 --> 00:10:21,588 [tense music] 157 00:10:23,890 --> 00:10:28,061 I woke up right after 2 o'clock in the morning, 158 00:10:28,094 --> 00:10:30,830 and Bobbie Jo wasn't-- 159 00:10:30,864 --> 00:10:31,931 was still not home. 160 00:10:34,434 --> 00:10:39,706 The snow was blowing bad, and I was really worried. 161 00:10:44,711 --> 00:10:48,515 I decided to go to Breckenridge to look for her. 162 00:10:48,548 --> 00:10:51,284 [tense music] 163 00:10:53,787 --> 00:10:55,955 I went over to the house of the friends 164 00:10:55,989 --> 00:11:00,293 that she was supposed to get a ride home from, woke them up. 165 00:11:00,326 --> 00:11:05,932 And they said that Bobbie Jo had left 166 00:11:05,965 --> 00:11:08,902 the bar at about 10 to 8:00. 167 00:11:08,935 --> 00:11:11,237 And they hadn't seen her and that she said 168 00:11:11,271 --> 00:11:14,140 she was gonna hitchhike home. 169 00:11:14,174 --> 00:11:17,610 So now, I'm kind of in a panic. 170 00:11:22,148 --> 00:11:26,286 She never spent the night away. 171 00:11:26,319 --> 00:11:29,389 Something is horribly, horribly wrong. 172 00:11:29,422 --> 00:11:32,292 [tense music] 173 00:11:34,861 --> 00:11:37,731 A rancher told me that he had found 174 00:11:37,764 --> 00:11:42,936 Bobbie Jo's driver's license blowing in his driveway. 175 00:11:42,969 --> 00:11:45,138 - On the wool glove, there was blood. 176 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:49,943 JIM HARDTKE: How do you have two missing people that 177 00:11:49,976 --> 00:11:53,780 fit the same profile in one night, 178 00:11:53,813 --> 00:11:56,282 one day missing in Breckenridge? 179 00:11:56,316 --> 00:11:59,119 [tense music] 180 00:12:10,397 --> 00:12:13,566 JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: It was January the 6th. 181 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,770 It's, you know, 2:30 in the morning now, at least. 182 00:12:20,940 --> 00:12:23,243 I went in, and I talked to an officer 183 00:12:23,276 --> 00:12:25,445 at the Breckenridge Police Department. 184 00:12:28,281 --> 00:12:31,785 I said, my wife, Bobbie Jo, hadn't come home. 185 00:12:31,818 --> 00:12:34,888 It wasn't in her character to do anything like that. 186 00:12:34,921 --> 00:12:37,557 [tense music] 187 00:12:37,590 --> 00:12:39,092 JIM HARDTKE: At that point, 188 00:12:39,092 --> 00:12:41,594 there's no indication of foul play. 189 00:12:41,628 --> 00:12:45,398 So police were doing what they always do. 190 00:12:45,432 --> 00:12:47,934 They wait the 24 hours. 191 00:12:47,967 --> 00:12:49,269 WENDY KIPPLE: In a blizzard, 192 00:12:49,302 --> 00:12:52,272 there's a lot of welfare checks, people 193 00:12:52,305 --> 00:12:54,441 stuck on the side of the road. 194 00:12:54,474 --> 00:12:58,345 That night, a plane flying overhead saw somebody 195 00:12:58,378 --> 00:13:01,614 flashing an SOS signal with their headlights, 196 00:13:01,648 --> 00:13:07,420 and somebody was found and was subsequently rescued. 197 00:13:07,454 --> 00:13:10,857 Law enforcement was very busy that night. 198 00:13:10,890 --> 00:13:15,061 Officers told Jeff there's nothing we can do right now 199 00:13:15,095 --> 00:13:19,632 and she hasn't been gone missing for long enough. 200 00:13:19,666 --> 00:13:22,502 [tense music] 201 00:13:24,337 --> 00:13:26,072 JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: At that point, 202 00:13:26,072 --> 00:13:29,209 I had no other place to go than just back home. 203 00:13:34,114 --> 00:13:38,551 Around 8 o'clock or so, I had got a call. 204 00:13:41,154 --> 00:13:46,292 It was from a rancher who called my number 205 00:13:46,326 --> 00:13:50,530 and told me that he had found Bobbie Jo's driver's license 206 00:13:50,563 --> 00:13:52,499 blowing in his driveway. 207 00:13:52,532 --> 00:13:56,136 [tense music] 208 00:13:58,571 --> 00:14:00,173 (OFF) STEPHANIE MILLER: The Hamilton 209 00:14:00,206 --> 00:14:03,176 Ranch is miles away towards Denver, 210 00:14:03,209 --> 00:14:04,544 well beyond their house. 211 00:14:04,577 --> 00:14:08,615 Why are her items many, many miles north 212 00:14:08,648 --> 00:14:10,116 of where they should be? 213 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:16,389 JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: I know something's wrong. 214 00:14:16,423 --> 00:14:21,161 So I start making some phone calls to different friends. 215 00:14:21,194 --> 00:14:23,363 People started coming to the house. 216 00:14:25,932 --> 00:14:28,068 STEPHANIE MILLER: People load up in vehicles. 217 00:14:28,068 --> 00:14:30,403 They're headed to Denver to the Hamilton Ranch. 218 00:14:33,373 --> 00:14:35,342 JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: And as we were coming 219 00:14:35,375 --> 00:14:40,413 around the corner on 285, I spotted 220 00:14:40,447 --> 00:14:48,188 a blue speck in the snow, and I recognized it as her backpack. 221 00:14:48,221 --> 00:14:51,091 [tense music] 222 00:14:53,593 --> 00:14:55,528 WENDY KIPPLE: It was freshly fallen snow. 223 00:14:55,562 --> 00:14:59,366 So the backpack stands out like a sore thumb. 224 00:14:59,399 --> 00:15:02,936 There's no other tracks out to the backpack. 225 00:15:03,036 --> 00:15:07,540 Jeff notices very close by to it is one of Bobbie 226 00:15:07,574 --> 00:15:11,244 Jo's wool gloves and a Kleenex. 227 00:15:11,277 --> 00:15:13,947 And on the wool glove, there was blood. 228 00:15:15,482 --> 00:15:17,250 (OFF) JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: You know, 229 00:15:17,283 --> 00:15:20,520 the worst things that I could think were going on in my mind. 230 00:15:23,590 --> 00:15:25,959 WENDY KIPPLE: Jeff called the sheriff's office, 231 00:15:26,059 --> 00:15:32,065 and a detective did meet them and took those items from Jeff. 232 00:15:34,134 --> 00:15:35,769 JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: In the meantime, 233 00:15:35,802 --> 00:15:37,604 the word is getting out more and more, 234 00:15:37,637 --> 00:15:41,775 and some other friends decided to search 235 00:15:41,808 --> 00:15:45,612 north toward Breckenridge. 236 00:15:45,645 --> 00:15:48,782 JIM HARDTKE: They decided to search on skis 237 00:15:48,815 --> 00:15:52,485 and look in different places off the highway. 238 00:15:52,519 --> 00:15:54,254 (OFF) STEPHANIE MILLER: At that time, 239 00:15:54,287 --> 00:15:57,390 the only place to pull off of the highway was Hoosier Pass. 240 00:15:57,424 --> 00:16:00,260 [tense music] 241 00:16:03,329 --> 00:16:05,098 WENDY KIPPLE: The search party 242 00:16:05,131 --> 00:16:08,668 wasn't into the search very long when they did find her body. 243 00:16:08,702 --> 00:16:11,671 [tense music] 244 00:16:20,113 --> 00:16:22,649 Once the friends reported, then the Park County 245 00:16:22,682 --> 00:16:25,085 Sheriff's Office came up. 246 00:16:25,118 --> 00:16:28,054 Then, at that point, they made the decision, hey, this 247 00:16:28,054 --> 00:16:30,724 is bigger than us and called for Colorado 248 00:16:30,757 --> 00:16:34,427 Bureau of Investigations to start up there from Denver. 249 00:16:34,461 --> 00:16:37,364 [tense music] 250 00:16:40,700 --> 00:16:43,636 JIM HARDTKE: I got up to the summit of the pass 251 00:16:43,670 --> 00:16:47,507 at probably 7:30 at night. 252 00:16:47,540 --> 00:16:53,179 CHARLES MCCORMICK: The crime scene is at 11,500 feet. 253 00:16:53,213 --> 00:16:54,080 It's dark. 254 00:16:54,114 --> 00:16:55,448 It's snowing lightly. 255 00:16:55,482 --> 00:16:57,550 It's 25 below now. 256 00:17:02,856 --> 00:17:05,725 The crime scene itself, you might 257 00:17:05,759 --> 00:17:07,527 as well not even have a floor. 258 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:10,363 I mean, the snow is so deep. 259 00:17:10,397 --> 00:17:13,233 [tense music] 260 00:17:15,669 --> 00:17:18,238 STEPHANIE MILLER: Bobbie Jo had obviously at some point 261 00:17:18,271 --> 00:17:23,209 been walking or running in very deep snow. 262 00:17:23,243 --> 00:17:25,078 And it looked as though she was shot, 263 00:17:25,111 --> 00:17:28,314 she maybe took a few more steps, blood in the snow, 264 00:17:28,348 --> 00:17:31,317 and then fell down. 265 00:17:31,351 --> 00:17:32,819 WENDY KIPPLE: As an investigator, 266 00:17:32,852 --> 00:17:35,755 you look at the totality of the scene. 267 00:17:35,789 --> 00:17:39,125 It's like, what doesn't belong here? 268 00:17:39,159 --> 00:17:40,493 (OFF) CHARLES MCCORMICK: A hundred 269 00:17:40,527 --> 00:17:43,163 yards back up the road into the parking 270 00:17:43,196 --> 00:17:46,399 lot, two items were found. 271 00:17:46,433 --> 00:17:49,769 One was a orange booty, like a tennis sock. 272 00:17:54,174 --> 00:17:56,276 And there was another one. 273 00:17:56,309 --> 00:18:01,915 It was a very heavy, round, steel key ring. 274 00:18:02,015 --> 00:18:04,851 [tense music] 275 00:18:06,786 --> 00:18:08,488 JIM HARDTKE: And at that point, 276 00:18:08,521 --> 00:18:12,659 Jeff Oberholtzer was there, and he had told the sheriff 277 00:18:12,692 --> 00:18:16,196 that he wants to see her. 278 00:18:16,229 --> 00:18:19,132 [tense music] 279 00:18:20,734 --> 00:18:22,869 JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: I approached the body bag, 280 00:18:22,902 --> 00:18:26,439 and I told them to unzip it, and-- 281 00:18:26,473 --> 00:18:27,440 and they did. 282 00:18:29,943 --> 00:18:33,646 It was like, isn't this just a bad dream? 283 00:18:41,254 --> 00:18:46,359 She was pale and frozen solid. 284 00:18:52,766 --> 00:18:53,600 She was gone. 285 00:18:56,636 --> 00:19:00,340 And I would never see her alive again, 286 00:19:00,373 --> 00:19:08,648 and I was alone without my Bobbie Jo. 287 00:19:08,682 --> 00:19:11,584 [somber music] 288 00:19:21,928 --> 00:19:23,496 WENDY KIPPLE: At that time, 289 00:19:23,530 --> 00:19:27,667 the coroner took her body to a funeral home down 290 00:19:27,701 --> 00:19:29,836 in the Denver area for autopsy. 291 00:19:33,273 --> 00:19:36,543 Bobbie Jo had two gunshot wounds in the chest. 292 00:19:39,779 --> 00:19:42,515 STEPHANIE MILLER: She did have injuries to both wrists 293 00:19:42,549 --> 00:19:44,517 from the zip ties. 294 00:19:44,551 --> 00:19:46,619 WENDY KIPPLE: There was no indication that she 295 00:19:46,653 --> 00:19:49,723 had been sexually assaulted. 296 00:19:49,756 --> 00:19:52,058 JIM HARDTKE: The bullet itself was found, 297 00:19:52,058 --> 00:19:54,427 but it was so damaged that we couldn't 298 00:19:54,461 --> 00:19:56,229 do real ballistics tests. 299 00:19:56,262 --> 00:19:59,499 But it looked to be-- you know, we could narrow down what 300 00:19:59,532 --> 00:20:02,969 caliber it might have been. 301 00:20:03,003 --> 00:20:05,538 CHARLES MCCORMICK: As far as the items of evidence 302 00:20:05,572 --> 00:20:08,375 near her body, according to Jeff, 303 00:20:08,408 --> 00:20:11,044 the key ring belonged to Bobbie Jo. 304 00:20:11,077 --> 00:20:14,848 But nobody really knew anything about why that sock was there. 305 00:20:17,617 --> 00:20:19,552 WENDY KIPPLE: When Bobbie Jo was found, 306 00:20:19,586 --> 00:20:21,287 she was fully clothed. 307 00:20:21,321 --> 00:20:23,990 She had her socks on. 308 00:20:24,024 --> 00:20:25,492 It didn't make sense. 309 00:20:25,525 --> 00:20:29,429 Why would that orange sock be there? 310 00:20:29,462 --> 00:20:32,699 JIM HARDTKE: The blood on the glove and Bobbie Jo's blood 311 00:20:32,732 --> 00:20:35,368 were both A-positive. 312 00:20:35,402 --> 00:20:36,936 It didn't give us a lead. 313 00:20:38,672 --> 00:20:40,407 (OFF) CHARLES MCCORMICK: I remember 314 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:44,477 saying a prayer for whoever was gonna be the case agent. 315 00:20:44,511 --> 00:20:48,081 There is, of course, no witnesses. 316 00:20:48,114 --> 00:20:49,482 There's no real evidence. 317 00:20:49,516 --> 00:20:51,751 You could tell that it was going to be 318 00:20:51,785 --> 00:20:53,653 an extremely difficult case. 319 00:20:56,589 --> 00:21:06,666 [wind howling] 320 00:21:06,700 --> 00:21:08,335 JIM HARDTKE: That point would be 321 00:21:08,368 --> 00:21:11,805 day two of the investigation. 322 00:21:11,838 --> 00:21:15,375 Bobbie Jo was last seen when she walked out of the bar 323 00:21:15,408 --> 00:21:16,476 to hitchhike home. 324 00:21:19,579 --> 00:21:23,917 Breckenridge police stopped traffic and asked everybody 325 00:21:23,950 --> 00:21:25,452 if they had seen anything. 326 00:21:28,888 --> 00:21:31,458 Because of the bitter cold-- 327 00:21:31,491 --> 00:21:33,593 well, well below 0-- 328 00:21:33,626 --> 00:21:35,428 people were so bundled up. 329 00:21:35,462 --> 00:21:40,100 So they may have seen Bobbie Jo but didn't know it was her. 330 00:21:40,100 --> 00:21:44,604 - Bobbie Jo did hitchhike quite frequently. 331 00:21:44,637 --> 00:21:46,539 - Bobbie Jo was picky, 332 00:21:46,573 --> 00:21:50,844 and she'd turn down rides from people that she didn't know. 333 00:21:56,449 --> 00:22:01,287 I had made her a key ring weapon that she could use. 334 00:22:03,790 --> 00:22:08,528 It made you feel better knowing that you could possibly defend 335 00:22:08,561 --> 00:22:11,664 yourself better than not. 336 00:22:11,698 --> 00:22:13,600 Bobbie could take care of herself. 337 00:22:19,072 --> 00:22:21,875 - Well, at that point, the only person I knew 338 00:22:21,908 --> 00:22:23,810 who knew the victim was Jeff. 339 00:22:26,446 --> 00:22:30,083 He was the first person I talked to. 340 00:22:30,116 --> 00:22:33,453 Jeff said he went to the Sheriff's office to report 341 00:22:33,486 --> 00:22:36,322 Bobbie Jo missing to no avail. 342 00:22:36,356 --> 00:22:41,661 After that, he's getting really nervous, getting angry. 343 00:22:41,695 --> 00:22:44,097 - When Bobbie Jo went missing, 344 00:22:44,130 --> 00:22:48,101 Jeff said he was at home alone at 10:00 345 00:22:48,101 --> 00:22:49,936 at night, 2:00 AM in the morning, 346 00:22:49,969 --> 00:22:52,972 waiting for her to come home. 347 00:22:53,006 --> 00:22:56,109 - He said he actually slept for awhile. 348 00:22:56,109 --> 00:22:57,877 And I remember him telling me that he 349 00:22:57,911 --> 00:23:01,815 heard a siren around midnight. 350 00:23:01,848 --> 00:23:04,951 We checked later, and there were no emergency 351 00:23:05,051 --> 00:23:07,420 calls passing by his home. 352 00:23:07,454 --> 00:23:08,822 (ON) STEPHANIE MILLER: So of course, 353 00:23:08,855 --> 00:23:12,359 he can't prove that that's where he's at. 354 00:23:12,392 --> 00:23:14,427 - Jeff was the first person 355 00:23:14,461 --> 00:23:15,595 I considered the suspect. 356 00:23:21,067 --> 00:23:25,138 January 8 was the day I talked to Jeff. 357 00:23:25,171 --> 00:23:29,509 And by January 9, I learned that there 358 00:23:29,542 --> 00:23:32,445 was another hitchhiker reported missing to the Summit 359 00:23:32,479 --> 00:23:33,480 County Sheriff's Office. 360 00:23:33,513 --> 00:23:36,716 [dramatic music] 361 00:23:36,750 --> 00:23:38,885 And her name was Annette Kay Schnee. 362 00:23:46,426 --> 00:23:50,997 KAREN RIESSEN: Our family was raised in Sioux City, Iowa. 363 00:23:51,097 --> 00:23:53,166 When my father died when I was in third grade, 364 00:23:53,199 --> 00:23:54,668 my mother remarried. 365 00:23:58,204 --> 00:24:04,110 My mother had four of us at home, and he brought one in, 366 00:24:04,144 --> 00:24:05,545 and then they had one. 367 00:24:05,578 --> 00:24:06,880 So we were kind of like the Brady Bunch. 368 00:24:10,517 --> 00:24:14,554 - Annette was just a goof ball. 369 00:24:14,587 --> 00:24:17,891 She was funny, very funny. 370 00:24:17,924 --> 00:24:22,796 She had a bubbly personality, and she was outgoing. 371 00:24:22,829 --> 00:24:25,198 And then after Annette graduated from high school, 372 00:24:25,231 --> 00:24:28,768 she moved down to Omaha, Nebraska, 373 00:24:28,802 --> 00:24:33,473 and went to modeling school to get more prim and proper. 374 00:24:33,506 --> 00:24:36,076 She wanted to be a stewardess. 375 00:24:36,076 --> 00:24:39,512 [upbeat music] 376 00:24:39,546 --> 00:24:43,883 When Annette graduated, she moved to Colorado. 377 00:24:43,917 --> 00:24:46,086 - She loved it here-- 378 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:48,655 the woods, outdoors. 379 00:24:48,688 --> 00:24:51,591 She loved going hiking, loved hiking. 380 00:24:54,194 --> 00:24:55,995 She talked about how hard it was. 381 00:24:56,096 --> 00:24:59,199 It's expensive, so she had two jobs 382 00:24:59,232 --> 00:25:02,135 to make ends meet because she was still trying 383 00:25:02,168 --> 00:25:06,506 to get into stewardess school. 384 00:25:06,539 --> 00:25:08,775 - She had this ambition and this drive 385 00:25:08,808 --> 00:25:12,846 to just go and live her life and start it on her own 386 00:25:12,879 --> 00:25:14,948 and figure out what she wanted to do. 387 00:25:15,048 --> 00:25:16,950 She was pretty ambitious. 388 00:25:21,621 --> 00:25:24,257 WENDY KIPPLE: The person that called Annette in missing 389 00:25:24,290 --> 00:25:26,159 was her coworker. 390 00:25:26,192 --> 00:25:30,830 She had missed her shift for two days. 391 00:25:30,864 --> 00:25:33,199 Annette was a very reliable person, 392 00:25:33,233 --> 00:25:36,870 so this was very out of character for her. 393 00:25:36,903 --> 00:25:41,207 She worked at the Holiday Inn in Frisco. 394 00:25:41,241 --> 00:25:43,143 That was Annette's day job. 395 00:25:43,176 --> 00:25:45,245 And then at night, she was a cocktail 396 00:25:45,278 --> 00:25:47,113 waitress at the Flip Side bar. 397 00:25:47,147 --> 00:25:49,582 She didn't have a car, so she would hitchhike 398 00:25:49,616 --> 00:25:50,717 back and forth as well. 399 00:25:58,591 --> 00:26:00,026 - When my mom got 400 00:26:00,026 --> 00:26:03,697 the phone call from the detective, 401 00:26:03,730 --> 00:26:08,034 I could hear her voice crack. 402 00:26:08,068 --> 00:26:15,041 She hung up the phone, and she broke down in tears and said, 403 00:26:15,041 --> 00:26:17,043 I knew what this phone call was going to be. 404 00:26:17,043 --> 00:26:20,814 I had a feeling that some detective was going to call 405 00:26:20,847 --> 00:26:24,651 me and say Annette was missing. 406 00:26:24,684 --> 00:26:25,819 And she's missing. 407 00:26:25,852 --> 00:26:28,755 [dramatic music] 408 00:26:34,794 --> 00:26:36,196 - The investigators 409 00:26:36,229 --> 00:26:39,799 started interviewing Annette's coworkers. 410 00:26:39,833 --> 00:26:42,602 The last time Annette Schnee was seen 411 00:26:42,635 --> 00:26:47,073 was leaving the drugstore in Breckenridge at about 4:45 412 00:26:47,073 --> 00:26:50,610 in the afternoon on January 6, the same night 413 00:26:50,643 --> 00:26:53,646 that Bobbie Jo went missing. 414 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,851 Annette was scheduled to work at the Flip Side Bar that night, 415 00:26:57,884 --> 00:27:00,720 and she never made it home to get 416 00:27:00,754 --> 00:27:02,288 her cocktail waitress outfit. 417 00:27:06,693 --> 00:27:08,795 - Annette and Bobby both 418 00:27:08,828 --> 00:27:12,098 work in the Breckenridge area. 419 00:27:12,132 --> 00:27:15,101 They both hitchhike to and from work. 420 00:27:15,135 --> 00:27:19,839 They're both young and attractive. 421 00:27:19,873 --> 00:27:21,741 How do you have two missing people 422 00:27:21,775 --> 00:27:25,311 that fit the same profile in one night, one 423 00:27:25,345 --> 00:27:28,081 day missing in Breckenridge? 424 00:27:28,114 --> 00:27:32,218 [intense music] 425 00:27:32,252 --> 00:27:33,920 - People were afraid. 426 00:27:33,953 --> 00:27:36,389 People were scared. 427 00:27:36,423 --> 00:27:39,926 Is there a murderer out there roaming around Summit County? 428 00:27:44,364 --> 00:27:46,866 - He picked her up hitchhiking. 429 00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:50,236 It seemed like quite a coincidence. 430 00:27:50,270 --> 00:27:52,939 - They did bring in the truck that he had, 431 00:27:52,972 --> 00:27:54,808 and they found some blood in there. 432 00:27:57,777 --> 00:28:00,013 [wind howling] 433 00:28:09,222 --> 00:28:12,826 - In January of 1982, 434 00:28:12,859 --> 00:28:14,928 people in Breckenridge were really 435 00:28:15,028 --> 00:28:17,430 frightened for good cause. 436 00:28:17,464 --> 00:28:21,034 [ominous music] 437 00:28:25,238 --> 00:28:26,940 For two young women to be plucked out 438 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:31,544 of a small little village with people having fun 439 00:28:31,578 --> 00:28:33,413 scared the hell out of everybody. 440 00:28:36,349 --> 00:28:40,887 [ominous music] 441 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:43,823 I knew that-- just the way things 442 00:28:43,857 --> 00:28:47,093 are, that the second woman would undoubtedly 443 00:28:47,127 --> 00:28:48,895 be found dead somewhere. 444 00:28:51,798 --> 00:28:54,067 - When I learned that Annette was last 445 00:28:54,067 --> 00:28:59,873 seen within a tight time frame of when Bobbie Jo went missing, 446 00:28:59,906 --> 00:29:04,444 my immediate thought was these cases are together, 447 00:29:04,477 --> 00:29:07,447 but there's no way we could prove that. 448 00:29:10,216 --> 00:29:13,453 As far as Annette and Bobbie Jo knowing each other, 449 00:29:13,486 --> 00:29:14,387 nobody knew. 450 00:29:17,924 --> 00:29:20,293 The next time I saw Jeff, I asked him. 451 00:29:20,326 --> 00:29:22,929 I said, do you know Annette. 452 00:29:23,029 --> 00:29:24,431 And he said, no, I don't. 453 00:29:27,033 --> 00:29:28,468 - But at some point, 454 00:29:28,501 --> 00:29:30,270 an article came out in the newspaper 455 00:29:30,303 --> 00:29:33,039 where they put Annette Schnee's photograph right 456 00:29:33,073 --> 00:29:35,342 next to Bobbie Jo's photograph. 457 00:29:35,375 --> 00:29:39,946 And when Jeff saw the pictures, he goes back to police 458 00:29:40,046 --> 00:29:41,481 and says, I have seen her. 459 00:29:41,514 --> 00:29:45,118 I gave her a ride back in November. 460 00:29:45,151 --> 00:29:47,487 - We picked her up hitchhiking, and he said, 461 00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:50,924 I gave her a business card. 462 00:29:50,957 --> 00:29:53,226 It seemed like quite a coincidence. 463 00:29:53,259 --> 00:29:55,128 - The police asked Jeff 464 00:29:55,161 --> 00:29:57,263 questions about Annette Schnee. 465 00:29:57,297 --> 00:29:59,165 Has she been murdered as well? 466 00:29:59,199 --> 00:30:02,335 Did he see her? 467 00:30:02,369 --> 00:30:03,970 - I asked him if he'd 468 00:30:04,004 --> 00:30:05,605 be willing to take a polygraph. 469 00:30:08,241 --> 00:30:11,277 And he took the polygraph. 470 00:30:11,311 --> 00:30:14,314 [dramatic music] 471 00:30:16,883 --> 00:30:19,519 And he passed. 472 00:30:19,552 --> 00:30:25,291 That's not evidence, but it helps back up Jeff's story. 473 00:30:25,325 --> 00:30:27,494 - Police had no way to tie Jeff 474 00:30:27,527 --> 00:30:30,330 to the homicide of Bobbie Jo. 475 00:30:30,363 --> 00:30:33,433 And at this point, Annette has not been found. 476 00:30:33,466 --> 00:30:36,202 No one knows what's happened to her. 477 00:30:36,236 --> 00:30:38,538 - Trying to find a body with all the snow 478 00:30:38,571 --> 00:30:40,407 was virtually impossible. 479 00:30:52,218 --> 00:30:54,954 KAREN RIESSEN: I and my brother Russ made the decision 480 00:30:54,988 --> 00:30:58,925 to go out to Colorado to try to find something 481 00:30:58,958 --> 00:31:01,294 that would give us a clue. 482 00:31:01,327 --> 00:31:03,897 But there wasn't any answers. 483 00:31:08,068 --> 00:31:15,909 We felt helpless, went home brokenhearted with no answers. 484 00:31:19,245 --> 00:31:23,616 [solemn music] 485 00:31:33,193 --> 00:31:37,997 JIM HARDTKE: As far as a profile of the unknown 486 00:31:38,098 --> 00:31:41,368 suspect at the time, it's possible this 487 00:31:41,401 --> 00:31:45,171 was a random killing. 488 00:31:45,205 --> 00:31:49,109 Initially, the serial killer idea came to mind. 489 00:31:53,113 --> 00:31:58,118 In my mind, I thought, I mean, if you're a serial killer, 490 00:31:58,118 --> 00:32:01,154 you have the barrel, and there's fish in the barrel 491 00:32:01,187 --> 00:32:03,189 right at that hitchhiking spot. 492 00:32:08,595 --> 00:32:10,663 - Law enforcement started to look 493 00:32:10,697 --> 00:32:12,565 towards cases that are similar. 494 00:32:12,599 --> 00:32:14,534 They were looking for people that were violent, 495 00:32:14,567 --> 00:32:16,403 people that had committed sexual assaults. 496 00:32:19,339 --> 00:32:22,442 - In February of 1982, 497 00:32:22,475 --> 00:32:25,078 six weeks after the murder of one woman 498 00:32:25,078 --> 00:32:29,649 and the disappearance of another, 499 00:32:29,683 --> 00:32:33,753 there was another very violent sexually-oriented crime. 500 00:32:37,624 --> 00:32:39,225 A woman who's kind of standing out 501 00:32:39,259 --> 00:32:42,429 near the depot for a Greyhound bus late at night-- 502 00:32:42,462 --> 00:32:45,465 not too far from where Bobbie Jo and Annette 503 00:32:45,498 --> 00:32:47,500 had been last seen-- 504 00:32:47,534 --> 00:32:51,471 a man stopped and asked if she needed any help. 505 00:32:51,504 --> 00:32:54,140 So she accepted the ride and got in with him. 506 00:32:58,678 --> 00:33:04,084 He eventually pulled over and pulled a hammer 507 00:33:04,117 --> 00:33:06,419 out from underneath his seat. 508 00:33:06,453 --> 00:33:10,056 He started to beat her with the hammer. 509 00:33:10,056 --> 00:33:10,690 He then raped her. 510 00:33:10,724 --> 00:33:13,660 [dramatic music] 511 00:33:16,196 --> 00:33:19,632 She eventually got away from him and ran. 512 00:33:19,666 --> 00:33:22,102 The victim had given a description 513 00:33:22,135 --> 00:33:24,671 of the attacker and his truck. 514 00:33:24,704 --> 00:33:28,375 And so the police started looking for this very 515 00:33:28,408 --> 00:33:31,144 distinctive old pickup truck, and they eventually found 516 00:33:31,177 --> 00:33:33,346 it parked in a trailer park. 517 00:33:33,380 --> 00:33:36,383 And based on that, they arrested Tom Luther. 518 00:33:39,619 --> 00:33:45,291 Tom Luther was a picture-perfect mountain man. 519 00:33:45,325 --> 00:33:49,629 He had several jobs in January of '82. 520 00:33:49,662 --> 00:33:52,365 One was as a cab driver. 521 00:33:52,399 --> 00:33:54,734 And he also had a job with a friend 522 00:33:54,768 --> 00:33:56,703 of his gathering firewood. 523 00:33:58,772 --> 00:34:00,407 - Law enforcement 524 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,377 did go interview him about Bobbie Jo and Annette. 525 00:34:04,411 --> 00:34:07,380 He denied that he had any involvement in that case. 526 00:34:07,414 --> 00:34:09,215 - He said he did not 527 00:34:09,249 --> 00:34:11,317 recall what he was doing the night that both 528 00:34:11,351 --> 00:34:12,652 these girls disappeared. 529 00:34:16,790 --> 00:34:18,425 - Investigators talk 530 00:34:18,458 --> 00:34:21,895 to Thomas Luther's girlfriend about where he was, 531 00:34:21,928 --> 00:34:25,899 what he was doing during that time. 532 00:34:25,932 --> 00:34:29,569 And she had said that he had not gone to work the next day. 533 00:34:29,602 --> 00:34:31,671 - Speaking to the people who 534 00:34:31,705 --> 00:34:36,242 knew Tom Luther, we heard he could be a very accommodating, 535 00:34:36,276 --> 00:34:39,112 friendly individual. 536 00:34:39,145 --> 00:34:41,781 But if he got angry, which he quite often did, 537 00:34:41,815 --> 00:34:47,120 he would blow his top, scream and holler. 538 00:34:47,153 --> 00:34:49,155 - Luther had a violent history, 539 00:34:49,189 --> 00:34:50,523 especially against women. 540 00:34:50,557 --> 00:34:52,559 There were eerie similarities between what 541 00:34:52,592 --> 00:34:56,196 happened with Bobbie Jo and what happened with this victim. 542 00:34:56,229 --> 00:34:59,799 Law enforcement thought they had their guy. 543 00:34:59,833 --> 00:35:11,177 [wind howling] 544 00:35:11,211 --> 00:35:14,848 In spring of 1982, during the investigation, 545 00:35:14,881 --> 00:35:18,318 Thomas Luther was in custody because of a sexual assault 546 00:35:18,351 --> 00:35:19,719 in Summit County. 547 00:35:19,753 --> 00:35:21,755 - The fact that he committed 548 00:35:21,788 --> 00:35:24,457 this hammer rape-- the violence that was involved 549 00:35:24,491 --> 00:35:26,826 and the nature of it in a small community 550 00:35:26,860 --> 00:35:30,463 like Summit County, this suspect was 551 00:35:30,497 --> 00:35:31,698 the best thing we had going. 552 00:35:37,904 --> 00:35:40,407 - They did look at Thomas Luther's truck 553 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:43,410 that he had, and they found some blood. 554 00:35:47,847 --> 00:35:50,950 But the blood was from the victim in the sexual assault 555 00:35:50,984 --> 00:35:53,820 in Summit County. 556 00:35:53,853 --> 00:35:56,790 They were not able to connect it to Bobbie Jo and Annette. 557 00:36:04,631 --> 00:36:07,600 - We knew that Tom Luther's girlfriend owned 558 00:36:07,634 --> 00:36:13,573 a gun that could fit the caliber of the bullet in Bobbie Jo, 559 00:36:13,606 --> 00:36:16,609 but the bullet was so damaged that we couldn't 560 00:36:16,643 --> 00:36:20,180 do real ballistics tests. 561 00:36:20,213 --> 00:36:22,949 - Given all of the evidence that we had 562 00:36:23,049 --> 00:36:26,786 to make Luther a suspect, there was 563 00:36:26,820 --> 00:36:31,825 not any direct evidence of his involvement in these cases. 564 00:36:31,858 --> 00:36:34,294 And of course, he denied being involved. 565 00:36:40,533 --> 00:36:43,470 He went to trial for sexual assault, 566 00:36:43,503 --> 00:36:46,639 and he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years. 567 00:36:50,710 --> 00:36:52,679 - There is a measure of comfort 568 00:36:52,712 --> 00:36:56,516 that these people are behind bars for other crimes, 569 00:36:56,549 --> 00:36:58,852 but it's kind of small comfort because you 570 00:36:58,885 --> 00:37:00,253 want to solve this case. 571 00:37:03,390 --> 00:37:05,925 - Not getting any solid provable 572 00:37:06,026 --> 00:37:09,829 or even investigate able information 573 00:37:09,863 --> 00:37:12,732 is extremely frustrating. 574 00:37:12,766 --> 00:37:14,834 - At that time, law enforcement, 575 00:37:14,868 --> 00:37:17,037 they kept running into dead ends. 576 00:37:17,070 --> 00:37:22,375 Then they really focused on Jeff, Bobbie Jo's husband. 577 00:37:22,409 --> 00:37:24,477 Law enforcement kept going back to Jeff, 578 00:37:24,511 --> 00:37:29,049 and it's because at that point, they didn't have anything else. 579 00:37:29,049 --> 00:37:31,051 CHARLES MCCORMICK: He passed the polygraph. 580 00:37:31,084 --> 00:37:33,553 It didn't mean much to the investigators 581 00:37:33,586 --> 00:37:36,723 because polygraphs are not admissible as evidence 582 00:37:36,756 --> 00:37:39,926 in court, and for good reason. 583 00:37:39,959 --> 00:37:41,928 They're not foolproof. 584 00:37:41,961 --> 00:37:43,697 - As investigators, 585 00:37:43,730 --> 00:37:49,703 we went through so many possible scenarios of Jeff's timeline. 586 00:37:49,736 --> 00:37:53,306 Could he'd been the one that killed Bobbie Jo? 587 00:37:53,340 --> 00:37:54,741 I called the phone company to make 588 00:37:54,774 --> 00:37:58,745 sure that that was a real call that was really answered. 589 00:37:58,778 --> 00:38:02,749 The timeline, it just was not exact. 590 00:38:02,782 --> 00:38:07,721 Our agency did a number of interviews with him, 591 00:38:07,754 --> 00:38:13,026 some of them friendly, some of them rough. 592 00:38:13,026 --> 00:38:17,397 At that point, until we found a killer, 593 00:38:17,430 --> 00:38:22,035 everybody is still on the list. 594 00:38:22,035 --> 00:38:25,805 As far as locating Annette, we had nothing. 595 00:38:35,815 --> 00:38:40,086 - Every day that goes by without Annette, 596 00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:44,457 your heart sinks a little more. 597 00:38:44,491 --> 00:38:45,425 It's really hard. 598 00:38:48,695 --> 00:38:50,830 - Sometimes, you would just break down 599 00:38:50,864 --> 00:38:54,100 and cry because where is she? 600 00:38:54,134 --> 00:38:57,637 Where could she possibly be? 601 00:38:57,671 --> 00:39:00,006 And at that point, nearing six months, 602 00:39:00,006 --> 00:39:01,841 you don't think she's ever going to be found. 603 00:39:11,017 --> 00:39:13,019 - It was early July. 604 00:39:13,019 --> 00:39:16,056 That time of year, the snow melts. 605 00:39:16,089 --> 00:39:17,791 Everything's changing. 606 00:39:17,824 --> 00:39:21,461 Things are getting green, and it's beautiful up here. 607 00:39:24,631 --> 00:39:26,766 - When the snow starts melting away, 608 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:30,637 it's like a sense of renewal. 609 00:39:30,670 --> 00:39:33,106 You start seeing the buds start coming out 610 00:39:33,139 --> 00:39:36,509 on the Aspen trees and the wildflowers 611 00:39:36,543 --> 00:39:39,512 starting to try to come up. 612 00:39:39,546 --> 00:39:42,549 Around the July 4th holiday, a lot of people 613 00:39:42,582 --> 00:39:45,585 come up from the city to get out of the heat 614 00:39:45,618 --> 00:39:47,687 and come up to the mountains where it's cool. 615 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:55,895 - So July 3, a family 616 00:39:55,929 --> 00:39:58,732 comes into the Sacramento Creek area to their summer home, 617 00:39:58,765 --> 00:40:00,900 like they do every 4th of July. 618 00:40:03,536 --> 00:40:07,107 WENDY KIPPLE: Their boy, who was 13 at the time wanted 619 00:40:07,140 --> 00:40:10,543 to go fishing, so he got his fishing pole 620 00:40:10,577 --> 00:40:13,580 and walks down to Sacramento Creek, 621 00:40:13,613 --> 00:40:15,548 which is a short distance away. 622 00:40:18,785 --> 00:40:21,121 - He is just working his way 623 00:40:21,154 --> 00:40:26,159 up the creek by himself and he sees 624 00:40:26,192 --> 00:40:28,695 a body face down in the water. 625 00:40:28,728 --> 00:40:33,633 [dramatic music] 626 00:40:33,667 --> 00:40:40,473 The body has on a winter coat and thick pants and boots. 627 00:40:40,507 --> 00:40:46,546 He saw hair waving with the movement of the water. 628 00:40:46,579 --> 00:40:49,549 And then at some point, it waved away and he saw an ear. 629 00:40:52,819 --> 00:40:55,722 Of course, it terrifies him. 630 00:40:55,755 --> 00:40:57,590 He scrambles up this embankment. 631 00:40:57,624 --> 00:41:00,160 And when he gets to the road, he takes rocks 632 00:41:00,193 --> 00:41:03,496 and he piles them up to mark where it is that he 633 00:41:03,530 --> 00:41:04,397 has come out of the creek. 634 00:41:08,268 --> 00:41:10,603 - He runs back up to the cabin 635 00:41:10,637 --> 00:41:12,238 and tells his dad. 636 00:41:14,941 --> 00:41:17,477 And his dad contacts the police. 637 00:41:20,146 --> 00:41:23,950 - When police find the body, 638 00:41:23,983 --> 00:41:27,620 it's obvious to them that the body has been in the water 639 00:41:27,654 --> 00:41:28,722 for quite some time. 640 00:41:31,324 --> 00:41:32,492 It's female. 641 00:41:35,128 --> 00:41:37,230 - The water in Sacramento Creek 642 00:41:37,263 --> 00:41:40,800 is from snowmelt, so it's very cold, 643 00:41:40,834 --> 00:41:44,971 so her body was remarkably well preserved. 644 00:41:45,005 --> 00:41:48,608 - Her physical appearance still remained. 645 00:41:48,641 --> 00:41:51,811 - Right away, they knew that the body 646 00:41:51,845 --> 00:41:53,747 was Annette Schnee. 647 00:41:53,780 --> 00:41:57,117 [dramatic music] 648 00:42:02,222 --> 00:42:03,890 - In January, that area 649 00:42:03,923 --> 00:42:06,926 was just piled with snow. 650 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:10,630 WENDY KIPPLE: We have snow clear up till June. 651 00:42:10,663 --> 00:42:12,932 Her body would have been buried in the snow 652 00:42:12,966 --> 00:42:14,267 from the moment she was murdered. 653 00:42:20,173 --> 00:42:22,942 - I attended the autopsy of Annette 654 00:42:22,976 --> 00:42:26,680 Schnee down in Denver. 655 00:42:26,713 --> 00:42:30,083 And as we're preparing the body for autopsy, 656 00:42:30,083 --> 00:42:36,189 I see on her foot an orange footie sock. 657 00:42:36,222 --> 00:42:38,692 [dramatic music] 658 00:42:38,725 --> 00:42:42,595 I've seen the orange footie sock that was found at Bobbie Jo's 659 00:42:42,629 --> 00:42:46,599 crime scene for all those months wondering, 660 00:42:46,633 --> 00:42:49,703 how does this fit in. 661 00:42:49,736 --> 00:42:53,640 And I see what appears to be the mate to it on Annette's foot. 662 00:42:57,877 --> 00:42:59,579 CHARLES MCCORMICK: The individual-- 663 00:42:59,612 --> 00:43:03,049 serial killer now-- puts himself right in the hotel 664 00:43:03,049 --> 00:43:07,921 where Annette worked in the week both these girls disappeared. 665 00:43:07,954 --> 00:43:09,689 MARK HURLBURT: The only connection 666 00:43:09,723 --> 00:43:13,059 was this blood on this glove. 667 00:43:13,059 --> 00:43:16,830 MITCH MORRISEY: Now, 40 years later, you've 668 00:43:16,863 --> 00:43:20,066 got an eyewitness on the night that this happened, 669 00:43:20,066 --> 00:43:23,069 saying this guy had a gash in his forehead. 670 00:43:25,939 --> 00:43:27,407 (ON) JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: And finally, 671 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:29,709 this nightmare might be ending. 672 00:43:32,779 --> 00:43:35,749 WENDY KIPPLE: That's what broke this case wide open. 673 00:43:51,297 --> 00:43:54,267 [suspenseful music] 674 00:44:03,243 --> 00:44:04,711 (OFF) STEPHANIE MILLER: Bobbie Jo 675 00:44:04,744 --> 00:44:06,379 Oberholtzer and Annette Schnee had 676 00:44:06,413 --> 00:44:09,849 gone missing on the same night. 677 00:44:09,883 --> 00:44:12,452 CHARLES MCCORMICK: Six months later, July the 3rd, 678 00:44:12,485 --> 00:44:16,956 1982, about 12 miles away into Park County, 679 00:44:17,057 --> 00:44:20,727 Annette Schnee's body was found floating in Sacramento Creek, 680 00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:21,428 face down. 681 00:44:25,498 --> 00:44:27,934 [STREAM GURGLING, BIRDS CHIRPING] 682 00:44:27,967 --> 00:44:29,736 STEPHANIE MILLER: The 13-year-old boy 683 00:44:29,769 --> 00:44:33,173 was fly fishing in the creek, and he came upon her. 684 00:44:37,110 --> 00:44:39,312 - She'd been shot in the back. 685 00:44:42,115 --> 00:44:44,718 [suspenseful music] 686 00:44:44,751 --> 00:44:48,154 [STREAM GURGLING, BIRDS CHIRPING] 687 00:44:58,164 --> 00:44:59,833 - As a child, I just 688 00:44:59,866 --> 00:45:05,372 remember thinking about my mom. 689 00:45:05,405 --> 00:45:11,911 That-- I was sad, but I was so sad for my mom. 690 00:45:18,485 --> 00:45:20,720 KAREN RIESSEN: You want to know it was fast. 691 00:45:23,957 --> 00:45:28,895 Because you hope that they're not suffering. 692 00:45:28,928 --> 00:45:31,164 That was terrible. 693 00:45:31,197 --> 00:45:33,533 I was so mad that I couldn't have been there to help her. 694 00:45:41,107 --> 00:45:43,910 WENDY KIPPLE: When Annette was taken down for autopsy, 695 00:45:43,943 --> 00:45:47,347 a lot of her clothing was kind of in disarray. 696 00:45:47,380 --> 00:45:49,215 Her boots were on the wrong feet. 697 00:45:52,185 --> 00:45:54,287 - The zipper on her blue jeans 698 00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:55,121 was broken. 699 00:45:58,191 --> 00:46:00,060 WENDY KIPPLE: It's our belief that she 700 00:46:00,093 --> 00:46:02,228 was sexually assaulted. 701 00:46:06,232 --> 00:46:08,301 STEPHANIE MILLER: We believe, at some point, 702 00:46:08,335 --> 00:46:11,604 Annette is hastily trying to get dressed, 703 00:46:11,638 --> 00:46:16,042 so that she can, literally, run from her captor. 704 00:46:27,053 --> 00:46:31,157 At the autopsy, there was something off about her socks. 705 00:46:31,191 --> 00:46:36,463 She's wearing one long purple sock and one orange bootie. 706 00:46:36,496 --> 00:46:39,632 Investigators are like, one orange sock. 707 00:46:39,666 --> 00:46:42,635 One orange sock. 708 00:46:42,669 --> 00:46:45,071 There was one orange dog found with Bobbie Jo. 709 00:46:50,243 --> 00:46:52,512 These two women must be connected. 710 00:47:05,091 --> 00:47:06,526 CINDY FRENCH: Annette really 711 00:47:06,559 --> 00:47:12,198 liked it out in Colorado, but she hated being cold. 712 00:47:12,232 --> 00:47:15,535 So at Christmas, Mom would send her, 713 00:47:15,568 --> 00:47:18,038 like, those little fuzzy socks. 714 00:47:18,038 --> 00:47:24,678 So when she was found, my mom was able to say, 715 00:47:24,711 --> 00:47:26,046 I gave her those. 716 00:47:26,046 --> 00:47:27,881 I gave her those socks at Christmas. 717 00:47:30,950 --> 00:47:32,485 But she only had one on, of course. 718 00:47:34,487 --> 00:47:36,256 CHARLES MCCORMICK: The orange sock-- 719 00:47:36,289 --> 00:47:39,059 finding the mate to that orange sock 720 00:47:39,059 --> 00:47:43,063 just invigorated the entire investigation. 721 00:47:47,067 --> 00:47:50,537 Based on the timing of when Bobbie was last seen 722 00:47:50,570 --> 00:47:55,208 and when Annette was last seen, Annette was picked up first 723 00:47:55,241 --> 00:47:58,545 and disappeared. 724 00:47:58,578 --> 00:48:01,448 The clothing on Annette suggests that she 725 00:48:01,481 --> 00:48:03,116 was murdered that same day. 726 00:48:06,219 --> 00:48:07,687 (OFF) STEPHANIE MILLER: The orange sock 727 00:48:07,721 --> 00:48:11,257 becomes significant, because when Annette got out 728 00:48:11,291 --> 00:48:14,294 of his vehicle, she didn't put on one of those orange socks, 729 00:48:14,327 --> 00:48:16,496 and she left it in the vehicle. 730 00:48:16,529 --> 00:48:19,032 CHARLES MCCORMICK: Since Annette's sock was founded 731 00:48:19,032 --> 00:48:25,205 Bobbie Jo's crime scene, it became, in my mind, 732 00:48:25,238 --> 00:48:29,042 that whoever took Annette away from Breckenridge 733 00:48:29,075 --> 00:48:34,514 came back to Breckenridge and picked up Bobbie Jo, 734 00:48:34,547 --> 00:48:37,550 about 3 and 1/2, 4 hours later. 735 00:48:40,086 --> 00:48:42,222 WENDY KIPPLE: Bobbie Jo jumped out of the truck 736 00:48:42,255 --> 00:48:45,325 at the top of Hoosier Pass, and when she did, 737 00:48:45,358 --> 00:48:47,460 she kicked the orange booty sock out. 738 00:48:50,764 --> 00:48:53,600 MITCH MORRISEY: Just like Annette, she tried to escape, 739 00:48:53,633 --> 00:48:55,635 and she was shot and killed. 740 00:49:06,646 --> 00:49:08,348 MARK HURLBURT: Early on, law 741 00:49:08,381 --> 00:49:12,018 enforcement focused on Bobbie Jo's husband, Jeff Oberholtzer. 742 00:49:12,052 --> 00:49:15,355 JIM HARDTKE: Our agency had polygraphed Jeff, 743 00:49:15,388 --> 00:49:18,525 and he passed. 744 00:49:18,558 --> 00:49:20,593 MARK HURLBURT: After Annette's body was found, 745 00:49:20,627 --> 00:49:22,395 law enforcement was looking for anything 746 00:49:22,429 --> 00:49:25,031 else they can find that would lead 747 00:49:25,031 --> 00:49:27,667 them to who killed Annette. 748 00:49:27,701 --> 00:49:29,202 WENDY KIPPLE: When we looked 749 00:49:29,235 --> 00:49:32,138 in Annette's coat pockets, we found Jeff 750 00:49:32,172 --> 00:49:33,573 Oberholtzer's business card. 751 00:49:37,577 --> 00:49:40,814 STEPHANIE MILLER: And of course, that made police go, 752 00:49:40,847 --> 00:49:43,149 is he somehow connected? 753 00:49:43,183 --> 00:49:44,384 (ON) CHARLES MCCORMICK: I remember 754 00:49:44,417 --> 00:49:48,054 thinking, what are the chances? 755 00:49:48,088 --> 00:49:51,391 Jeff Oberholtzer became a prime suspect. 756 00:49:51,424 --> 00:49:54,761 [suspenseful music] 757 00:50:10,110 --> 00:50:11,745 STEPHANIE MILLER: Bobbie Jo's husband, 758 00:50:11,778 --> 00:50:16,349 Jeff, was a suspect very early on. 759 00:50:16,383 --> 00:50:18,785 When Annette's body was eventually found, 760 00:50:18,818 --> 00:50:21,521 Jeff's card was in her pocket. 761 00:50:24,190 --> 00:50:27,727 Of course, they then thought he could be connected somehow 762 00:50:27,761 --> 00:50:30,397 to the homicide of Annette. 763 00:50:30,430 --> 00:50:31,798 WENDY KIPPLE: Originally, when 764 00:50:31,831 --> 00:50:34,401 investigators talked to Jeff, they 765 00:50:34,434 --> 00:50:36,403 asked Jeff if he knew Annette. 766 00:50:36,436 --> 00:50:40,640 He said, the year before, he had stopped and given her a ride. 767 00:50:44,177 --> 00:50:45,712 JIM HARDTKE: He had told me that he 768 00:50:45,745 --> 00:50:48,715 gave Annette his business card. 769 00:50:48,748 --> 00:50:51,751 He said, I give everybody a business card. 770 00:50:51,785 --> 00:50:54,888 STEPHANIE MILLER: Why would this married man give 771 00:50:54,921 --> 00:50:57,757 a business card to some single 19-year-old girl 772 00:50:57,791 --> 00:50:59,559 that he's picked up hitchhiking? 773 00:51:02,662 --> 00:51:05,331 JIM HARDTKE: There were several investigators 774 00:51:05,365 --> 00:51:07,667 that said, aha, there it is. 775 00:51:07,701 --> 00:51:09,602 You know, he's connected with her. 776 00:51:09,636 --> 00:51:12,539 They're both dead, both murdered. 777 00:51:12,572 --> 00:51:13,673 Jeff is the guy. 778 00:51:17,277 --> 00:51:20,246 KAREN RIESSEN: When we heard from the law enforcement, 779 00:51:20,280 --> 00:51:23,350 at that time, they were pointing toward Bobbie 780 00:51:23,383 --> 00:51:24,284 Jo's husband, Jeff. 781 00:51:26,953 --> 00:51:32,258 They told us about how they found Jeff's business card. 782 00:51:32,292 --> 00:51:34,594 And at that time, you know, it makes 783 00:51:34,627 --> 00:51:35,695 me think he's more guilty. 784 00:51:44,204 --> 00:51:46,373 JIM HARDTKE: Shortly after Annette was found, 785 00:51:46,406 --> 00:51:49,342 Summit County investigators asked him 786 00:51:49,376 --> 00:51:53,313 if he'd be willing to take a second polygraph. 787 00:51:53,346 --> 00:51:56,716 So Jeff was polygraphed by CBI, and then 788 00:51:56,750 --> 00:51:58,752 polygraphed by Summit County. 789 00:52:05,492 --> 00:52:06,359 And he passed both. 790 00:52:10,463 --> 00:52:13,266 There was no indication of any deception 791 00:52:13,299 --> 00:52:15,835 in either one of the tests. 792 00:52:15,869 --> 00:52:17,737 - Police kept coming back 793 00:52:17,771 --> 00:52:22,208 to Jeff over a number of years. 794 00:52:22,242 --> 00:52:24,477 They would leave him alone, then come back to him, 795 00:52:24,511 --> 00:52:27,981 question him again, search his house, talk to his friends, 796 00:52:28,081 --> 00:52:28,948 talk to his family. 797 00:52:36,423 --> 00:52:38,892 JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: After I had lost Bobbie Jo, 798 00:52:38,925 --> 00:52:44,464 I didn't understand why I was the number-one suspect, 799 00:52:44,497 --> 00:52:48,101 because I hadn't done anything. 800 00:52:48,101 --> 00:52:50,770 When they found my business card, 801 00:52:50,804 --> 00:52:54,341 that didn't do me any good. 802 00:52:54,374 --> 00:52:58,878 It didn't add to me being less of a suspect, 803 00:52:58,912 --> 00:53:01,214 I can tell you that. 804 00:53:01,247 --> 00:53:03,850 I really felt that after that point, 805 00:53:03,883 --> 00:53:13,226 that they were going to make sure that I was put in prison. 806 00:53:13,259 --> 00:53:16,296 The community did start forming opinions, 807 00:53:16,329 --> 00:53:22,569 and some weren't on my side after a while, 808 00:53:22,602 --> 00:53:25,538 and weren't for years. 809 00:53:25,572 --> 00:53:26,406 It hurt. 810 00:53:33,780 --> 00:53:37,083 JIM HARDTKE: It's months past after Annette was found. 811 00:53:40,587 --> 00:53:43,890 It came to a point where there was 812 00:53:43,923 --> 00:53:45,759 not much information coming in. 813 00:53:52,799 --> 00:53:54,100 KAREN RIESSEN: My mom would 814 00:53:54,134 --> 00:53:56,603 fly out to Breckenridge, probably yearly, 815 00:53:56,636 --> 00:53:59,439 to talk to the detectives. 816 00:54:03,043 --> 00:54:05,345 CINDY FRENCH: The challenging part 817 00:54:05,378 --> 00:54:09,049 was the frustration with the investigation 818 00:54:09,049 --> 00:54:10,550 and having nothing. 819 00:54:13,319 --> 00:54:15,321 It wasn't until several years later 820 00:54:15,355 --> 00:54:17,390 that new detectives got on the case 821 00:54:17,424 --> 00:54:19,426 and really lit a fire under it. 822 00:54:19,459 --> 00:54:22,662 And that made my mom so happy to see. 823 00:54:27,667 --> 00:54:29,636 (OFF) CHARLES MCCORMICK: It was 1989, 824 00:54:29,669 --> 00:54:31,871 seven years after the murders, when I finally 825 00:54:31,905 --> 00:54:35,108 got involved in this case. 826 00:54:35,141 --> 00:54:37,944 I had started a private investigative business 827 00:54:37,977 --> 00:54:40,113 in Breckenridge. 828 00:54:40,146 --> 00:54:43,616 And in the course of working that, 829 00:54:43,650 --> 00:54:46,553 I happened to meet the Sheriff's detective who 830 00:54:46,586 --> 00:54:49,122 was assigned to work the case. 831 00:54:49,155 --> 00:54:53,493 We set up a task force where we would work the case together. 832 00:55:00,100 --> 00:55:02,502 We decided to go back and start at the beginning 833 00:55:02,535 --> 00:55:07,107 to solidify what evidence we did or did not have. 834 00:55:07,140 --> 00:55:11,644 We saw, in the first weeks after the murders, in January of '82, 835 00:55:11,678 --> 00:55:15,348 there was an attempted carjacking in the Denver metro 836 00:55:15,382 --> 00:55:19,052 area, in which a man got shot. 837 00:55:23,690 --> 00:55:26,559 Our murder was only a couple of weeks after that. 838 00:55:26,593 --> 00:55:28,828 So the investigators at that time 839 00:55:28,862 --> 00:55:33,133 did a ballistic exam of that bullet. 840 00:55:33,166 --> 00:55:38,071 And the results were inconclusive on that. 841 00:55:38,071 --> 00:55:42,909 But since 1982, the two detectives in the Denver area 842 00:55:42,942 --> 00:55:45,845 had a person who had become a prime suspect 843 00:55:45,879 --> 00:55:48,682 in that carjacking-- 844 00:55:48,715 --> 00:55:53,453 a guy by the name of Tracy Petrocelli. 845 00:55:53,486 --> 00:55:57,090 He's a vicious little individual, shot and killed 846 00:55:57,090 --> 00:56:00,560 his girlfriend, drove down the West Coast, 847 00:56:00,593 --> 00:56:03,897 and he went on a killing spree. 848 00:56:03,930 --> 00:56:08,234 He shot and killed a guy outside of San Bernardino. 849 00:56:08,268 --> 00:56:10,770 He killed two people in Evanston, Wyoming. 850 00:56:14,040 --> 00:56:15,542 He's arrested in Reno. 851 00:56:19,879 --> 00:56:23,550 And when he was interviewed about the car dealer 852 00:56:23,583 --> 00:56:29,089 in Denver being killed, his response 853 00:56:29,122 --> 00:56:32,726 was, well, I've never been in Colorado, 854 00:56:32,759 --> 00:56:36,763 except for the first week in January of 1982, 855 00:56:36,796 --> 00:56:39,766 and I stopped at a little town called Frisco, 856 00:56:39,799 --> 00:56:42,135 and I stayed at the Holiday Inn there. 857 00:56:46,773 --> 00:56:49,509 I mean, he puts himself as a serial killer now. 858 00:56:49,542 --> 00:56:51,644 He puts himself right in the hotel 859 00:56:51,678 --> 00:56:58,518 where Annette worked in the week both these girls disappeared. 860 00:56:58,551 --> 00:57:00,887 I couldn't believe it. 861 00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:05,125 So at that point, we start investigating Petrocelli. 862 00:57:08,528 --> 00:57:14,501 I went to Ely, Nevada, which is where he was serving his time. 863 00:57:14,534 --> 00:57:18,772 He just would not admit to anything. 864 00:57:18,805 --> 00:57:21,741 We had no physical evidence to speak of, really. 865 00:57:21,775 --> 00:57:24,878 The bullet from the carjacking was no good. 866 00:57:26,613 --> 00:57:28,948 MARK HURLBURT: There was a lot of circumstantial evidence, 867 00:57:29,049 --> 00:57:31,051 but certainly not enough to prove a case 868 00:57:31,051 --> 00:57:33,953 beyond a reasonable doubt. 869 00:57:34,054 --> 00:57:36,489 You hope that you get a new piece 870 00:57:36,523 --> 00:57:39,793 of evidence, a new statement from a witness or something. 871 00:57:39,826 --> 00:57:41,061 It's the hope that kills you. 872 00:57:46,066 --> 00:57:49,169 CHARLES MCCORMICK: A few years later, in 1995, we 873 00:57:49,202 --> 00:57:53,573 started getting calls from the investigative agency in Denver 874 00:57:53,606 --> 00:57:55,809 about Tom Luther. 875 00:57:55,842 --> 00:57:57,944 MARK HURLBURT: Originally, Thomas Luther had 876 00:57:57,977 --> 00:58:00,513 been a suspect in this case. 877 00:58:00,547 --> 00:58:06,586 In early 1982, he was a cab driver that had assaulted 878 00:58:06,619 --> 00:58:10,023 another woman in Summit County. 879 00:58:10,056 --> 00:58:13,059 About a month after the murders, law enforcement 880 00:58:13,093 --> 00:58:15,028 was not able to provide a solid link 881 00:58:15,028 --> 00:58:19,733 between the murders of Bobbie Jo and Annette and Thomas Luther. 882 00:58:19,766 --> 00:58:22,802 But then, after the spring of 1982, 883 00:58:22,836 --> 00:58:25,839 after Thomas Luther was arrested for sexual assault, 884 00:58:25,872 --> 00:58:27,607 he was later convicted and sentenced 885 00:58:27,640 --> 00:58:28,675 to 10 years in prison. 886 00:58:31,044 --> 00:58:32,112 And he got out early. 887 00:58:34,881 --> 00:58:38,852 And then, just months after he was released from prison, 888 00:58:38,885 --> 00:58:42,689 another woman, Cher Elder, who was with Thomas Luther 889 00:58:42,722 --> 00:58:45,258 in Central City, which is a little mountain 890 00:58:45,291 --> 00:58:47,861 town just outside of Denver-- 891 00:58:47,894 --> 00:58:49,295 she disappeared. 892 00:58:52,132 --> 00:58:54,334 CHARLES MCCORMICK: Evidence showed him a casino's 893 00:58:54,367 --> 00:58:58,605 closed-circuit TV with her. 894 00:58:58,638 --> 00:59:02,075 So he was a pretty heavy suspect in Cher Elder's disappearance. 895 00:59:03,910 --> 00:59:06,146 MARK HURLBURT: Law enforcement started to go back 896 00:59:06,179 --> 00:59:09,249 and started to dig into Thomas Luther's past. 897 00:59:11,084 --> 00:59:12,719 (OFF) CHARLES MCCORMICK: We found out, 898 00:59:12,752 --> 00:59:16,222 after he was arrested for the rape in 1982, 899 00:59:16,256 --> 00:59:20,126 he was a troublemaker in jail. 900 00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:25,098 We eventually interviewed cellmates that Luther had. 901 00:59:25,131 --> 00:59:26,833 MARK HURLBURT: The cellmate 902 00:59:26,866 --> 00:59:29,769 had said that while Thomas Luther was in custody in Summit 903 00:59:29,803 --> 00:59:33,239 County, back in 1982, he had bragged to an inmate 904 00:59:33,273 --> 00:59:35,275 that he had killed two girls in Summit County. 905 00:59:38,211 --> 00:59:39,913 It was huge. 906 00:59:39,946 --> 00:59:42,882 It made Thomas Luther a prime suspect again. 907 01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:02,035 MARK HURLBURT: In 1995, we found 908 01:00:02,068 --> 01:00:06,740 out that we potentially had a confession to these murders. 909 01:00:06,773 --> 01:00:09,275 Law enforcement put out a BOLO, or Be On the Look-Out, 910 01:00:09,309 --> 01:00:13,847 for Thomas Luther, because they didn't know where he was. 911 01:00:13,880 --> 01:00:17,283 And he ended up turning up in prison in West Virginia, 912 01:00:17,317 --> 01:00:20,286 where he had raped a woman. 913 01:00:20,320 --> 01:00:22,255 CHARLES MCCORMICK: When we interviewed him 914 01:00:22,288 --> 01:00:26,793 in West Virginia, he denied killing anybody. 915 01:00:30,196 --> 01:00:32,132 - Law enforcement kept at him 916 01:00:32,165 --> 01:00:34,901 and kept at him about the murders 917 01:00:34,934 --> 01:00:36,136 of Bobbie Jo and Annette. 918 01:00:39,139 --> 01:00:44,210 And finally, Thomas Luther said, those aren't my girls. 919 01:00:44,244 --> 01:00:45,879 (OFF) CHARLES MCCORMICK: He got very-- 920 01:00:45,912 --> 01:00:50,016 almost studious, academic. 921 01:00:50,050 --> 01:00:52,152 He said, you know, think about it, look at it. 922 01:00:52,185 --> 01:00:57,357 And it dawned on me, he's right. 923 01:00:57,390 --> 01:01:01,094 The modus operandi is pretty different in the cases 924 01:01:01,127 --> 01:01:04,297 we were trying to pin on him. 925 01:01:04,330 --> 01:01:09,069 Doesn't mean he's exonerated, but it did make a point. 926 01:01:17,344 --> 01:01:20,213 MITCH MORRISEY: Around this time, in the '90s, DNA 927 01:01:20,246 --> 01:01:25,919 advanced from the late '80s at an incredible pace. 928 01:01:25,952 --> 01:01:27,887 MARK HURLBURT: When DNA became available, 929 01:01:27,921 --> 01:01:31,324 law enforcement resubmitted the bloody glove and the Kleenex 930 01:01:31,358 --> 01:01:34,127 that were found along with Bobbie Jo's backpacks 931 01:01:34,160 --> 01:01:38,698 to the Bureau of investigation to do DNA testing on it. 932 01:01:42,002 --> 01:01:47,874 In 1998, the crime lab found that the profile was a mixture. 933 01:01:47,907 --> 01:01:49,542 The blood was Bobbie Jo's, and there 934 01:01:49,576 --> 01:01:52,312 was a male, an unknown male. 935 01:01:56,516 --> 01:01:58,818 CHARLES MCCORMICK: And that was just gigantic, 936 01:01:58,852 --> 01:02:01,554 because that's the suspect. 937 01:02:01,588 --> 01:02:06,459 That's like having a picture of him without the name on it. 938 01:02:06,493 --> 01:02:08,128 All you got to do is find the name. 939 01:02:10,430 --> 01:02:11,931 JIM HARDTKE: Law enforcement 940 01:02:11,965 --> 01:02:15,268 had DNA comparison from the glove 941 01:02:15,301 --> 01:02:18,938 to the suspect's, and none of them matched. 942 01:02:21,441 --> 01:02:26,112 Everyone was clear, including Jeff Oberholtzer. 943 01:02:37,190 --> 01:02:39,793 JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: It wasn't my DNA. 944 01:02:39,826 --> 01:02:42,962 It, pretty much, helped corroborate 945 01:02:42,996 --> 01:02:46,099 the fact that I wasn't there, that I didn't do anything. 946 01:02:49,402 --> 01:02:52,372 KAREN RIESSEN: When DNA came out and Jeff was cleared, 947 01:02:52,405 --> 01:02:55,008 then we felt terrible, because we knew here, 948 01:02:55,108 --> 01:02:58,978 all these years, we thought he was the one, and he wasn't. 949 01:03:05,585 --> 01:03:08,088 It breaks my heart to this day to think that about that. 950 01:03:15,395 --> 01:03:19,833 MITCH MORRISEY: As DNA evolved, mid-'90s, we get 951 01:03:19,866 --> 01:03:22,135 the DNA database, we get CODIS. 952 01:03:25,205 --> 01:03:27,640 - That DNA, male DNA from the glove, 953 01:03:27,674 --> 01:03:31,644 was put into CODIS in 2002. 954 01:03:31,678 --> 01:03:32,512 No match. 955 01:03:36,216 --> 01:03:38,485 Over the years, with each DNA test, 956 01:03:38,518 --> 01:03:40,387 there was always a fear that we were 957 01:03:40,420 --> 01:03:42,889 going to run out of sample. 958 01:03:42,922 --> 01:03:46,092 WENDY KIPPLE: We would still roundtable this case 959 01:03:46,092 --> 01:03:48,094 and keep trying to look for new leads 960 01:03:48,094 --> 01:03:49,462 and get more testing done. 961 01:03:51,131 --> 01:03:53,099 CHARLES MCCORMICK: None of it went anywhere, 962 01:03:53,133 --> 01:03:56,102 but everybody wanted to solve it. 963 01:03:56,102 --> 01:03:57,537 Nobody was ready to give up. 964 01:04:08,481 --> 01:04:10,950 CINDY FRENCH: You always kind of wonder what, like, 965 01:04:11,051 --> 01:04:13,053 what if this didn't happen? 966 01:04:13,053 --> 01:04:17,057 Would Karen and I and Annette be going on cruises and vacations? 967 01:04:17,090 --> 01:04:20,060 And would her kids be close with mine? 968 01:04:23,296 --> 01:04:25,331 JEFFREY OBERHOLTZER: The world doesn't stop 969 01:04:25,365 --> 01:04:27,634 just because you want it to. 970 01:04:27,667 --> 01:04:31,137 You have to move forward with your life 971 01:04:31,171 --> 01:04:34,474 and live your life to the best you can. 972 01:04:38,478 --> 01:04:45,919 But always keep that hope in the back of your heart-- 973 01:04:45,952 --> 01:04:49,422 we would, one day, know the truth. 974 01:04:57,197 --> 01:04:58,531 WENDY KIPPLE: For this case, 975 01:04:58,565 --> 01:05:02,268 it was a matter of thinking outside the box. 976 01:05:02,302 --> 01:05:04,604 It's like we've tried everything else. 977 01:05:04,637 --> 01:05:06,272 What do we have left to try? 978 01:05:09,576 --> 01:05:15,281 I'd heard about the Golden State Killer case in California. 979 01:05:15,315 --> 01:05:20,053 That was kind of my introduction to genetic genealogy 980 01:05:20,053 --> 01:05:23,056 and how investigators would take the DNA samples 981 01:05:23,056 --> 01:05:25,091 and would build out family trees. 982 01:05:28,094 --> 01:05:31,064 At that time, then, investigator McCormick and I 983 01:05:31,064 --> 01:05:35,702 started kicking around in, I believe, it is early 2020, what 984 01:05:35,735 --> 01:05:38,138 about using this genetic genealogy, 985 01:05:38,171 --> 01:05:39,973 like they did in the Golden State Killer case? 986 01:05:44,077 --> 01:05:46,179 - United Data Connect is my company. 987 01:05:46,212 --> 01:05:51,451 We do DNA and investigative genetic genealogy. 988 01:05:51,484 --> 01:05:57,090 So we're using DNA differently now with genealogy 989 01:05:57,090 --> 01:06:00,193 because we're building out family trees based 990 01:06:00,226 --> 01:06:03,730 on these commercial databases. 991 01:06:03,763 --> 01:06:09,102 People can upload their DNA then to family tree DNA 992 01:06:09,135 --> 01:06:10,503 or to GEDmatch. 993 01:06:10,537 --> 01:06:12,772 And those are the two databases that 994 01:06:12,806 --> 01:06:16,643 allow law enforcement to look for the people that 995 01:06:16,676 --> 01:06:19,145 commit these horrendous crimes. 996 01:06:19,179 --> 01:06:23,516 And maybe they committed them back 30, 40 years ago. 997 01:06:27,787 --> 01:06:30,457 WENDY KIPPLE: The genetic genealogist, Joan Hanlon, 998 01:06:30,490 --> 01:06:33,727 started like 13 generations back, 999 01:06:33,760 --> 01:06:36,629 and she would work forward. 1000 01:06:36,663 --> 01:06:38,531 MITCH MORRISEY: You start to come down, 1001 01:06:38,565 --> 01:06:40,700 and you're looking for a male. 1002 01:06:40,734 --> 01:06:43,370 And you're looking for somebody that 1003 01:06:43,403 --> 01:06:47,273 was alive at the time, somebody that lived in the area. 1004 01:06:50,844 --> 01:06:53,413 WENDY KIPPLE: On January 9, 2021, 1005 01:06:53,446 --> 01:06:57,217 I get a phone call from Joan Hanlon. 1006 01:06:57,250 --> 01:07:00,487 And she's like, OK, Wendy, I have two more names for you. 1007 01:07:04,524 --> 01:07:07,494 - We went from over 12,000 1008 01:07:07,527 --> 01:07:12,866 people in these family trees down to two brothers. 1009 01:07:12,899 --> 01:07:15,301 And when you get down to two brothers, 1010 01:07:15,335 --> 01:07:19,239 then you're really doing detective work. 1011 01:07:19,272 --> 01:07:21,241 WENDY KIPPLE: I start looking up the names 1012 01:07:21,274 --> 01:07:23,877 and figuring out where they live. 1013 01:07:23,910 --> 01:07:26,546 One brother lives in Arizona, the other one 1014 01:07:26,579 --> 01:07:28,748 still lives here in Colorado. 1015 01:07:28,782 --> 01:07:31,117 And the one name of the guy that lives here 1016 01:07:31,151 --> 01:07:35,422 in Colorado, Alan Phillips. 1017 01:07:35,455 --> 01:07:37,791 I was like, I know this name. 1018 01:07:37,824 --> 01:07:41,261 Where do I know this name from? 1019 01:07:41,294 --> 01:07:45,565 He worked with my ex-husband in the mine. 1020 01:07:45,598 --> 01:07:49,736 I really felt strongly that we had our guy. 1021 01:07:49,769 --> 01:07:52,839 I was just like, we're really close. 1022 01:07:52,872 --> 01:07:57,310 How are we going to figure out where he was 39 years ago? 1023 01:07:57,344 --> 01:07:59,312 MARK HURLBURT: We have to prove the case 1024 01:07:59,346 --> 01:08:00,547 beyond a reasonable doubt. 1025 01:08:00,580 --> 01:08:02,749 The only connection was this blood 1026 01:08:02,782 --> 01:08:04,451 on this glove and this Kleenex that 1027 01:08:04,484 --> 01:08:06,453 were found miles from their bodies 1028 01:08:06,486 --> 01:08:09,689 out on the High Plains of Colorado. 1029 01:08:09,723 --> 01:08:11,725 We need to know about where he was, 1030 01:08:11,758 --> 01:08:16,696 about what he was doing in January of 1982. 1031 01:08:16,730 --> 01:08:18,598 WENDY KIPPLE: And then I started getting 1032 01:08:18,631 --> 01:08:20,266 more phone calls from Joan. 1033 01:08:20,300 --> 01:08:23,570 She said, I found some newspaper articles that 1034 01:08:23,603 --> 01:08:26,573 are going to blow your mind. 1035 01:08:26,606 --> 01:08:29,609 They were newspaper articles of a guy found 1036 01:08:29,642 --> 01:08:33,279 stuck at the top of Guanella Pass the same night 1037 01:08:33,313 --> 01:08:37,350 that Bobbie Jo and Annette were murdered. 1038 01:08:37,384 --> 01:08:39,953 - The story hit the wires back 1039 01:08:40,053 --> 01:08:42,789 in '82, and it went everywhere. 1040 01:08:42,822 --> 01:08:44,724 It was on the front page. 1041 01:08:44,758 --> 01:08:46,659 WENDY KIPPLE: There was even one article 1042 01:08:46,693 --> 01:08:48,762 about his rescue right there next 1043 01:08:48,795 --> 01:08:53,767 to the article about Bobbie Jo that was Alan Phillips. 1044 01:08:53,800 --> 01:08:56,503 That's what broke this case wide open. 1045 01:09:10,917 --> 01:09:12,886 - As we were doing the investigation 1046 01:09:12,919 --> 01:09:16,256 into this case, we looked back into the archives 1047 01:09:16,289 --> 01:09:19,125 in the newspaper and found that this person, Alan Phillips, he 1048 01:09:19,159 --> 01:09:21,261 had been stranded the night of the murders 1049 01:09:21,294 --> 01:09:22,529 on top of Guanella Pass. 1050 01:09:28,201 --> 01:09:30,804 MITCH MORRISEY: Guanella Pass was an isolated, fairly 1051 01:09:30,837 --> 01:09:32,839 treacherous drive. 1052 01:09:32,872 --> 01:09:35,442 So you get to the top of Guanella Pass, 1053 01:09:35,475 --> 01:09:36,643 it's really cold. 1054 01:09:39,279 --> 01:09:42,749 - It can get very icy and snowy. 1055 01:09:42,782 --> 01:09:45,452 And it's a lot of switchbacks. 1056 01:09:45,485 --> 01:09:47,854 Back in the '80s, it was not maintained. 1057 01:09:56,896 --> 01:10:00,900 - January 6, 1982, a United Airlines flight 1058 01:10:00,934 --> 01:10:02,535 was going over Guanella Pass. 1059 01:10:05,605 --> 01:10:07,540 CHARLES MCCORMICK: On board that airplane 1060 01:10:07,574 --> 01:10:10,477 was a sheriff of Jefferson County, 1061 01:10:10,510 --> 01:10:13,747 which was one of the counties in the Denver metro area. 1062 01:10:13,780 --> 01:10:15,482 He's looking out of his window, and he 1063 01:10:15,515 --> 01:10:18,251 sees a car on top of that pass, signaling 1064 01:10:18,284 --> 01:10:20,954 SOS with his headlights. 1065 01:10:20,987 --> 01:10:23,656 The pilot called the Denver tower. 1066 01:10:23,690 --> 01:10:27,894 The word gets back to the County Sheriff's Office. 1067 01:10:27,927 --> 01:10:29,729 WENDY KIPPLE: The Sheriff's Department 1068 01:10:29,763 --> 01:10:32,866 at that time didn't have vehicles that could make 1069 01:10:32,899 --> 01:10:35,702 it to the top of Guanella Pass. 1070 01:10:35,735 --> 01:10:37,904 But the fire chief did. 1071 01:10:40,974 --> 01:10:45,278 So he gets up there and sees somebody stuck 1072 01:10:45,311 --> 01:10:47,847 in a two-wheel drive truck. 1073 01:10:47,881 --> 01:10:49,349 This guy was Alan Phillips. 1074 01:10:49,382 --> 01:10:51,284 He told the fire chief he had been 1075 01:10:51,317 --> 01:10:54,220 coming from Park County, where the bodies had been found. 1076 01:10:54,254 --> 01:10:55,689 MITCH MORRISEY: And it happened 1077 01:10:55,722 --> 01:10:58,324 to be in the route from Hoosier Pass 1078 01:10:58,358 --> 01:10:59,959 to where we found the backpack. 1079 01:11:07,067 --> 01:11:10,837 When the fire chief found Alan Lee Phillips, 1080 01:11:10,870 --> 01:11:14,708 Phillips said he fell and hit his head. 1081 01:11:14,741 --> 01:11:20,947 But remember, Bobbie Jo had a keychain that had a hook on it. 1082 01:11:20,980 --> 01:11:25,685 And we knew the bad guy had bled. 1083 01:11:25,719 --> 01:11:28,555 And now you've got an eyewitness on the night 1084 01:11:28,588 --> 01:11:34,794 that this happened, saying this guy had a gash in his forehead. 1085 01:11:34,828 --> 01:11:38,765 WENDY KIPPLE: So, of course, now, I 1086 01:11:38,798 --> 01:11:45,105 run his criminal history, and as soon as I look at the files, 1087 01:11:45,105 --> 01:11:48,742 it's like, you got to be kidding me. 1088 01:11:48,775 --> 01:11:55,582 He was arrested in Fairplay in 1973 for assault and burglary. 1089 01:11:55,615 --> 01:11:59,119 Back in the '70s, he served half a year in jail. 1090 01:11:59,119 --> 01:12:03,790 And I was like, I have to find that case file. 1091 01:12:03,823 --> 01:12:06,793 I went down to the Archive Room, and there's 1092 01:12:06,826 --> 01:12:13,066 hundreds of big file boxes and old filing cabinets. 1093 01:12:13,066 --> 01:12:15,735 So I start looking through every box, 1094 01:12:15,769 --> 01:12:17,470 every filing cabinet drawer. 1095 01:12:17,504 --> 01:12:18,738 I'm not finding it. 1096 01:12:18,772 --> 01:12:21,441 I get down to the last filing cabinet. 1097 01:12:21,474 --> 01:12:24,411 And about halfway back, I see a tab. 1098 01:12:24,444 --> 01:12:27,580 It says, Alan Phillips. 1099 01:12:27,614 --> 01:12:31,951 I was like, this is the golden egg, right here. 1100 01:12:31,985 --> 01:12:35,121 [laughs] Man, I snatched that file out of that filing 1101 01:12:35,155 --> 01:12:37,457 cabinet, and I opened that file, not 1102 01:12:37,490 --> 01:12:38,692 knowing what I'm going to find. 1103 01:12:42,662 --> 01:12:46,499 And right there was his handwritten, signed confession 1104 01:12:46,533 --> 01:12:50,670 that says, I saw a girl hitchhiking 1105 01:12:50,704 --> 01:12:53,506 and gave her a ride over to Fairplay. 1106 01:12:53,540 --> 01:12:58,945 And he pulled off in front of an abandoned cabin 1107 01:12:58,978 --> 01:13:00,814 and starts beating her head with a rock. 1108 01:13:09,389 --> 01:13:11,491 MARK HURLBURT: Both Annette and Bobbie Jo 1109 01:13:11,524 --> 01:13:14,661 disappeared after hitchhiking. 1110 01:13:14,694 --> 01:13:15,695 They were both shot. 1111 01:13:18,565 --> 01:13:20,967 Alan Phillips did have a violent criminal history. 1112 01:13:23,903 --> 01:13:25,205 We just didn't have enough to make 1113 01:13:25,238 --> 01:13:30,744 that link to make this case. 1114 01:13:30,777 --> 01:13:32,645 WENDY KIPPLE: At this point, basically, 1115 01:13:32,679 --> 01:13:36,716 we need his DNA to confirm whether his DNA matches 1116 01:13:36,750 --> 01:13:38,585 what is on Bobbie Jo's glove. 1117 01:13:40,887 --> 01:13:43,089 STEPHANIE MILLER: Law enforcement doesn't want 1118 01:13:43,089 --> 01:13:45,492 that person to know that they are a suspect, 1119 01:13:45,525 --> 01:13:49,996 so what they're looking for is to collect surreptitious DNA. 1120 01:13:50,096 --> 01:13:52,766 WENDY KIPPLE: We found out where he lives. 1121 01:13:52,799 --> 01:13:55,101 So we watched his house. 1122 01:13:55,101 --> 01:13:57,103 STEPHANIE MILLER: They were looking for him 1123 01:13:57,137 --> 01:14:02,175 to put his trash on the street, so they could go through it 1124 01:14:02,208 --> 01:14:05,545 and look for anything where they could collect DNA. 1125 01:14:05,578 --> 01:14:07,881 They watched his house for weeks, 1126 01:14:07,914 --> 01:14:10,750 and he never put out trash. 1127 01:14:10,784 --> 01:14:12,552 It was very odd. 1128 01:14:12,585 --> 01:14:15,422 Is he concerned about putting his DNA someplace 1129 01:14:15,455 --> 01:14:17,691 where police can get it? 1130 01:14:17,724 --> 01:14:19,693 WENDY KIPPLE: We'd watch for him to leave, 1131 01:14:19,726 --> 01:14:22,562 and we would follow him and see if he went to a restaurant. 1132 01:14:26,866 --> 01:14:30,203 So February 21, he leaves. 1133 01:14:30,236 --> 01:14:32,072 He stops at a Sonic drive-in. 1134 01:14:35,742 --> 01:14:38,578 So we're all surrounding this Sonic drive-in 1135 01:14:38,611 --> 01:14:41,081 like a bunch of vultures. 1136 01:14:41,114 --> 01:14:45,118 So Alan Phillips starts pulling out, 1137 01:14:45,151 --> 01:14:48,088 does not deposit his trash. 1138 01:14:48,088 --> 01:14:51,791 How are we going to get his DNA? 1139 01:14:51,825 --> 01:14:53,727 So we all follow him. 1140 01:14:53,760 --> 01:14:59,299 He gets off at the first exit, stops at the post office. 1141 01:14:59,332 --> 01:15:01,835 STEPHANIE MILLER: When he walks into the post office, 1142 01:15:01,868 --> 01:15:06,172 police see him go in with a brown Sonic bag of trash. 1143 01:15:06,206 --> 01:15:09,609 And when he comes out, he no longer has the brown bag. 1144 01:15:09,642 --> 01:15:12,879 So they immediately go into the post office. 1145 01:15:12,912 --> 01:15:16,182 There's one trash can. 1146 01:15:16,216 --> 01:15:21,154 And right on top of the mail is a brown paper Sonic bag. 1147 01:15:29,529 --> 01:15:31,798 WENDY KIPPLE: 40 years and two victims 1148 01:15:31,831 --> 01:15:36,770 are riding on this brown Sonic bag. 1149 01:15:36,803 --> 01:15:39,839 - And so now they have the sample. 1150 01:15:39,873 --> 01:15:45,945 They compare it to the blood stain, 1151 01:15:45,979 --> 01:15:48,081 and it matched Mr. Phillips. 1152 01:15:54,688 --> 01:15:58,658 - Now we need to make an arrest. 1153 01:15:58,692 --> 01:16:02,028 Our plan was to do a traffic stop. 1154 01:16:02,062 --> 01:16:06,032 And the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office boxed him in. 1155 01:16:06,032 --> 01:16:09,269 And he was arrested. 1156 01:16:09,302 --> 01:16:11,304 We got him, finally got him. 1157 01:16:21,348 --> 01:16:22,916 JEFF OBERHOLTZER: They told me 1158 01:16:22,949 --> 01:16:28,855 that they had arrested the man or the monster who 1159 01:16:28,888 --> 01:16:33,927 murdered Bobbie Jo and Annette. 1160 01:16:33,960 --> 01:16:37,564 And finally, the nightmare might be ending. 1161 01:16:44,871 --> 01:16:46,973 - My mother called me and told me-- 1162 01:16:47,073 --> 01:16:48,942 asked me if I was sitting down. 1163 01:16:48,975 --> 01:16:54,381 And she said, they found Annette's killer. 1164 01:16:54,414 --> 01:16:55,982 It was like you were numb. 1165 01:16:56,082 --> 01:16:59,719 You just didn't think they would ever solve it. 1166 01:16:59,753 --> 01:17:01,021 Mom just couldn't believe it. 1167 01:17:01,021 --> 01:17:01,721 And she was happy. 1168 01:17:01,755 --> 01:17:02,689 She was very happy. 1169 01:17:06,259 --> 01:17:09,729 - I remember my mom saying, Alan Phillips? 1170 01:17:09,763 --> 01:17:12,432 That name has never come up before. 1171 01:17:12,465 --> 01:17:13,633 Who is this guy? 1172 01:17:17,404 --> 01:17:19,873 - They figured out where Phillips was. 1173 01:17:19,906 --> 01:17:22,742 And a lot of people thought, oh, this guy will be long gone. 1174 01:17:22,776 --> 01:17:26,312 He'll be way out of Colorado. 1175 01:17:26,346 --> 01:17:27,747 But he wasn't. 1176 01:17:27,781 --> 01:17:30,917 He was still up in the area. 1177 01:17:30,950 --> 01:17:33,253 He'd been a mechanic. 1178 01:17:33,286 --> 01:17:37,057 And he lived up there for 40 years. 1179 01:17:37,090 --> 01:17:39,059 JEFF OBERHOLTZER: Because I don't remember 1180 01:17:39,092 --> 01:17:42,762 ever meeting him at any point. 1181 01:17:42,796 --> 01:17:47,133 It would have been entirely possible. 1182 01:17:47,167 --> 01:17:50,670 He may have even sat down next to me and had a beer. 1183 01:17:53,340 --> 01:17:55,775 That's a horrifying thought. 1184 01:18:00,280 --> 01:18:02,282 - We always believed 1185 01:18:02,315 --> 01:18:07,153 that Mr. Phillips probably learned from that first crime. 1186 01:18:07,187 --> 01:18:10,023 STEPHANIE MILLER: We know that with multiple victims, 1187 01:18:10,023 --> 01:18:13,126 we are not usually seeing isolated incidents. 1188 01:18:13,159 --> 01:18:16,296 Did something else happen to someone else between 1973 1189 01:18:16,329 --> 01:18:19,466 and 1982 and after 1982? 1190 01:18:19,499 --> 01:18:22,268 We just don't know. 1191 01:18:22,302 --> 01:18:24,704 MITCH MORRISEY: Mr. Phillips was charged with two 1192 01:18:24,738 --> 01:18:26,439 counts of first degree murder. 1193 01:18:26,473 --> 01:18:31,044 He was charged with kidnapping. 1194 01:18:31,044 --> 01:18:32,812 Now you've solved it. 1195 01:18:32,846 --> 01:18:35,815 Now you've got to prove it. 1196 01:18:35,849 --> 01:18:37,050 (OFF) CHARLES MCCORMICK: In this case, 1197 01:18:37,083 --> 01:18:42,055 we were looking at evidence that's 40 plus years gone by. 1198 01:18:42,055 --> 01:18:44,290 - Some of our main witnesses were dead. 1199 01:18:44,324 --> 01:18:45,725 We didn't have a murder weapon. 1200 01:18:48,161 --> 01:18:52,365 There were issues with potential contamination of the evidence. 1201 01:18:52,399 --> 01:18:54,868 The bloody glove and the Kleenex were 1202 01:18:54,901 --> 01:18:59,439 found by people searching for evidence, not law enforcement. 1203 01:18:59,472 --> 01:19:02,242 And so they didn't use gloves when they picked it up. 1204 01:19:02,275 --> 01:19:05,845 Then they kind of put everything back in Bobbie Jo's backpack. 1205 01:19:05,879 --> 01:19:08,515 So there were issues with the evidence, 1206 01:19:08,548 --> 01:19:12,852 which was certainly something the defense can focus on. 1207 01:19:12,886 --> 01:19:15,121 STEPHANIE MILLER: Some of our greatest challenges 1208 01:19:15,155 --> 01:19:19,325 for trial are chain of custody. 1209 01:19:19,359 --> 01:19:21,394 CINDY FRENCH: It just takes one person to not 1210 01:19:21,428 --> 01:19:23,863 believe the DNA evidence. 1211 01:19:23,897 --> 01:19:27,067 How can a jury ignore that? 1212 01:19:27,100 --> 01:19:30,036 It just takes one. 1213 01:19:30,036 --> 01:19:32,939 [wind blowing] 1214 01:19:44,517 --> 01:19:48,221 - The trial started in August 31 of 2022, 1215 01:19:48,254 --> 01:19:50,857 40 years after the murders. 1216 01:19:50,890 --> 01:19:54,861 As a prosecutor, I remember the shock throughout the community. 1217 01:19:54,894 --> 01:19:58,098 It became probably the most personal case I've ever done. 1218 01:20:02,202 --> 01:20:06,106 That opening statement is the first time that you really 1219 01:20:06,139 --> 01:20:07,374 get into the facts of the case. 1220 01:20:11,311 --> 01:20:16,149 On the evening of January 6, 1982, the sun set early. 1221 01:20:16,182 --> 01:20:19,219 It was 4:30, and it was bitter cold. 1222 01:20:19,252 --> 01:20:21,888 It was minus 20. 1223 01:20:21,921 --> 01:20:25,158 Annette was hitchhiking go to her house in Blue River. 1224 01:20:25,191 --> 01:20:26,893 And that's when Alan Phillips saw her. 1225 01:20:26,926 --> 01:20:28,895 He picked her up. 1226 01:20:28,928 --> 01:20:31,431 - He took her to Sacramento Creek. 1227 01:20:31,464 --> 01:20:36,302 And she was able to hurriedly get out of his vehicle, 1228 01:20:36,336 --> 01:20:40,140 leaving one of those orange socks. 1229 01:20:40,173 --> 01:20:44,210 She started running, and he shot her in the back. 1230 01:20:44,244 --> 01:20:47,914 - After Alan Phillips shot and murdered 1231 01:20:47,947 --> 01:20:53,053 Annette Schnee, leaving her buried in the snow, 1232 01:20:53,086 --> 01:20:57,624 he went back up over Hoosier Pass to Breckenridge. 1233 01:20:57,657 --> 01:20:59,426 STEPHANIE MILLER: And lo and behold, 1234 01:20:59,459 --> 01:21:03,096 there is Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer, standing outside in 20 1235 01:21:03,129 --> 01:21:05,498 below weather, looking like she needed a ride. 1236 01:21:09,269 --> 01:21:12,672 Bobbie Jo got in the vehicle, and at some point, 1237 01:21:12,706 --> 01:21:15,675 the zip ties come out. 1238 01:21:15,709 --> 01:21:18,111 It's not a coincidence that both of these women 1239 01:21:18,144 --> 01:21:22,549 were small, petite women. 1240 01:21:22,582 --> 01:21:24,417 He's hoping that she doesn't put up a fight, 1241 01:21:24,451 --> 01:21:26,119 but she surprises him. 1242 01:21:28,655 --> 01:21:32,158 She fought her way through those zip ties. 1243 01:21:32,192 --> 01:21:35,095 And when she jumped out of his vehicle, 1244 01:21:35,128 --> 01:21:37,497 she kicked the remaining Annette Schnee 1245 01:21:37,530 --> 01:21:41,134 orange sock out with her. 1246 01:21:41,167 --> 01:21:44,571 - Bobbie Jo started running. 1247 01:21:44,604 --> 01:21:49,109 It is knee-deep, thigh-deep snow that she is going in, 1248 01:21:49,142 --> 01:21:50,143 and he shoots her. 1249 01:21:56,416 --> 01:21:58,618 - Phillips was taking full advantage 1250 01:21:58,651 --> 01:22:02,489 of the conditions, and in that snowstorm, 1251 01:22:02,522 --> 01:22:04,924 he knew they'd be covered with snow. 1252 01:22:04,958 --> 01:22:07,060 And then they wouldn't be discovered, 1253 01:22:07,060 --> 01:22:13,066 and that would help him get away with it 1254 01:22:13,066 --> 01:22:14,701 I don't think he counted on Bobbie 1255 01:22:14,734 --> 01:22:18,071 Jo's friends and their commitment to finding her. 1256 01:22:21,074 --> 01:22:24,344 He certainly didn't take into account 1257 01:22:24,377 --> 01:22:28,648 getting stuck in the snow once he got up to Guanella Pass. 1258 01:22:28,682 --> 01:22:31,084 - The guy who rescued him was thinking 1259 01:22:31,084 --> 01:22:34,354 he was saving somebody's life. 1260 01:22:34,387 --> 01:22:37,190 He didn't know he had just murdered two people that night. 1261 01:22:43,763 --> 01:22:46,199 MARK HURLBURT: Motive is a tough one in this case. 1262 01:22:46,232 --> 01:22:47,967 People want to know why. 1263 01:22:48,001 --> 01:22:51,104 And the best thing we could come up with a motive 1264 01:22:51,104 --> 01:22:54,674 is Alan Phillips was angry towards women. 1265 01:22:54,708 --> 01:22:58,545 And this was his way of taking it out on women. 1266 01:23:02,482 --> 01:23:04,284 - The alternate suspect 1267 01:23:04,317 --> 01:23:06,052 that the defense presented at trial 1268 01:23:06,086 --> 01:23:08,254 was, of course, Jeff Oberholtzer. 1269 01:23:08,288 --> 01:23:10,056 - It hurt. 1270 01:23:10,056 --> 01:23:14,294 It hurt to go through it, to be asked all these questions. 1271 01:23:14,327 --> 01:23:16,763 STEPHANIE MILLER: Even 40 years later, you could still 1272 01:23:16,796 --> 01:23:19,632 see and feel the hopelessness when 1273 01:23:19,666 --> 01:23:21,067 he finds out that she's dead. 1274 01:23:27,073 --> 01:23:28,475 - After the trial, 1275 01:23:28,508 --> 01:23:34,647 the jurors deliberated for just under four hours. 1276 01:23:34,681 --> 01:23:39,085 We're all sitting there in the courtroom, and I was so tense, 1277 01:23:39,085 --> 01:23:39,652 I was shaking. 1278 01:23:42,555 --> 01:23:47,093 The judge starts reading through. 1279 01:23:47,127 --> 01:23:51,698 It's like guilty, guilty, guilty, all eight counts. 1280 01:23:51,731 --> 01:23:54,167 I was like, hallelujah. 1281 01:23:59,572 --> 01:24:02,842 - It was a moment of disbelief. 1282 01:24:02,876 --> 01:24:04,044 Is it really? 1283 01:24:04,077 --> 01:24:05,378 Could this be it? 1284 01:24:05,412 --> 01:24:07,113 Is it over? 1285 01:24:07,147 --> 01:24:14,054 Is it done after all these decades? 1286 01:24:21,361 --> 01:24:23,496 - I'm just overjoyed when they read it 1287 01:24:23,530 --> 01:24:25,532 as being guilty to all counts. 1288 01:24:28,902 --> 01:24:32,105 KAREN RIESSEN: For all those cold cases out there, 1289 01:24:32,138 --> 01:24:36,409 and you think that it's never going to happen, 1290 01:24:36,443 --> 01:24:42,382 this is a true case of, after 40 years, it happening. 1291 01:24:42,415 --> 01:24:47,153 JEFF OBERHOLTZER: Don't give up searching for answers. 1292 01:24:47,187 --> 01:24:53,860 No matter how hard it is and how long it takes, 1293 01:24:53,893 --> 01:24:54,728 don't lose faith. 1294 01:25:02,435 --> 01:25:05,405 KAREN RIESSEN: I want Annette to be remembered 1295 01:25:05,438 --> 01:25:14,781 as such a kind, caring girl that didn't 1296 01:25:14,814 --> 01:25:18,284 ever get to live her life. 1297 01:25:23,656 --> 01:25:26,126 - I see her outside, where she loved 1298 01:25:26,159 --> 01:25:31,197 to be in, and all the days sharing a room with her 1299 01:25:31,231 --> 01:25:32,465 and playing games. 1300 01:25:32,499 --> 01:25:34,567 Just, that's my fondest memories. 1301 01:25:37,537 --> 01:25:43,476 And I want to say that Bobbie Jo was a hero because if she would 1302 01:25:43,510 --> 01:25:47,447 not have struck him and caused him to bleed, 1303 01:25:47,480 --> 01:25:49,215 then we would never know this to this day, 1304 01:25:49,249 --> 01:25:51,551 that Alan Phillips was the murderer. 1305 01:25:51,584 --> 01:25:54,120 So thank God she did what she did. 1306 01:26:01,428 --> 01:26:02,929 JEFF OBERHOLTZER: Bobbie and I 1307 01:26:03,029 --> 01:26:06,466 never really took a whole lot of pictures of each other. 1308 01:26:09,803 --> 01:26:13,840 But I always figured every time I blinked my eyes, 1309 01:26:13,873 --> 01:26:15,275 I'd take a snapshot. 1310 01:26:15,308 --> 01:26:17,877 So there's a lot of pictures in my head. 1311 01:26:21,915 --> 01:26:24,250 Her walking down the road with a bucket 1312 01:26:24,284 --> 01:26:27,253 and the fishing pole and her dog, 1313 01:26:27,287 --> 01:26:29,456 it was always a fond memory. 1314 01:26:31,825 --> 01:26:36,529 And-- excuse me. 1315 01:26:41,468 --> 01:26:44,304 Sitting in a rocking chair, the record player going, 1316 01:26:44,337 --> 01:26:48,908 and a little banded bird sitting on her finger, 1317 01:26:48,942 --> 01:26:54,681 sleeping with her, and happy and peaceful. 1318 01:26:54,714 --> 01:26:57,717 [music playing]