Colorado Clues: Solving the 1982 Breckenridge Double Murders
On January 6, 1982, two young women were murdered while hitchhiking near Breckenridge, Colorado. The case went cold for nearly 40 years, until DNA technology revealed the killer
Background
On the night of Wednesday, January 6, 1982, Breckenridge, Colorado —a mountain town known for its ski slopes and rustic beauty —became the last known location for two young women who vanished within hours of each other, setting in motion one of Colorado’s most haunting mysteries.
The weather that day was frigid, with temperatures reaching twenty degrees below zero and dangerous blizzard conditions. That day, two female hitchhikers accepted a ride from a stranger. It would be another forty years until their killer was identified.
Disappearance of Annette Schnee
Twenty-one-year-old Annette Schnee had moved to the Breckenridge area, hoping to find work and start a new chapter in her life. She planned to become a flight attendant. Annette worked two jobs in nearby Frisco, Colorado, at a Holiday Inn hotel during the day and as a waitress in the evenings.
Since Annette did not own a car, she frequently hitchhiked to work and other places. At the time, hitchhiking was much more common than it is today. On January 6, 1982, Annette had visited a doctor after her shift at the hotel and then hitched a ride to a local drugstore where she picked up some medication.
She was last seen by witnesses hitchhiking south of Breckenridge around 4:45 p.m. Her sudden disappearance alarmed friends and family, but with no immediate leads, the case quickly went cold.
Murder of Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer
That same evening, 29-year-old Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer was celebrating a recent job promotion, enjoying an evening with friends at a local pub. She had planned to hitchhike home.
At 6:21 p.m., she called her husband, Jeff, to say she had found a ride home and would be home relatively soon. Oberholtzer was last seen at about 7:50 p.m. According to her husband, he fell asleep waiting for her to return home. When he awoke around midnight to find that his wife had not yet returned, he immediately became concerned.
That morning, Jeff filed a missing persons report with the Breckenridge police; however, they told him he needed to wait 24 hours. Hours later, Jeff received a call from a rancher who told him he had found Bobbie Jo’s driver’s license on his property.
On his way to the rancher's house to collect the license, Oberholtzer spotted his wife’s blue backpack on the roadside. Near the backpack, he also found a bloody Kleenex tissue and a wool glove - he collected the items and gave them to the police.
Later that day, friends found Bobbie Jo’s frozen body in a snowbank off the highway. Her wrist had been zip-tied, and she had been shot twice. She was fully clothed, and there did not appear to be indication of sexual assault.
Near her body was a heavy keyring which her husband Jeff had given her for self-defense. There was also an orange sock found nearby, which did not belong to her.
Discovery of Annette Schnee
Six months after she was reported missing, on July 3, 1982, fishermen in Sacramento Creek stumbled across the body of Annette Schnee. Annette had been shot in the back and was found face down in a small stream; she was fully clothed, but her clothing was described as “disheveled”, and curiously, her shoes were on the wrong feet.
Investigators determined that the weapon used was possibly a .38/.357 or 9 mm handgun, although no bullet was found in her body. However, they were surprised to find her wearing what appeared to be a similar orange sock to the one found near the body of Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer.
The matching socks now created a link between the two murders. Investigators theorized that Annette had been killed first and that the sock had fallen from the killer’s vehicle when Bobbie Jo was later abducted.
Blood evidence on Bobbie Jo’s glove and a used tissue found at the scene would eventually prove critical. Originally believed to be Bobbie Jo’s, the blood was determined to have come from an unknown male.
Despite exhaustive efforts, the case hit dead end after dead end... Jeff Oberholtzer, though deeply shaken, was considered a prime suspect due to his proximity to the crime and his early discovery of evidence. However, he passed a polygraph test and was ultimately cleared by DNA evidence on the tissues and glove.
Breakthrough
It wasn’t until nearly 40 years later that a breakthrough finally came. In 2020, Sergeant Wendy Kipple of the Park County Sheriff’s Office partnered with United Data Connect, a company specializing in genetic genealogy.
This new method utilized DNA evidence and public ancestry databases to identify distant relatives of unknown suspects, and within months, they had a match.
The DNA led them to Alan Lee Phillips, a local mechanic who had lived in the area at the time of the murders. He had no criminal record and was considered a quiet, unassuming man, but when investigators followed him to a Sonic Drive-In and retrieved a discarded napkin bag, the DNA was a perfect match to the profile found on the glove.
Then came a shocking detail - on the night the murders occurred, Phillips had been rescued by the local fire chief from a snowdrift while driving on Guanella Pass. He had signaled SOS in Morse code using his headlights; when authorities found him, he had a bloody gash on his head, which he chalked up to an accidental fall. In hindsight, those injuries were likely the result of Bobbie Jo’s desperate struggle for her life.
Trial and Death
In February 2021, Phillips was arrested at his home, leaving his neighbors stunned - the quiet man with a long white beard had been hiding one of Colorado’s darkest secrets.
His trial took place in September 2022 and resulted in numerous convictions, including two counts of first-degree murder and kidnapping. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
On February 27, 2023, Phillips was found dead in his prison cell at Sterling Correctional Facility. Authorities ruled his death a suicide.
Closing Thoughts
For the victims’ families, the arrest brought some closure. Jeff Oberholtzer expressed relief after being exonerated and finally seeing justice served. Annette’s sisters, Cindy and Karen, spoke openly about the years of pain and uncertainty, saying they could finally begin to grieve properly.
The story of Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer and Annette Schnee is one of horror, heartbreak, and enduring strength. In Breckenridge, their memory lingers like the winter air: cold, still, and impossible to forget.
Sources:
DiFiore, Elena and LaRosa Paul, “Authorities unknowingly rescued man from snowdrift after he killed 2 women near Breckenridge, Colorado”, August 27, 2023, 2023https://www.cbsnews.com/news/annette-schnee-bobbie-jo-oberholtzer-1982-cold-case-murders-alan-lee-phillips-rescued-breckenridge-colorado
CBS, “Last Seen in Breckenridge”, Aug 27, 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/video/last-seen-in-breckenridge-1
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki, “Bobbie Oberholtzer and Annette Schnee”, https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Bobbie_Oberholtzer_and_Annette_Schnee
The Associated Press, “Colorado man gets life in 1982 murders of 2 women near Breckenridge”
Nov 7, 2022, https://coloradosun.com/2022/11/07/breckenridge-murder-alan-phillips-colorado/
Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), “COLD CASE FILES” https://apps.colorado.gov/apps/coldcase/casedetail.html?id=1514
Dziemianowicz, Joe, “Orange Sock Connects 2 Colorado Women Abducted and Shot During 1982 Blizzard” Oct 7, 2023, https://www.oxygen.com/buried-in-the-backyard/crime-news/bobbie-jo-oberholtzer-annette-schnee-murder-alan-phillips