Alan Lee Phillips, now 71, was arrested last year concerning the deaths of Annette Schnee and Barbara “Bobbi Jo” Oberholtzer, whose remains were discovered in Colorado in 1982.
In the 1982 slayings of two women whose remains were discovered near the mountain resort town of Breckenridge, a 71-year-old Colorado man was convicted of first-degree murder and other offences.
Alan Lee Phillips was detained in the mountain town of Dumont, west of Denver, last year after local, state, and federal investigators used DNA evidence to identify him as a suspect in the deaths of Annette Schnee, 21, and Barbara “Bobbi Jo” Oberholtzer, 29.
A Park County jury in Fairplay deliberated for just over four hours before convicting Phillips of eight counts late Thursday, including first-degree murder after deliberation and first-degree murder involving felony kidnapping and robbery, Rob McCallum, a spokesman for the Colorado Judicial Department, said Friday.
Phillips faces life in prison when he is sentenced at a hearing set for Nov. 7.
Officials indicated at the time of Phillips’ arrest that local, state, and federal investigators utilized DNA testing to identify him as a probable suspect.
According to authorities, the two ladies, whose corpses were discovered in different places, had no relationship. Both were last seen hitchhiking near Breckenridge, a ski resort town approximately 60 miles southwest of Denver, on Jan. 6, 1982.
Alan Lee Phillips in the year 2021. Park County Sheriff’s Office via Associated Press
Oberholtzer’s corpse was recovered the next day in a snow drift on the summit of 11,542-foot Hoosier Pass near Breckenridge, one day after she went missing. Schnee’s body was recovered in a creek in rural Park County six months later, fully clothed. Both of the women had been shot.
According to investigators, Phillips was rescued the night the ladies vanished from the top of neighbouring Guanella Pass after his pickup became stranded in a blizzard. The victims had never met Phillips or each other.
The district attorney for Colorado’s 11th Judicial District, Linda Stanley, had no immediate reaction to the judgment. The public defender’s office, which does not comment on individual cases, represented Phillips.
