PARK COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A man suspected of killing two women in 1982 has been arrested.
Alan Lee Phillips is in custody for the deaths of Annette Schnee and Barbara Jo Oberholtzer. Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw says he was arrested in Clear Creek County, where he resided, after conducting 4-5 weeks of surveillance.
McGraw says he was arrested during a traffic stop, and didn’t make any statements.
“When I became the Sheriff in January of 2019 we had four unsolved murders,” McGraw said. “Now we have one unsolved murder and that is the case of Maggie Long.”
Court records show the Park County Sheriff’s Office charged 70-year-old Phillips with first-degree murder (after deliberation), assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation released the following photo of Phillips from roughly the time these crimes happened, in hopes of generating more tips. If you have information that could help investigators with this case, or other cases related to Phillips, you’re encouraged to call 720-248-8378.
Schnee and Oberholtzer were last seen Jan. 6, 1982. They were separately trying to hitchhike out of Breckenridge toward Park County, according to Summit Daily.
Oberholtzer was 29; Schnee was 21.
Oberholtzer’s body was found Jan. 7, 1982 near Highway 9 south of Breckenridge. Schnee’s was found on July 3, 1982 in Sacramento Creek.
The Summit Daily reports both women died from a single gunshot wound.
FOX31’s partners at Metro Denver Crimestoppers played a crucial role in providing investigators the leads they needed to identify Phillips as a suspect, by funding work done by United Data Connect.
Led by former Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, the company uses genetic genealogy to connect crime scene DNA to relatives of potential suspects.
“These are very labor intensive cases,” Morrissey said. “We had over 12,000 people in this family tree to get to the point of giving the sheriff’s office a lead.”
Records show Phillips’ next court appearance is scheduled for Friday afternoon. He is being held without bond.
You can watch the full press conference above.