A 71-year-old Colorado man has been convicted in the cold case slayings of two women whose bodies were found near the mountain resort town of Breckenridge in 1982.
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.Local, state and federal authorities used DNA testing to help identify Phillips as a potential suspect officials said at the time of Phillips’ arrest.
Authorities said the two women, whose bodies were found in separate locations, had no connection. Both were believed to be hitchhiking outside Breckenridge, a ski resort town about 60 miles southwest of Denver, when they disappeared on Jan. 6, 1982.Friends and family discovered Oberholtzer’s body the next day in a snow drift on the summit of 11,542-foot Hoosier Pass, near Breckenridge, one day after she disappeared.
Investigators said Phillips was rescued the night that the women disappeared from the top of nearby Guanella Pass when his truck got stuck during a snowstorm. The victims did not know Phillips or each other. Linda Stanley, the district attorney for the Colorado’s 11th Judicial District, had no immediate comment on the verdict. Phillips was represented by the public defender’s office, which does not comment on cases.
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