Annette Schnee and Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer – The Orange Socks Murders
In 1982, two women were found dead in Breckenridge, Colorado, under mysterious circumstances. The bodies of Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer, 29, and Annette Schnee, 21, were discovered miles apart, six months between the discoveries, yet police believed they were killed on the same night by the same man. The only link between the two? Orange socks. Bobbie Jo was last seen leaving a bar in the evening after having drinks with friends, while Annette was last seen hitchhiking home.
Bobbie’s body was discovered with a plastic cord around her wrist and a single orange sock nearby. Annette’s body, found months later, was wearing the matching orange sock, and Jeff Oberholtzer, Bobbie Jo’s husband, became the prime suspect due to his connection to both victims. Although Jeff was later cleared of suspicion through DNA evidence and a polygraph test, the case remained unsolved for nearly 40 years. In 2021, Alan Lee Phillips was arrested and charged with the murders after his DNA was linked to the crime scenes through genetic genealogy, finally bringing closure to the families of the victims.
Gayle Barrus – A Mother’s Life Cut Short
On October 9, 1988, 30-year-old Gayle Barrus, a single mother of three from Michigan, was last seen leaving a coffee shop in the early hours of the morning with an unidentified man. Her body was discovered weeks later on River Road, having been brutally stabbed and assaulted. Suspicion initially fell on Roger Plato, a 24-year-old whose car matched the description of a vehicle involved in another abduction case. However, Plato was killed in a confrontation with police before he could be interviewed. The case went cold until 2018, when Detective Scott Marshall reopened the investigation. In a stroke of luck, a blood sample taken from Plato before his death was found in storage and matched the DNA evidence from the crime scene. In 2021, authorities confirmed that Plato was responsible for Gayle Barrus’ death, though he had already died, leaving the family with some semblance of closure.
Stephanie Sommers – A Birthday Celebration Ends in Tragedy
On August 30, 1980, 36-year-old Stephanie Sommers from Silver Lake, Los Angeles, was found murdered in her apartment, just as she was preparing to take her 11-year-old nephew to Six Flags Magic Mountain as a birthday treat. She was found by police after concerned family members reported her missing when she failed to show up. Her body bore signs of a violent struggle, but despite extensive investigations, no solid leads emerged, and the case went cold. Over three decades later, in 2014, DNA evidence linked Harold Anthony Parkinson, who was already serving a life sentence for an unrelated crime, to the murder of Stephanie Sommers. Parkinson, who had lived close to Sommers at the time of her death, was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in February 2021.
Sylvia Mae Quayle – The Murder Next Door
On August 4, 1981, 34-year-old Sylvia Mae Quayle was found murdered in her home in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, by her father, who lived just 150 feet away. Sylvia had been shot, stabbed, strangled, and assaulted. The crime scene showed signs of a break-in, with a window screen removed and the phone lines cut. Despite the collection of substantial forensic evidence, the case remained unsolved for decades. In 2020, cold case detectives utilized genetic genealogy to identify a suspect, David Dwayne Anderson, whose DNA matched samples collected from the crime scene. Anderson, who lived nearby at the time of Sylvia’s murder, was arrested in February 2021, nearly 40 years after the crime, finally bringing justice to the Quayle family.
Bonny Baker – A Party That Ended in Death
On June 30, 1998, 47-year-old Bonny Baker from Denver, Colorado, was last seen alive at a party celebrating her recent promotion at work. She left the party with her boyfriend, Crespin Nene-Perez, after he caused a scene. The next day, police received an anonymous tip-off about a murder, but when they arrived at the couple’s apartment, it was empty, with no signs of a struggle. Nene-Perez’s car was later found abandoned in Arizona, with blood in the trunk, but no further leads emerged until 1999, when skeletal remains were found on Navajo tribal lands in New Mexico. It wasn’t until 2012 that the remains were confirmed as those of Bonny Baker. In 2021, Nene-Perez was finally extradited from Mexico and charged with her murder, nearly 23 years after her disappearance.
These five cold cases, each solved in 2021, highlight the power of modern forensic technology, particularly DNA testing and genetic genealogy, in bringing long-overdue justice to victims and their families.
