Hello everyone!
In this video, we are going to check 5 decades-old cold cases that were solved in 2021.
Welcome to Mysterious 5 !
The first case on our list is
Annette Schnee and Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer
In 1982, in Breckenridge, Colorado, two lifeless
bodies of two different women were discovered. The crime scenes were miles from one another and
the bodies were found six months apart. And yet, police believed that both women
were killed on the same night, by the same man. The only thing
connecting them? Orange socks.
On January 6, 1982, Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer,
29 years old, left home at 7.15 am. Her day had begun as usual
and she hitchhiked to work.
Jeff Oberholtzer was Bobbie’s husband. He ran
an appliance repair business, and she worked as a receptionist. They had been married for
four-and-a-half years at the time of Bobbie’s death, and they lived in Alma, fourteen miles
away from where her body was eventually found.
At 6.20 pm Jeff got a call from Bobbie saying
she was having drinks with friends after work. He asked her if she wanted him to pick her up,
but she told him that she would get a ride home.
Jeff made dinner and waited for Bobbie to come
home. At some point, he fell asleep. He woke up around midnight and discovered that his wife
had not returned. Jeff drove into Breckenridge to look for Bobbie, and her friends told
him she had left the bar around 7.30 pm; they assumed she had gotten a ride home. When
Jeff reported to police that Bobbie was missing, they told him it was too early to file a report.
Finally, he drove back home to wait for her wife.
The next morning, a farmer who lived 30 miles
outside Breckenridge found Bobbie’s driver’s license on his property. When Jeff and two
friends were on their way to pick her up, they made a disturbing discovery – something
blue in a snow-covered field. It was her backpack, which she always had with her.
Next to the backpack was one of Bobbie’s gloves, spattered with blood, and several bloody tissues.
Jeff’s friends helped him organize a search. Two hours later, they found Bobbie’s lifeless
body more than fifteen miles from where her backpack was discovered. She had been shot
twice. Her house keys were found at the scene.
At the crime scene, police found three intriguing
clues; the only footprints near the body were from Bobbie; a plastic cord was tied around one of her
wrists; a single orange sock was found nearby.
The same day Bobbie Jo’s body was found,
another woman, Annette Schnee, 21 years old, was reported missing.
Annette was a cocktail waitress in Frisco, Colorado, and like
Bobbie, often hitchhiked to and from work.
Because of the similarities, both cases
were immediately connected by the police. Investigators questioned Jeff about
Annette. At first, he denied knowing her, however, after seeing her picture on the
news, he recalled meeting her once.
Jeff claimed he had once picked up Annette when
she was hitchhiking and he had given her his business card but had never seen or heard from her
since that day. He also denied any involvement in her disappearance or Bobbie’s death.
On July 3, 1982, six months after her disappearance and 13 miles
away from where Bobbie Jo’s body had been found, Annette’s body was discovered. Police were
shocked with the discovery that she was wearing the match for the orange sock. Jeff’s
business card was found inside her wallet.
The prime suspect immediately
became Jeff Oberholtzer.
Authorities tried to put together a scenario for
what might have happened on the night of January 6. Annette Schnee was last seen in Breckenridge
at around 4 pm, in deep conversation with an unidentified dark-haired woman. Police believed
that around 5 pm, Annette left to hitchhike home. The suspect picked her up and drove
20 miles south of Breckenridge. He took her down a small, dead-end road,
where he assaulted her in his vehicle.
While she was getting dressed, she
forgot to put on her other orange sock, and attempted to escape, when she
was shot in the back while running.
Police believed the suspect then drove back
to Breckenridge and found his second victim: Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer. He drove Bobbie 10 miles
south of Breckenridge, to a scenic overlook, where he attempted to assault her. Bobbie managed
to escape from the vehicle when the other orange sock fell out. The suspect then chased her down
the road and shot her twice as she turned away.
Police felt that the fact that
Jeff Oberholtzer knew both victims was more than just a coincidence.
Two months after his wife’s death, Jeff took a polygraph test and passed. From
day one, Jeff insisted that he had an alibi. He said that at the time of the deaths,
he was at home with a visiting friend. For nearly 9 years, no one could find this man.
Then, in December 1990, he finally surfaced and was questioned about that night. Investigators
interviewed the man, who claimed that he had been at Jeff’s house. However, his time and
Jeff’s time of the visit did not match up.
Jeff Oberholtzer has always maintained his
innocence, and claimed that the suspect had to be someone she knew; she
would not have gone with a stranger, especially when he had given her
the option to be picked up by him.
For years, the blood found on Bobbie's gloves
and the tissues with her backpack were believed to have been hers. However, in the early 1990s,
DNA testing determined that it came from a male. The testing also determined that Jeff had not
left it. As a result of this and other evidence, including several alibi witnesses, he was
eventually cleared as a suspect in the case.
Police looked into several other different
suspects. One was cab driver Thomas Edward Luther, who beat and assault a hitchhiker after picking
her up in Breckenridge, in February 1982. While in jail, he allegedly bragged
about being responsible for the deaths. According to his girlfriend, he did
not come home on that fatal night. He also lied to investigators and
said he was at work at the time.
The other suspect, Tracy Petrocelli, killed
his fiancée in 1981 and went on a multi-state crime spree. During this time, he stayed
at Annette's workplace, the Holiday Inn in Frisco. However, neither suspect's DNA
matched the evidence from the crime scene.
On February 24, 2021, a 70-year-old man
named Alan Lee Phillips was arrested and charged with the deaths. He was also charged
with kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held without bail.
Genetic genealogy was used to link the DNA
found at the crime scene to him. Investigators suspect that he may have been involved
in other crimes throughout Colorado.
Sadly, Bobbie's brother,
Kelly, and father, Thomas, have passed away before finding out who was the
man responsible for taking her life
Next,
Gayle Barrus
On October 9, 1988, Gayle Barrus was spotted
leaving a coffee shop in the early hours of the morning, accompanied by a man. This was
the last time Barrus was ever seen alive.
Gayle Barrus was a 30-year-old single mother
of three from Michigan. Life was hard and she worked at two different local bars to be able
to survive and take care of her children.
In the early hours of October 9, 1988, between
3-4 am, Barrus was spotted leaving Speed’s Koffee Shop, in Battle Creek, Michigan.
She was accompanied by a dark-haired man, and that was the last time anyone saw her alive.
On October 25, hunters from Emmett, a nearby town, made a horrifying discovery. They
found a lifeless body of a woman, laying on River Road. The woman had been viciously
stabbed and 0 assaulted. The authorities quickly identified the body to be that of Gayle Barrus,
and an extensive investigation followed.
Witnesses were identified and interviewed, and
evidence was collected from the crime scene.
On October 22, just a few days before Barrus’
body being discovered and almost two weeks after her disappearance, a 24-year-old man named
Roger Plato was approached by authorities. Plato’s car matched the description from a victim
of a different abduction and assault cause. At 4.30 pm, authorities attempted to detain him
at gunpoint while he was walking to his car at a parking lot in Bellevue. Plato became aggressive
and refused to cooperate, and start fighting back. He was shot when he tried to wrestle the gun
from a detective and died from the injuries. He was never interviewed. Authorities
performed an autopsy, and a blood sample was taken before the body was cremated, which
was stored at a private lab at the time.
Investigators of Barrus’ case turned
their attention to Plato’s friend, and former roommate, Richard Compton.
Compton had a vast criminal career, but when approached by investigators he
backed off and denied knowing anything.
With no further leads or developments,
Barrus’ case eventually went cold.
In 2018, Battle Creek cold case detective Scott
Marshall reinvestigated the case. One of his first discoveries was that Compton’s DNA had never
been tested, and he became his number one suspect. After some investigation, Detective Marshall
discovered that he had died in 2009, and his body was buried in the County
International Cemetery, in Austin, Texas. Compton was 59 years old when he died.
Detective Marshall got a search warrant and
traveled to Texas, to exhume Compton’s body. After examination, it was discovered that
Compton’s DNA samples didn’t match that found on Barrus’ body, but matched previously
unidentified hairs connected to the crime scene.
In November 2020, a break in the case
emerged, almost by luck. Sargent Chris Bacik, of the Calhoun County sheriff’s department, was
taking an inventory of evidence at the department and found a vial containing the
blood sample taken from Plato.
On January 30, 2021, it was announced that a
state police lab connected the blood to DNA found on Gayle Barrus’ body, confirming
Plato as responsible for assaulting and taking her life. It is most likely
that Compton witnessed it happening.
Both men have already died, and they never
had to pay for this horrible crime, however, the Barrus family has expressed their relief on
finally being able to have some kind of closure.
Detective Marshall said DNA technology is
the future for solving cold cases.
Next,
Stephanie Sommers
On August 30, 1980, Stephanie Sommers was
supposed to spend the day with her nephew. They were going to celebrate his birthday
and spend a wonderful day together. However, she never appeared. Police
eventually found her lifeless body inside her home.
Stephanie Sommers was a 36-year-old woman who lived in an
apartment in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California. She had only recently moved there from Newhall,
Santa Clarita, and she couldn’t be more excited.
On that fatal day, August 30, 1980, she
was at her apartment, getting ready to spend the day with her 11-year-old nephew,
Kelly Roberts, from Santa Clarita Valley. She was planning to pick him up and take him
to Six Flags Magic Mountain, as a late birthday present. Kelly got dressed up especially for the
occasion, however, Stephanie never made it there.
Concerned, her family contacted the
authorities, who went to check her apartment. There, they made a grizzly discovery; Stephanie's
lifeless body was laying inside her apartment. Forensic evidence was collected at the crime scene, including that from Stephanie's body,
and an extensive investigation began.
Several people were interviewed; however, the
leads went nowhere, and the case went cold.
The case remained unsolved for more than three
decades until Los Angeles detectives received a fresh lead in 2014. It implicated
a man named Harold Anthony Parkinson, who lived a mile away from the victim, and
he could be a main suspect in the case.
On June 19, 2014, a DNA sample collected
from Parkinson was consistent with a DNA profile taken from Sommers’ body and he
was charged with taking her life. However, Parkinson was already in jail, serving between
15 years to life at the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe for another unrelated attack.
This other attack happened in Los Angeles, on April 8, 1981, when he shot a man named Derek
Eugene Perry. Perry succumbed to the injuries and died. Parkinson was arrested and began serving
time for that sentence on March 5, 1982.
Perry’s sister Dolly said at the time, “I
remember the last meal I had with Derek. It was at a Sizzler restaurant. He gave me a
hug and told me he loved me.” She described her older sibling as an excellent BMX rider
and surfer, and a “brilliant big brother.”
The motive of the attack was unknown,
or undisclosed by authorities.
After learning that Parkinson was
being accused of Sommers’ death, Dolly said that he is a dangerous man and should
never be allowed back on the streets. In court, Parkinson’s lawyer argued that his
client hadn’t assaulted Sommers, and claimed that the two were romantically
involved and they slept together a few days before she was attacked.
Prosecutors, however, said Sommers, after a brief marriage to a man, had told
friends that she was only attracted to women.
Los Angeles Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy
described Sommers’ case as a “very degrading, horrible, violent crime.” Judge Kennedy believed
there was “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Parkinson was “responsible for this.”
On February 4, 2021, Harold Parkinson, who is now 61 years old, was sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility of parole.
Next,
Sylvia Mae Quayle
On August 4, 1981, William Quayle went to visit
his daughter's house, in Cherry Hills Village, near Denver, Colorado. She happened
to live just 150 feet from his house. What he discovered there was something
that no parent should have to witness.
Sylvia Mae Quayle, 34 years old, was, according to
friends, ambitious, vibrant, friendly, and lit up the room when she walked in. She loved history and
worked as a secretary at an architectural firm. An excellent cook, she had also opened her
own business specializing in wedding cakes.
She had a lot of friends and was an avid artist.
She loved to create pottery, that her sister still keeps throughout her home three decades later.
Sylvia was extremely close to her family, especially her parents, who lived
about 150 feet away from her house, and she had coffee with them every morning.
Until that morning…
Just before 8 am, on August 4, 1981,
officers were dispatched to Sylvia’s house, after her father found her
lifeless body and called 911.
Sylvia Quayle had spoken to her sister on
the phone the previous night, around 11 pm, so investigators knew she had been killed between
the time she hung up the phone that night and when her father got to her house nine hours later.
Her father, William Quayle, told the officers he had arrived to find his daughter
lying naked on the living room floor. Investigation revealed that she had been
shot, stabbed multiple times, strangled, and indecent assaulted. The autopsy confirmed
the loss of blood was the cause of death.
Investigators found two important
clues in the crime scene: the telephone line in the living room
and outside the house had been cut; a bathroom window screen had been
removed and tossed into some tall weeds.
About 140 more pieces of evidence were collected
from the scene and, over time, a variety of technological advances were used on the items
as investigators tried to solve the crime.
In 1983, two years after the death, forensic
technicians using an alternate light source found DNA material not from Sylvia in
the rug where her body was laying.
The same year brought hope for
investigators and the Quayle family after notorious serial killer Ottis Elwood
Toole confessed to having taken Sylvia’s life. Many of Toole’s confessions
were later known to be false, along those of his companion, Henry Lee Lucas.
Lucas, who died in a Texas prison in 2001, claimed hundreds of victims, however,
authorities were only able to confirm a handful.
In 1993, the charges against Toole in
Sylvia’s death were dropped. At the time, DNA testing on the evidence in the case had
proven that Toole was not the source of the DNA found at the crime scene 12 years earlier.
In 1995, a section of the rug was cut out and submitted to the Colorado Bureau
of Investigation to be tested. 5 years later, the sample provided authorities
with an unknown male DNA profile. However, no match was found, and the case went cold.
In January 2020, Cherry Hills Village cold case detectives and investigators decided to
use the recent technology of genetic genealogy in Sylvia’s case. 4 months later, a
name surfaced – David Dwayne Anderson.
At the time of Sylvia’s death, Anderson, then 22
years old, lived a couple of miles away from her.
Cold case detectives began investigating
Anderson. One particular investigator, Robert Fuller, traveled to Cozad, where Anderson
now lived, to secretly collect the suspect’s DNA. Fuller was able to recover two trash bags Anderson
had tossed into a dumpster. Inside were 15 items that potentially held Anderson’s genetic material.
Included among the items was a Vanilla Coke can.
On January 29, 2021, genetic material
taken out of the Vanilla Coke can matched the ones found in the body and crime scene.
When investigators looked into Anderson’s past, they found a string of at least eight home
and business burglaries., between 1981 and 1986. In one of the home burglaries, he removed
and tossed a window screen to gain entrance.
Anderson, now 62 years old, was
arrested on February 10, 2021.
William and Mary Quayle did not live to see their daughter’s killer charged.
William Quayle died in 1999, and his wife followed 10 years later.
The final case,
Bonny Baker
On the night of June 30, 1998, Bonny Baker
was having fun with some friends to celebrate her recent promotion at work. Her boyfriend
at the time came to meet her at the party. After a few tense moments, they both left.
That was the last time Bonny was seen alive…
Bonny Baker was a 47-year old woman from Denver,
Colorado, where she shared an apartment with her boyfriend, Crespin Nene-Perez. The couple
had met at the restaurant The Fort, in Morrison, where they both worked.
Bonny was the perfect employee, never calling in sick and always showing up on time,
which worth her a promotion from her boss. The same couldn’t be said about Nene-Perez; he had
been fired a month earlier after missing work.
Bonny decided that she should celebrate her
recent promotion, and head out with a group of friends to a friend’s place, in Golden,
where they would spend the night partying. The party was going great, with everyone having
fun, drinking and dancing, but things quickly turned with the arrival of Bonny’s boyfriend.
Nene-Perez arrived at the party and almost
immediately started to make a scene; he was jealous after seeing his girlfriend dancing
with her friends in the living room. Several witnesses at the party later said that Nene-Perez
looked as if he had taken illicit substances; his eyes were red and glazed, and he was fuming
with rage. He was continuously eyeing everyone off at the party as if looking for trouble.
Bonny’s last known words to a friend were, “it would be
better if I just go now, or it will be worse”. The pair were witnessed leaving the party early,
together, when the situation was becoming heated.
At around 8 pm that night, authorities received
a phone call from an unidentified woman. She reported that a man had taken a woman’s
life in an apartment on West Louisiana Avenue. She also claimed the man was about to drive to
Mexico in a red vehicle with Colorado license plates, with the woman’s body in the trunk which
he was planning to dumb somewhere along the way.
When tracing the call, police found
out that it was made from a payphone, so they headed to the address given. In the apartment, there were no signs of
a struggle, and no one was to be found.
The next day, Nene-Perez’s car was involved in
a single-vehicle collision near Globe, Arizona, but he had fled the scene on foot.
The car ended up being impounded and, upon examination, blood was
collected from the trunk as evidence.
The case was forgotten for a while, and
only after one year something came out.
On July 31, 1999, two boys went horseback riding
in a remote part of Navajo tribal grounds, in New Mexico. There, they stumbled across what appeared
to be a human skull and contacted authorities. After searching the area, investigators
found several more skeletal remains. Despite the find, the results of the autopsy and
the reason for the death remained inconclusive.
The case went cold, due to the lack of
evidence and correlation between Bonny Baker, the missing person, and the found remains.
In October 2012, cold-case Detective Kenneth Klaus, from Denver, was assigned Bonny’s case, and
immediately called an FBI agent in New Mexico to discuss the woman’s disappearance. DNA samples
from the remains found in the Navajo area were sent to Denver’s crime lab for forensic testing.
They matched samples collected from Bonny Baker.
On April 4, 2013, the unknown
female caller came forward, admitting that she was the one who called 911 the
night of Bonny’s disappearance. She also claimed that she cleaned out the couple’s apartment after
their disappearance, and before the authorities arrived, where broken plates and glasses covered
the floor and the kitchen table was overturned. The unidentified woman also gave a
full description of the red vehicle, which later was found to be a Geo Prizm, as well
as its license plate number. And according to her, Nene-Perez told her that night, “I know that
you don’t like Bonny. Something bad happened to us. You will never have to see Bonny again
because I am going to make her disappear.”
This woman’s relationship with the couple
was not yet revealed by the authorities.
Another witness also identified Nene-Perez as
the red car driver from a photo line-up. After further rounds of witness interviews and forensic
DNA testing, the gathered evidence concluded that there was enough ground to arrest Nene-Perez.
A warrant was issued for Nene-Perez, but his capture was impossible; he was living
in Mexico at the time. His extradition to Colorado didn’t happen until just recently.
Prosecutors theorize that Bonny Baker's body was likely left in a shallow grave
within a day of her disappearance.
On January 27, 2021, a preliminary reading
in the case was held in Denver court, and Nene-Perez faces charges for abducting
and taking Baker’s life.
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As always, thanks for watching.
