Scary and Sinister True Crime | "48 Hours" Full Episodes | Forensic Files

[Music] the evil clowns you've seen in the movies well it came to life in this case when your mom was growing up was
she fascinated with clowns she was she even painted pictures of them my mother Mar Warren was a
beautiful person she was loving caring [Music] kind on May 26th 1990 a woman answered
her door in front of her 21-year-old son and saw a clown at the door handing her
balloons and flowers that was the worst day of my life we were eating breakfast we saw the
colors of the reflections through the glass looked like a clown costume my mother opened the door and I heard how
pretty and I heard bang I saw her fall and I ran toward her as the clown was walking away and I
saw that she'd been shot in the face at that moment I felt my heart my soul just rip out of my body
what did you see on the Clown's face well it was a white face nose orangish red hair and it was just a clown
suit what does the clown do calmly walks right back to the car like nothing happened a person disguised as a clown
walked up to marleene Warren's AOC Club home in Wellington and shot her in the mouth I was working as a prosecutor here
in this office when it happened and it was big news meanwhile at our home investigators gather evidence searching
for Clues killing with a great costume to conceal one's identity and anybody passing by would probably say oh isn't
that nice somebody's getting flowers it wouldn't be suspicious and it would certainly make for the Perfect
Crime Marlene Warren was someone without any known enemies someone who cared deeply about her family
and they lived in a home in a pretty secluded part of Palm Beach County Michael Warren was married to
marleene Warren Michael was a local businessman in the car business the Warren's
marriage seemed to be an ideal marriage but for the people on the inside that knew better Marlene was expressing
issues with Michael Warren the people closest to Michael Warren that worked with them knew there
was something wrong because they were observing Michael Warren's interactions with a woman by the name of Sheila
ke and the rumors was what about Sheila and Mike well it was more than a rumor that Sheila Kean and Michael Warren were
having an affair it was not hidden from any of the employees in the hours after the murder of Marlene Warren the
suspects became clear it was Sheila Kean and was Michael Warren but Michael Warren had an
alibi Michael and Sheila thought that they could get away with anything it took over 30
years to make sense of it all [Music] [Music] this house was the scene of a bizarre
murder that shooter a clown carrying flowers and balloons it's easy to see why this case
has so much interest who isn't afraid of a killer clown the 1990 murder of marleene Warren shot by someone dressed
as a clown haunted not just the public but the Palm Beach County state attorney's office despite identifying
two suspects the case for decades went unsolved Dave aronberg is the current state attorney this was an assassin
ation this was not a random act of violence this was not a robbery the unknowingness of this
heinous crime the fear it was hell Joe arens was 21 living at home with his stepfather Mike and his mother
marleene when she was murdered she was a good mother everything she did she took pride
in the morning of May 26th 1990 had started as a cheerful one Joe recuperating from a broken leg was
having breakfast at home with his mom and three friends when they saw a clown approaching carrying balloons and
flowers and we kind of figured I had cast on somebody was sending to heal and for
gesture this is like oh what a delightful gift to cheer you up with your broken leg
right my mother opened the door and then we heard bang and she fell at that point
we knew something was wrong my mother was struggling to breathe and then I jumped to the phone you know called di11
right away as the clown slowly and silently walked to a car Joe and some of his friends tried to get a closer look
at anything that might help describe the disguised attacker the only thing that didn't have any color on it was the
shoes that were solid black and the white gloves and did you notice anything about the
Clown's eyes I did that that's the most thing I I saw was the big brown eyes and
the clown gets in the car what kind of car was it it was a white learon and does the car peel off no just goes into
gear and drives off like nothing happened while some of Joe's friends remained at his house waiting for EMS
Joe got into Marlene's car and tried to chase down the clown but he couldn't catch up he is seen here back home
afterwards where TV news crews were on the scene meanwhile with the clowns balloons and flowers Left Behind
marleene was rushed to the hospital barely alive where she was put on life support I kept telling her I love her
and I don't want her to go and Please Don't Leave Me 2 days later with no hope of a recovery life support was removed
and Marlene died I knew my life was going to change and I knew it was going to become
hell cuz she wasn't here to help me a top clue the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office had was Joe's description of the
clown about 61 tall skinny with orange hair a red nose and a big orange smile and male and those balloons Left Behind
they now seemed cruy mocking you're the greatest once said the had a picture of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
authorities had also spoken with Joe's stepfather Mike Warren who they learned had an alibi he was in a car with
friends heading to a racetrack when the shooting took place growing up with Mike
Warren what was that like was he a good dad I thought so that's the only father I knew I mean I was really young when my
real father and mother separated marleene and Mike were married when Joe was just three they had built a
comfortable life in Wellington Florida an affluence suburb marleene owned several businesses including apartment
complexes and the couple ran bargain Motors specializing in used cars and rentals while business was good the
marriage says Joe was troubled he says his mother became convinced Mike was having an affair making her fearful she
said if anything does happen to me your father did it she said that to you I told her no way he would never do
anything like that she said don't put it past him Marlene shared that same fear with her mother Shirley twing she says
if anything happens to me Mike did it we interviewed Shirley in 2017 when 48 Hours started investigating
Marlene's murder that's an ominous thing to say did you sense fear in her voice sure yes I did
so when Shirley learned her daughter had been murdered her mind went to Mike right away I figured Mike had something
to do with it that's for damn sure but Mike had that alibi so authorities were looking for someone else and when they
visited bargain Motors Mike's place of business one name kept popping up that woman with whom Mike was supposedly
having an affair everybody at the bargain Motors were reporting that you should look first at Sheila
Kean Altha McRoberts an assistant State Attorney in Palm Beach county has worked
on the case from the beginning and within the next day or so tips were being called in that you really should
investigate Sheila Kean and Michael Warren they were definitely seeing one another Dela Ward worked at bargain
motors with Mike Warren he had a lot of compassion a lot of empathy and people just were drawn to him especially women
one of those women Dela believed was Sheila Kean I found her very nice very bubbly you knew the way she looked at
Michael you just you loved them you could see it Sheila who also had a reputation for toughness was a repo
woman repossessing cars at bargain Motors to do repos you have to you have to have some kind of guns she told me I
keep a gun for my protection cuz people are crazy what they do Sheila told investigators she was out working at the
time of Marlene's murder she claimed that she was looking for repossession vehicles but she was unable to provide
any address that she went to so that they could follow up and confirm it as for the affair both Sheila and Mike told
investigators they were just friends but that's not what authorities learned when
they talked to Sheila's Neighbors The Neighbors at that apartment complex believed that Michael Warren and Sheila
Kean were husband and wife is there any doubt in your mind that there was a romantic relationship there's no doubt
and they didn't hide it an affair though isn't necessarily a motive for murder did anyone profit financially from
Marlene's death yes so Michael Warren profited Lar largely the properties and assets that they own together were in
her name so by her predeceasing him he was able to obtain 100% of the assets investigators were also trying to
locate local stores that had recently sold clown outfits Deborah offord had been working at a costume shop when two
nights before Marlene's murder a customer knocked at the door at closing time she wanted to see the clown
costumes I said can you come back tomorrow and she said no I need something right now Deborah told
investigators the customer paid cash buying a clown suit an orange wig makeup and a red clown nose she was I would say
about 510 um long thick straight like chocolate color hair big brown eyes detectives later presented Deborah with
a photo lineup that included a picture of Sheila Kean Deborah identified Kean and one other woman as possibly being
the person who bought the clown costume the Sheriff's Office also belied they located where the shooter bought those
flowers and balloons this Supermarket the buyer described as a white female with dark brown hair the description of
the customer given by the worker at the supermarket Market brown hair and at the
costume store brown hair brown eyes was consistent with Sheila Kean and there was Sheila's reported affair with Mike
Warren it was intriguing circumstantial evidence but would it be enough to make an arrest
[Music] [Music] before they turn the machine off on my [Music] mother God I wish you could be here with
me I told her that I loved her very much and that we were going to get Justice [Music]
as Joe arens mourned the loss of his mother Marlene investigators continued looking
for additional evidence tying Sheila Keen to Marlene Warren's murder you talk about this case to anyone and the first
place people go is yeah it's the mistress so investigators focused on Sheila keen and soon a big break when
detectives located this abandoned white Chrysler learon matching the description
Witnesses gave of the getaway car what was found inside that Chrysler learon there was synthetic fibers similar type
fibers to a clown wig they were orange the same color as the wig Joe Aaron says the as salent was wearing also inside
the car they found a human hair it was brown like Sheila ke's Sheriff's detectives executed a search
warrant at the home of Sheila Keen inside Sheila keen's closet detectives say they recovered orange fibers that a
forensic examination later concluded were similar to the ones found in the Chrysler learon and another breakthrough
was made when Sheila's hair from her apartment was compared to the one recovered from the getaway car that was
scientifically microscopically examined and found to be consistent consistent with Sheila's hair but DNA technology
was still in its infancy in 1990 and scientists were unable to make a definitive connection there were other
challenges for investigators the gun used to kill Marlene and the actual costume the Killer Clown wore were never
found and remember Joe thought the attacker was a 6 tall man Sheila didn't fit either of those descriptions
we're talking about an event that took seconds glances of this clown was a second or two also mcrobert says any
eyewitness would have a hard time describing someone in a baggy clown costume makeup and a
wig it's basically a clown is a clown and there was Sheila's alleged affair with Mike waren those fiber and hair
results and those sales clerks at the costume and grocery stores whose description of the customer purchasing
the clown outfit balloons and flowers was consistent with Sheila this sounds like the evidence is really building up
it's like you've got enough there to make an arrest what happens well there were certainly argument about that and
opinions that differed at the time and then there's a an indecision about do I do it now or should we keep trying and
get a little bit more as invest vators looked for more evidence they discovered that Mike
Warren's business bargain Motors was connected to the suspected getaway car they learned an employee stole the
car from a competitor several weeks before the murder and that's how they got the chrysal to bearing Sheriff's
detectives spent about 5 hours Thursday night searching the offices of bargon Motors at and as they investigated Mike
Warren's business they discovered widespread fr fraud charging him with racketeering insurance fraud and
odometer tampering he ultimately was convicted on 43 counts of Fraud and sent to prison it was for fraud and so you
know you just can't extrapolate one to the next I mean there's no evidence that he's a murderer we do have our
suspicions though he was not charged with any crime in connection with Marlene's murder and Warren felt he was
a victim in this case sentiments he shared in a radio interview before he went to prison they wanted to put me out
of business Warren speculated that marleene might actually have been the victim of an angry tenant or car buyer I
really can't think of a reason why uh other than the fact of the type of businesses that we're in as far as them
landlords and crossing a few people by repossessing their car but law enforcement did not think
Marlene Warren's murder was the work of a disgruntled tenant or customer and as the years passed the case grew cold and
as for Sheila Keen she seemed to disappear nobody ever brought her name up again you know for many years I was
suffering in in despair after Mike Warren went to prison Joe says he and his stepfather became estranged and as
he continued to grieve the loss of his mother he was consumed by her case going unsolved and give me a sense of what
problems you fell into after your mother's murder ah wow where do we start alcoholism drugs I mean you name it it
was especially painful says Joe on each passing anniversary of the shooting I would blow up that day and go get drunk
you know and just go to her grave site it was sad would you go out to her grave to talk to her I did a lot I try to find
answers you know but I was so confused I was getting nothing I was just lost I miss you I wish you could help me
through these Hard Times Joe eventually emerged from the fog of drugs and despair with that
behind him he became increasingly certain of who murdered his mother I concluded that Sheila was the one that
did it she probably never thought in a million years she'd be held accountable for her crimes she thought she got away
with it what do you make of the evidence against Sheila Keen chat now with the 48
Hours team on Facebook and X [Music] these are paintings that Marlin had painted when she was about 14 years old
I kind of grin CU I can almost see her doing this Shirley twing and her daughter marleene shared a fascination
with clowns and over here in Shirley's home she even kept a room full of clown art and
figurines this one says to me things will get better the sad sometimes unsettling
images brought Comfort to Shirley despite the fact that a clown had so brutally ended her daughter's life I
don't hate clowns I just hate one although the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office hadn't given up on
solving Marlene's murder 27 long years had passed without an arrest then by 2017 a Cold Case unit
made a breakthrough State Attorney Dave aronberg finally had new important evidence the hairs that were
found in the learon were able to be Trace to Sheila Keen through DNA technology with that new DNA match
detectives believed they could now definitively connect Sheila to the alleged getaway car and to marleene
Warren's murder and when Sheriff's found suspect Sheila ke they were blown away to learn
whom she had married after Michael Warren got out of prison he reconnected with Sheila Keen here's
someone whose wife had been murdered and he just married the chief suspect what did that tell you when you combine the
fact that the two of them were in a fair at the time of the murder and then later
they got married it did seem like mission accomplished that marriage was in 2002
the Warren now middle-aged settled into a new life in Tennessee running this joint called Purple Cow she took Mike's
last name but in an interesting twist assistant State Attorney Altha McRoberts says she changed her first name Sheila
Keen Warren introduced herself to their friends in that life that her name was Debbie she had dyed her hair blonde
changed her name and was living a full life we would have dinners they were wonderful Cooks the Warren befriended
Brook Levens this is Mike Warren's house a neighbor at a weekend property the couple purchased in the Virginia
mountains when we spoke to Brooke in 2018 she said she knew Mike's wife as Debbie and was told it was a childhood
nickname her dad nicknamed her that when she was small I never called her Sheila
I always called her Debbie former Purple Cow employees Ashley sexon and Cynthia Swafford say they knew Debbie as a tough
boss B I mean she was awful aggressive mean and even heard an alarming rumor about her
past the rumor around Purple Cow when we worked there was Debbie killed Mike's ex-wife I thought they was blowing off
steam I was like okay whatever but the rumors said it more than once even to where we knew she
dressed up like a clown according to an employee Sheila had appeared in clown makeup at the
restaurant one year during Halloween by the fall of 2017 the warrant had sold the business and retired full-time to
the house in Virginia meanwhile State Attorney aronburg felt the case against Sheila
had only gotten stronger when you combine the fact that they got married and seemingly lived happily ever after
with the new DNA breakthrough we're able to get enough evidence to make an arrest on September 26th
2017 27 years after Marlene's murder authorities arrested Sheila kin Warren driving on a Road near their
home she was charged with first-degree murder Sheila did not murder Marlene Warren Greg Rosenfeld Sheila keing
Warren's defense attorney says Sheila was not not the shooter everything was so methodical this person walking up to
the house committing the shooting and then slowly walking away we're dealing with someone who had
experience and committing a hit or a murder that's not Sheila that is not Sheila shortly after Sheila's arrest
Dave aronberg addressed reporters today we filed notice intent to seek the death
p in this case can you say whether Michael Warren is a suspect I can't say that Altha McRoberts says there was something
Sheila asked as she was being taken into custody that caught prosecutor attention
one of the first thing she said is well are you going to arrest him too pointing
to her husband which suggests what to you that she knew exactly what she was being arrested for and they had done it
together Joe had come to the same conclusion that his step father and Sheila were both involved in his
mother's murder would you like to see Mike Warren charged in the murder of your mother yes I would with Sheila in
custody we wanted to speak with Mike Warren we're going to go to his front door give it a knock see if he'll answer
a couple of questions [Music] [Music] after the arrest of Sheila Warren in 2017 48 Hours wanted to talk to Mike
Warren about what he knew about his wife's murder here he comes hey Mike I'm Peter vanent with CBS News
he wouldn't open the door but we spoke through it for several minutes competing with a barking dog did you have anything
to do with planning the murder of your wife Marlene you did not he was adamant that neither he nor
Sheila Keen Warren had anything to do with Marlene's murder did you suggest to Sheila that she dress in a clown out F
you're saying who I don't think do you believe based on the evidence over the years that Mike Warren
knew what was going to happen that day I don't believe there's any direct evidence of that there just wasn't
enough evidence to prosecute Michael Warren but if evidence emerges we'll pursue
it as they prepare prepared for trial despite never recovering the clown disguise or the gun prosecutors were
confident they could prove that Sheila Keen Warren committed the murder so that she could marry Mike Warren Sheila Keen
Warren had the means the motive and the opportunity to do this we will never know who killed
marleene Warren because the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the state attorney's office did such a poor job
investigating this case I can tell you without question that it was not Sheila Keen Sheila Keen
Warren's defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld says she's innocent a victim of the state attorney's Reckless desire to
close a notorious Cold Case and they said you know what this is our suspect we're going to stick with it even though
the pieces of the puzzle didn't fit the puzzle Rosenfeld says there were other potential suspects authorities ignored
including an inmate who supposedly bragged in prison about murdering Marlene but prosecutors say he was
investigated and cleared it's not surprising that they would try to point the finger at law enforcement for not
looking at every potential suspect but if you look at the evidence it pointed to one person all along Sheila Keen
Warren the state was confident Sheila Keen Warren was was responsible for Marlene's murder but Rosenfeld plans to
poke holes in its case at trial how do you overcome DNA evidence the state attorney's office should be embarrassed
about the DNA evidence in this case Rosenfeld agrees the hair prosecutors say was found in the learon getaway car
could be from Sheila Ken Warren but he says it could also be from about 4% of the US Caucasian population they
couldn't exclude marleene Warren from that hair sample so that was their groundbreaking DNA evidence and if you
can see that the hair is from Sheila Keen Warren says Rosenfeld there's an innocent explanation as to how it got
there the labarin was on the lot at bargain Motors where she worked Sheila may have been in the car used in this
murder that's it the defense attorney says well of course her hair might be in there it doesn't suggest that she was
driving at the time of the murder what do you say to that it's just one more link once you put that one thing with
the totality of all the circumstances then it starts to become overwhelming Rosenfeld says the orange
fibers found in the car which prosecutors say could be from the clown costume should also be excluded so the
fibers found in the car were synthetic fibers that same type of fiber can be used in thousands of different products
so the state likes to present it as clown wig fibers but that's factually incorrect even more troubling than the
evidence gathered says Rosenfeld is how it was handled over the decades what are
we looking at here these are evidence bags at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office evidence unit torn open
just gaping holes in these evidence bags if there's gaping holes what can that do
to the evidence inside that's precisely how how you have cross contamination now look at if I can
zoom in here this bag contains a clown wig investigators purchased similar to the one they believed was worn by the as
salent they used it to compare to the fibers found in the learon and in Sheila's home this is an open evidence
bag with the wig sticking out this is horrifying and so your bottom line is is that this evidence is unreliable now
with without question can it not be argued that some of the evidence in this case was indeed bungled you know it's
you're asking a lot of law enforcement to be perfect from 1990 to today some of the evidence was kept in an Evidence
storage area that wasn't ideal any mistake any small opening will be exploited by defense
lawyers prosecutors were still certain they had the right person for Marlene's murder but in February 2020 after a
re-evaluation of Sheila Keen Warren's case they announced they would no longer seek the death penalty were you told by
the prosecutor's office that there was always a chance in a jury trial that she might even be
acquitted yes see more evidence from the case at 48 [Music] hours.com when you think of your mom
today what do you think about what images come to mind well she was robbed and so was I it
is said the wheels of Justice turned slowly and when it came to the murder of marleene Warren that grind often seemed
to come to a halt after the 27-year wait for an arrest Sheila kin Warren's trial
kept getting delayed by 2022 she had spent 5 years in jail her trial postponed six times and then we had
covid so it just was one thing after another decade of accumulation of files and photographs and mountains of
evidence and documents defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld was also trying to work his way through all that evidence and he
says adding to the delays was a lack of cooperation from the state evidence kept
I'd say disappearing Rosenfeld says one crucial piece of evidence for the defense that
disappeared for years was what investigators called called the clown sighting file these were all the tips
about people who alleged to have seen clowns in the area that opens up for you new avenues as to possible suspects
right absolutely absolutely I think the Sheriff's Office and the state attorney's office just decided they
didn't want to look for this evidence but then suddenly in October of 2022 as another trial date neared the
file was found it was located not with the Sheila Keen clown murder boxes it was actually a
file out of place they find this clown setting file and there's 35 tips we begin to investigate them now we're 32
years after the murder you know we couldn't track down these Witnesses I've seen it and it's silly things clearly
clown sightings that had nothing to do with Marlin Warren and it wasn't being intentionally hidden from the defense
absolutely not we were meticulous about making sure they had everything though as the trial neared the Decades of
delays were causing problems for the prosecution as well every day that went by it was a tougher case Witnesses die
memories fade evidence spoils one of our key Witnesses passed away he was the one
who compiled the evidence and without him we lost a chain of custody for some crucial evidence relating to the fibers
if I can zoom in here this is an open evidence bag evidence the defense already claimed had been poorly stored
and mishandled contaminated inadmissible unreliable it just goes to show you how
poor of an investigation that was done they were going to be able to argue that because of the opening of the bags that
the evidence was spoiled and because of the break in the chain of custody because of the death of our Witnesses it
shouldn't even be admitted so you had some real potential for Reasonable Doubt there is beyond Reasonable Doubt on
April 25th 2023 2 weeks before Sheila Keen Warren's trial for the murder of marleene Warren
was to begin there was yet another surprise in a case that had been filled with the
unexpected a plea deal was reached Miss Keen Warren the defendant herein will agree to a draw her previously in her
plea of not guilty and her plea of guilty Sheila Keen Warren whose case at one time included the death penalty then
life in prison would now plead guilty to second degree murder and be sentenced to
12 years in prison under sentencing guidelines for time served she is expected to be released in
2025 perhaps sooner we had to make a judgment based on what we had because the fear is what if you take this to
trial the worst thing that could happen would be that Sheila Keen Warren would be found not guilty not because she was
innocent but because after 33 years we could not prove Beyond a reasonable doubt that she was the one who did it
but Sheila Keen Warren did have to publicly pay a price for this plea deal admitting in open court that she in fact
did murder marleene Warren if this case were to proceed to jury trial the state would present evidence that honor about
May the 26th of 1990 the defendant was responsible for the death of marlin K did you hear all that yes sir and do
you agree with that factual basis yes despite admitting her crime Sheila Keen Warren through her attorney still
maintains she is innocent Sheila did not commit this murder it was very difficult
for her to admit to committing a crime that she did not commit but as a matter of law she has admitted to committing
The Murder by saying yes correct for the purpose of so she is a convicted murderer and so far
as the log goes sure but when you're told you could be home or you know you can play Russian Roulette and risk
spending the rest of your life in prison it's kind of a no-brainer the defense cannot have it both ways so she will be
a murderer for every day for the rest of her life even when she gets out of prison one day she'll still be a
convicted murderer when she does get out of prison she will reunite with her husband
Michael Warren Sheila is going home to Tennessee she's going back to her life Michael Warren in a statement
provided 2 48 Hours regarding the polia said my wife did not commit this crime it was difficult to see her plea to a
crime she did not commit but it wasn't worth the gamble when she was offered a deal that'll have her home in 16 to 18
months with this deal there is a chance that Sheila might get out of prison within the next year or two are you all
right with that well I'm not all right with it but I have to be still Joe arens approved
the plea deal feeling it wasn't worth the gamble of going to trial that was very emotional because that was the end
of something so huge that grew for 33 years of my life finally it's over finally you know it
was the demons that once occupied Joe's mind are gone replaced with loving memories of how his mother Marlene lived
rather than how that life was so violently taken what would you say to your mother
if you could speak to her today wow what can I say to my mother thank you for showing me how to love and and be
peaceful and thank you for being in my life [Music] hurts need more time with 48 Hours go
deep behind every True Crime episode with firsthand accounts from 48 hours inv were you at all prepared for what
happened in this case shock is the word that comes to mind get inside the twists
and turns and get in on the case listen to postmortem from 48 hours now available wherever you get your podcasts
[Music] when you think of the Phoenix Desert you definitely aren't thinking of a water
[Music] front the canal system goes right through the center of Phoenix the more people that were moving
to the area the more that the trails along there were being used for walking running biking
there are not many crimes that are like this one you had women riding bicycles along
the canal on a typical Phoenix evening ambushed stabbed multiple times police are looking for whoever
killed 22-year-old Angela bro Angela br Al dismembered decapitated police are looking at this
scene and thinking what on Earth happened and who did this 10 months later a 17-year-old
Junior at Arcadia High School Melanie bernes this is the high school that Steven Spielberg
attended Melanie Bernice's mother goes out to dinner and Melanie decides to go go on a bike
ride and the following morning a woman is riding her bike right here there was just a big puddle it looked different as
I rode through it and all of a sudden I'm like that is blood so she called the police the
police saw a blood trail and they see Melanie Bernice's body at the bottom of the
canal my time my life froze at that very moment the day we found out I made a promise to
myself I just never stopped talking about her these murders became widely known as
the Phoenix Canal murders my name is Clark schwarzkoff and I was assigned to the coase unit
investigating the canal murders I think there was over 600 persons of interest I said okay give me the
list in this mound of information of all these people and all these possible suspects I believed our killer was
listed eventually detective schwarzkoff found his prime suspect on that list and
discovered that the alleged Canal killer had a second identity a man who dressed
up like a comic book superhero and cruised The Valley in a decorated car car dripping with fake blood the public
knew this man as the zombie hunter what was his life as the zombie hunter like what did he do he would go
to like parades and festivals and and show off this car and kind of be a part of the excitement if you
will your assignment was to find this guy and you have found him yeah he is accused of being a killer but here he is
posing with police officers before they discovered what he'd [Music] done it was almost like a slap in the
face like I'm here but you don't know it it was like he was hiding in playing sight
[Music] [Music] it's one of those cases that you just don't forget you can't unsee what happened to those girls you
just can't long before the Man known as the zombie hunter became the prime suspect in the canal murders Clark
schwarzkoff was a detective with the Phoenix Police Department's Cold Case Squad his mission was simple but pointed
find the killer responsible for those vi ious murders of two young women from the
early 1990s to this day I'm still not exactly sure about what happened on those bike
paths the case began on November 8th 1992 Angela braso a tech worker who had recently moved to Phoenix was taking
advantage of beautiful weather to get in a little exercise says Brianna Whitney the True Crime reporter for the CBS
affiliate kPa ho o in Phoenix each night she would go out for her evening bike ride just at Golden
hour at Sunset the best time to be riding out here Angela was only hours away from turning 22 years old and like
a lot of locals she liked to bike on the paths that ran alongside the city's distinctive canals says Schwarz a 48
Hours consultant are there places that are sort of natural and bu sites if somebody
wants to attack someone yeah they are there's a lot of tunnels that go underneath the
interstate that November evening in 1992 Angela left her apartment around 700 p.m. her boyfriend Joe later told police
he said he stayed home to bake Angela a birthday cake and didn't expect her to be gone
long hours go by and Joe grows concerned Angela hasn't come home and that's not like her Joe told police he took his
bike out three times that night frantically searching for Angela on the canal paths he spoke to her friends even
her mother back in Pennsylvania finally he reported Angela missing to police the next morning
Searchers Came Upon a horrific scene Angela brzo torso was found in a field next to the trail that she had been
riding her bike on Angela had been stabbed to death some 10 days after Angela's headless body was discovered a man
fishing along this section of the canal spotted her head stuck on a grate and from what we have heard from Witnesses
the head was in amazingly good condition especially considering this was days after the murder I'm Morgan low and I'll
take you Morgan low an investigative reporter who also works at kph and is a consultant for 48 hours has been working
on the canal killer case for more than a decade we've heard that the head looked
like it had been preserved like it was a momento for the killer Angela purple mountain bike was also missing there
were no solid leads and the case went quiet until September of 1993 some 10 months after Angela's murder when the
mother of 17-year-old Melanie burnus returned from a dinner date to find her daughter had broken her curfew and was
not home she then noticed that Melanie's bicycle was missing Melanie decides to go on a bike ride by around 10:30 when
Melanie did not return her mother started calling her friends is Melanie there well my mom took the phone call said
that melan's Mom was frantic and like nervous Rachel Shep maker was one of Melanie's close friends in high school
so initially when you hear that her mother's looking for her you're not thinking something terrible has happened
to your friend definitely not I thought she was with a friend and just forgot to
communicate with her mom where she was early the next morning Charlotte pole a local resident happened to be
riding along the canal with her young daughter in a bicycle seat just as they came out of one of those tunnels that
ran under the interstate she spotted a puddle there was just a big puddle of of something ended up riding right through
it and having it Splash over me Charlotte says something about the puddle bothered her so a few minutes
later she doubled back that's when she made that horrible realization I could tell that it was a puddle of bread that
it was a puddle of blood and all of a sudden as I'm looking at it I noticed that there are some drag marks that went
along over here toward that tree towards that tree yes and then went around the tree and was drugged back you could see
the drag marks right here to the canal Charlotte went home and called police later that night the local news reported
that a woman's body had been found in the Canal close to where Angela braso head had been located they found the
body in a teal bodysuit I was told by um some other friends that Melanie did not own that it
can't be her Rachel went to sleep convinced the body in the canal was not Melanie but the next day I'm at school
my friends just come up to me crying and saying it was Melanie detective strongly suspected Melanie had
been targeted and stabbed in the back by the same person who had killed Angela police believe that somehow the
killer got her off of her bike whether he knocked her off of her bike or whether he asked her a question Clark
says the evidence indicates the killer approached the women from behind both the I WS were the exact same position
investigators say the killer dragged Melanie's body off the canal path removed her clothes and dressed her in
that teal bodysuit similar to this one obtained by police along with the stabbing and the
dismemberment there was another component to these murders wasn't there yeah both women were sexually
assaulted and that meant investigators had a crucial piece of evidence DNA when the DNA from Melanie scene was
finally tested later it matched to Angela scene so we knew for sure that we were dealing with the same perpetrator
investigators noted that the initial stab wounds to the backs of each woman were fatal and so precise that
detectives suspected the killer might be a surgeon the details about what happened were the kinds of things that
kept parents from letting their kids out when the sun went [Music] down the murders of Angela braso and
Melanie bernes in the early 1990s created fear in Phoenix that lasted for a generation you know there's some guy
out there and you don't know where he is they watched the news and read the newspaper every day hoping that police
would make an arrest and it just kept going on and nothing and nothing and nothing investigators had collected
matching male DNA from both the victims but more than two decades past and the canal murder cases went cold
then science finally caught up with the calendar it's in 2014 Phoenix police detectives are at a DNA conference and a
forensic genealogist from California is also at the conference calling Fitzpatrick founder of identif finders
International was there to meet with law enforcement and she goes up to these detectives and says hey I can take why
chromosomes and create these DNA profiles and try to match with genealogy to help solve criminal cases
Fitzpatrick's company had developed software that could mine public genealogy databases searching for
matches to Crime Scene DNA the detectives heard her out and then several weeks later they sent me the wi
d a profile from the crime scene for the Phoenix Canal murders Fitzpatrick company started crunching the data
hoping to provide Phoenix detectives with a name we entered the numbers from the
forensic profile into our software and that's where I came up with six matches to the name Miller while the genetic
genealogy search produced the name Miller it is also one of the most common last names detective schwarzkoff started
digging you check your files and what do you find I think there were a total of six Millers that were on what I called
my Master list and I went down through the list got to Brian Patrick Miller but who was Brian Patrick Miller
records show he was 42 years old with a Phoenix address that name was just one of more than 600 Persons of Interest Who
had lived in those case files for years police at the time seemingly never pursued Miller we discovered his file
downstairs police police learned Brian Miller had a record dating Back to Before the canal murders in May of 1989
when he was just 16 years old Miller crossed paths with Celeste Bentley I was 24 and I was going to work
I had just noticed a young boy on the bus Celeste says she and the boy got off at the same stop moments later she felt
something in her back he had ran by me I thought he had just hit me I just yelled
at him I was like why'd you do that you know and then I reached back and touched
my back and realized that it was blood I had been stabbed with a single knife wound to her upper back Celeste screamed
and managed to make it to the store where she worked a coworker called for help about 30 minutes later when Celeste
was in the back of an ambulance the police came and said they found him and they wanted to bring him to the
ambulance to show him to me Celeste identified her as salent Brian Miller was charged with aggravated assault they
said that if he had held the blade the other way he would have gone straight through my ribs and I could have died
Miller pleaded guilty and was sentenced to juvenile detention until he turned 18
it was a far cry from where Miller's life had [Music] begun he was living in Hawaii for a
while as a kid with his mom and his dad but his dad died early on in a motorcycle
accident years later Miller and his mother Ellen moved to Phoenix so for most of his life and early years it was
Brian Miller and his mom while Miller was in juvie his mother made a disturbing Discovery Brian Miller's mom
was looking through his stuff and she found a note that he wrote the pages detailed a Sinister plan
kidnap the girl tie her up in the truck and cut her clothes off this note spelled out how he wanted to find abduct
rape murder and dismember a young woman and Brian's mom was so disturbed by this
piece of paper that she took it to Phoenix police it was Miller's 18th birthday and he had just been released
as an adult she fed out told police at the time that she was really scared for her safety and that she was not going to
allow him to come home so after his release Miller ended up at this Phoenix halfway house when schwarzkoff read that
note in 2014 he was struck by something there was a lot of things in there that were
close or similar to what happened specifically to Angela including a a description of
decapitating a victim and preserving the head Phoenix police wanted to locate Miller luckily he was very easy to find
[Music] in December 2014 Phoenix police continued digging into potential suspect
Brian Miller who they discovered was actually a local celebrity everybody at the time in the Phoenix area knew Brian
Patrick Miller as this character called the zombie hunter the zombie hunter like
a comic book character yeah like a comic book character like a good guy fighting
the bad guys Miller's Alter Ego was a costume figure who particip ated in parades and festivals around town
thousands of zombies taking over the streets of Downtown Phoenix he wore this long trench coat with these goggles and
helmet and had this large Gatling gun and if you're going to hunt zombies you need a way to get
around he bought an old police car and tricked it out wrote The Zombie Hunter on it and it had a full size zombie
mannequin in the back and blood on the side friend Eric Braverman says Miller's zombie hunter Persona attracted a big
fan base including law enforcement officers who lined up to pose with him collected pictures of himself with the
cops like trophies they're all smiling big with him leaning on the car Eric says Miller's superhero
character was the opposite of what Brian was like when he wasn't in costume he seemed like a harmless marshmallow that
was immersed in this goofy lifestyle he's just that unassuming guy but could Miller be the canal
killer the only way to find out was to get his DNA investigators began to surveil Miller who worked at an Amazon
warehouse every day when he got there Miller parked the zombie Mobile in the same spot he would come out for his
15-minute break blast his music really loud lunchtime came out to the car same thing blast this God awful music Schwarz
came up with an elaborate plan to get his DNA I went up and introduced myself to Miller was in his car what did you
introduce yourself I introduced myself as a security consultant Schwarz told Miller that thieves had been stealing
goods from a warehouse across the way I said would you be interested in working for me as a security officer watching
the building while you're outside did his eyes light up yeah cuz it was a good P I said look I I'll pay you 20 bucks an
hour on January 2nd 2015 Schwarz coff met Miller at this Chili's restaurant to fill out a job application the Cold Case
unit was behind the scenes ready to bag anything that had Miller's DNA on it such as utensils or a glass they set a
table for me and Mr Miller away from everybody else in a part of the restaurant where nobody else is
at Miller arrived with a surprised guest his 15-year-old daughter Sarah Miller was a divorced single dad he was very
gentle and caring about his daughter he often brought his daughter where he would be going the trio sat down and
ordered hamburgers when the food arrived he swallows his hamburger in like five bites
won't take a drink of his water and I'm sitting there going you sure you want something else to drink cuz you just got
water no no I'm good I'm good I'm good Schwarz started to worry this operation would be a
bust what does he finally do that makes this mission accomplished we finally took a drink from the water glass that's
when I knew that okay now we least got his DNA despite knowing about Miller's juvenile record as their meal ended the
veteran detective's gut told him Miller was was not their man seeing him with his daughter I just don't see this guy
as being the monster in 1992 and '93 that would do this to these women Miller gave schwarzkoff a quick
tour of his Zombie Hunter mobile and the two parted ways with the detective saying he'd be in touch the Cold Case
unit sent Miller's water glass off to the crime lab 11 days later we got a call from the lab and we're sitting
there and like what is this all about and in this meeting these Phoenix detectives say as a joke huh they must
have solved the canal murders but detective schwarzkoff says it was no joke when the head of the lab arrived
she leans down to me she goes it's him and I go what she goes Brian Miller it's him well the blood rushed from my head I
kind of sat back and I went you've got to be kidding Brian DNA from that water glass matched the DNA recovered from
Angela braso and Melanie bernes more than 20 years before Miller was arrested within hours
during a police interview shortly after Miller was told why he'd been taken into
custody in connection with the canal murders we have DNA that links you to those two
ladies see how that's possible he just kind of and went through it in his Dopey kind of I don't know what you're kind of
talking about would help you get it off your chest if you did something like that I didn't kill him he didn't kill
anybody no investigators got a search warrant for Miller's house the home he shared with his teenage daughter and
just about everything he'd ever collected in his life I can remember like it was yesterday walking up to the
front door and everybody going you can't get in that way it's full of crap Brian Miller's house was like it
came from the show hoarders there was a little path where you could get to a bathroom and the kitchen and where the
TV was and that's it everything else is just stacked to the roof with garbage did you look around and go this is
madness not only Madness I go this is a nightmare Schwarz and his investigators would have to sift through all of it
looking for other possible evidence detective Schwarz ALS o focused on a new source someone Miller himself had
ominously singled out in his interview it's the one person on face of the earth I could probably honestly say I
hate Miller's ex-wife Amy who would end up revealing gruesome details from Miller's violent past he had told her
about the murder of a young girl who'd come to his door accidentally [Music] what do you think motivated Brian Miller
to dress up as the zombie hunter see more of the case on Facebook at 48 hours in January 2015 more than 21 years
after the canal murders Brian Miller was charged with first-degree murder in both
Angela braso and Melanie Bernice's deaths Melanie's friend Rachel Shep maker says she felt a wave of relief a
very joyous moment of oh my gosh this is what we've been waiting for for decades
upon decades detective schwarzkoff wanted to talk to the one person who probably knew
Miller best his ex-wife Amy they had been married for eight years there was a divorce Amy told schwarzkoff
that she was just 19 when she met Miller in 1996 they married less than a year later
and moved to Everett Washington Amy had a shocking Revelation for the detective she told schwarzkoff
Miller had revealed a gruesome secret to her that he had killed a young girl in Phoenix years earlier before he'd ever
met Amy Schwarz says Amy never reported it to police before for a number of reasons she didn't know if it was true
she was afraid of Miller and she said she wanted to be a good wife you support your man no matter what
detective schwarzkoff says Amy told him what Miller had said that a young girl had come to his
door that he' grabbed this young female pulled her in killed her immediately Amy said Miller told her he
dismembered the girl and disposed of her remains in trash left on the curb although Amy claimed Miller never
told her the child's name investigators used the information Amy provided to piece together who Miller may have been
talking about 13-year-old Brandy Meyers was a little girl collecting money for a
school book ofon in her North Phoenix neighborhood going door too I was a tomboy and she was a girly
girl bry's sister Kristen Dennis so she would try to learn how to climb trees or
jump fences because she wanted to play with me she was my best friend it was May 26th
1992 6 months prior to the murder of Angela braso Miller was living in the halfway
house following his time in juvenile detention for the aggravated assault of Celeste Bentley
this is one block from our school his home and then three blocks is our house so every single day we walked right by
here Kristen says Brandy left home alone that evening never to return she was last seen two doors down from Brian's
walking in the direction of his house despite an extensive search bry's body was never found schwarzkoff says
even though Amy couldn't provide a name the clues in her account add up to just one conclusion I believe that person is
in fact Brandy Myers her sister believes that as well Brandy went to the landfill like something of no
importance even with Amy's account investigators did not have enough evidence to charge Miller in bry's
disappearance so the fact that she was disposed of there's just nothing physical nothing
forensically to grab on to 48 Hours contacted Miller who said he had no involvement in bry's disappearance and
never confessed to Amy that he had killed a young girl but there is another case in Miller's
past in 2002 a woman named Melissa Ruiz Ramirez is walking down the street and Everett at night somebody pulls over it
was Brian Miller Melissa would later tell police she'd seen him before talking to a friend of hers Melissa said
she got in Miller's car and told him she needed to make a call and he drove her to his workplace so she could use the
phone she tells police she's on the phone and from out of the clear blue Brian Miller comes running out with a
12in serrated kitchen knife and stabs her in the back they fight over the weapon Melissa said she escaped and
contacted police they picked up Miller shortly after he didn't deny stabbing Melissa but claimed it was
self-defense he said he was at work when Melissa walked in off the street and asked to make a
call he said she goes to use a phone and then all of a sudden now the clear blue
she tries to rob him with a knife Miller was arrested and charged with first-degree assault with a deadly
weapon he was jailed from May 2002 until his December trial the jury just didn't buy Melissa's
story it was a he said she said and they acquitted him of the charge Amy Says a chilling change
followed Miller's return home she said it began with the letters she'd received from her jailed husband
while he awaited trial they first started out as professing his innocence and then it
would turn into sexual deviant like here's what I'm going to do when I get out to you Amy told schwarzkoff that
Miller followed up his words with action she said he came back with an unbelievable ugly dark sexual deviant
side that she'd never seen before there were times where there was sex between him where he held a knife to
her throat Amy told schwarzkoff that Miller claimed something happened to him as a child
something that would become the Cornerstone of his defense for murdering Angela braso and Melanie
bernes his unique defense first witness his mother had created a monster [Music]
at the start of Brian Miller's trial for the murders of Angela braso and Melanie
bernes in October 2022 his attorneys opened with a startling defense they admitted their
client was the canal killer they had to concede right off the bat that he is the
actual killer but that he was not guilty by reason of insanity his defense attorneys say Miller was tortured by his
mother Ellen as a child and that led to his violent sexual behavior she died in 2010 if you imagine the making of a
monster this is kind of the household that Story begins in Miller told investigators after his arrest that the
beatings began when he was just 5 years years old she was a detention officer discipline in their house
was mental as well as physical she used her security belt so it was like a law enforcement belt and usually I hit got
hit by the Buckle the defense opted for a bench trial which meant there would be
no jury his lawyers told judge Suzanne Cohen that Miller's mother also exposed her young son to violent sexual contact
he was exposed to her interests in pornography and extremely violent films Miller's lawyer said his mother's
abuse caused Miller to develop severe mental health problems he feels like there are different TVs playing in his
head psychologist Bethany bran testified that Miller developed a condition known
as dissociative Amnesia an inability to remember some traumatic events Morgan low summed up the defense argument there
were two Brians there's the one you see over there at the defense table who's a fairly normal person who has friends who
had a job who was a dad who was a a husband and then there's the killer there's bad Brian and Miller claimed his
attorneys had no memory none of the two murders he was charged with prosecutors undermine the defense claim that Miller
has no memory of the killings they point out that he does remember details related to other
stabbings remember Miller admitted stabbing Celeste Bentley when he was 16 years old and in 2002 he had also
testified about the stabbing of Melissa Ruiz Ramirez in Washington to show Miller's deviant side
prosecutors called the only person in the world World Miller said he despised his ex-wife Amy the judge did not allow
cameras to record her face under questioning by prosecutor Elizabeth reamer Amy testified that
later in their marriage Miller grew increasingly violent during sex did you ever say anything to him
about wanting it to stop because it was scary no why not I was avoiding any confrontation
with him at all at that point and wanted to be as compliant as possible so that I
would say will he love me enough not to kill me did he ask permission prior to using
needles on you no did he ask permission prior to tying you up no what percentage
of your sex life after he got out of jail in Washington included bondage the pins or other uh things that
were not the normal sex you'd been having early in your marriage probably at least 95%
the trial continued and after 6 months and 36 Witnesses the judge delivered her verdict as to count one first deegree
murder Angela braso as follows guilty as to count to first degree murder victim Melanie bernes as follows
guilty how did Brian Miller react to the guilty verdict he didn't react he didn't
give any real emotion but Angela's mother who addressed the court remotely was emotional the defendant broke my heart
took all hope and light from me and my family the hole in my heart is so big and
empty Melanie's older sister Jill also spoke remotely about how painfully was that Melanie's life ended violently at
the age of 17 for 30 years now we've had to live without Melanie because the defendant
murdered her words cannot even begin to describe the level of excruciating pain we experienced with the news of her
horrific death Miller who didn't take the stand during his trial was allowed to give a
statement before he was sentenced I not looking for sympathy today this time is for the family and the friends of the
victims I cannot imagine what pain they have endured for all these years I know I am different I thought it
had to do with what my mother did to me defense Council RJ Parker urged judge Cohen to show Mercy before she delivered
her judgment on Miller's sentence life in prison or death you do not have to kill Brian in order to see see Justice
Done judge Cohen agreed with the centerpiece of the defense case the defendant's abuse as a child was
proven but 8 months after the trial began Miller's abuse at the hands of his mother did not dissuade judge Cohen from
handing down the ultimate sentence there is no question that what the defendant did deserves the death
penalty Mr Miller anything wish to say to the court I gu thanks for listening to
everything that was said and giving us at least the opportunity to try and convince you
otherwise Justice was carried out in this case detective schwarzkoff hopes family
and friends of Angela and Melanie might finally find some peace people like Rachel Shep maker just
knowing that Justice was served it doesn't make anything easier how do you want your good friend
be remember so she's the All-American good kid I want her family to know that we haven't forgotten her
she changed us all for the better she was a [Music] [Music] gift a knock at the door by a clown an
evil clown the evil clowns you seen in the movies well it came to life who comes calling with ball flowers and a
gun I heard bang I saw her fall this was an assassination who isn't afraid of a killer clown 48 hours Saturday on CDs
and screening on Paramount [Music] plus you come here for the lifestyle and the beauty and the
mountains getting to go skiing and hiking and biking Anette shne was very beautiful
she had gone to a modeling school and she came here to Breen Ridge everybody was going to Colorado
you know go find yourself go to the Big Town you know in 1982 on January 6th Annette had gone from her work work in
Frisco at the Holiday Inn she needed to get home to get her outfit to work at the flip side bar that night she would
hitchhike from her house do her day job hitchhike back put on her nighttime cocktail waitress outfit hitchhiked
there and then hitchhiked back a lot of people hitchhiked at that time cuz they can't afford to drive or get a car to
drive back and forth there was a storm a bad storm it was very cold too I think it was 20
below about 4:45 in the afternoon was the last time anybody saw a net schne that same night another young
woman disappeared in Breen Ridge Bobby Joe oberholzer Bobby Joe had received a promotion at work and she was going to
go celebrate with some friends Bobby Joel was free-spirited she loved life she was happy wherever she was she left
and went to go hitchhike home and that was the last time she was seen the day after Bobby Joe disappeared
her body was found here on the side of a snow bank on hoer pass 10 miles outside
Breen Ridge she had tragically been shot 6 months later the body of an ET was also found about 10 miles in that
direction in a desolate area lying face down in a stream she had also been shot the mystery of what happened to these
two beautiful young women would haunt their families and investigators for years these two women they were both
killed the same night the thing that tied them both together was an orange booty sock you get a sock near Bobby Joe
over Holzer and the mate to it is found on the body of a nne I'm saying this is amazing as years went by you know we
Muse about whether or not we were going to die before we solved this case what no one else knew at the time
was that the Killer's truck got stuck on a snowy mountain pass that same night right after the murders that would be
right where that curb is over there and there was snow Banks like at least that deep and a local fire chief saved him
everything catches up even don't get away with anything forever [Music] [Music] every day that I made this drive and got
to see all the scenery and the sunrises and sunsets and especially from the top of hooer it's like I am so lucky to live
here but for 40 years these towering craggy Rockies outside Breen Ridge Colorado held a dark and silent secret
the unsolved murders of nette schne and Bobby Joe oberholzer they would Define the career
of now Park County detective Sergeant Wendy kipple but back in 1982 when both women were killed I was a senior in high
school doing High School teenage stuff we were just basically foot loose and fancy free and never giving the first
thought that something could happen to us it was an attitude from another time a feeling Wendy shared with Bobby Joe
Bobby Joe oberholzer was somebody that I think I would have been friends with how
much is she missed by her family a lot still Lori Merlo's memory of big sister Bobby Joe is Frozen in
those gentler times one of the best things that ever happened in my life was being her younger sister how do you
describe her a free spirit loving person very pretty you know fell head over heels for
her you fell hard yeah yeah I did Jeff Alber Holzer and Bobby Joe dated for a few years years before making it
official in 1977 and soon the newlyweds from the Midwest headed for the mountains Colorado was calling you know
they'd call the town of Alma half an hour south of Breen Ridge home just seemed to be the place to be
you know as hippies you were a hippie back then oh sure yeah and was Bobby Joe hippie too oh yeah yeah
yep Jeff opened an appliance repair business Bobby Joe worked for a real estate company in Breen Ridge she'd
often hitch a ride to work back then many people did people would look for you they saw you standing by the side of
the road they'd pick you up still Jeff knew trouble could be just one right away so he had handmade Bobby Joe a
secret weapon it was a large brass clip very heavy with a large brass ring attached to it and it was made for self
defense January 6th 1982 bitter cold with snow in the forecast Bobby Joe hitched to work where
that same afternoon she'd be pleasantly surprised a job promotion she called Jeff with the good news and told him she
planned to celebrate with friends after work and would be home soon okay everything's good but when Bobby Joe
wasn't home by midnight he got worried and drove to the home of the friends Bobby Joe had been celebrating with woke
him up asked you know where Bobby was if they knew and she no and it wasn't like
her to not come home oh not at all Jeff went to the Breen Ridge Police Department but was told it was too soon
to file a missing person's report so he headed back to Alma alone the phone rang I think about
quarter to8 it was a Rancher he had found her driver's license and some of the contents of her wallet blowing in his
driveway oh oh then I knew something was horribly wrong Jeff and some friends all headed
towards the ranch where Bobby Joe's license had been found that's when I spotted her backpack out in the snow and
I got out of the vehicle and went through the snow that's when I found her glove in the
snow and uh it was covered in blood [Music] and a bloody tissue also lay in the snow
but still no Bobby Joe Jeff went back to their house and Friends headed up hoer past the root Bobby Joe usually took
home they went up with Cross Country Skis to the pass and uh they found her body now investigators join Bobby Joe's
friends spreading out across the Stark landscape Bobby Joe's brass key ring with the hook was found in the parking
lot that her husband Jeff oberholzer had put together for her to use as a weapon
if she needed to former Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent Jim Harkey was at
the crime scene the other item that was found up there was an orange booty like a ankle sock it didn't belong it didn't
fit anything connected with Bobby Joe oberholzer and off the side of the road in the Grim Shadows of the mountains lay
Bobby Joe the body was frozen she was fully clothed her hands were close together one hand had been
zip tied and Harkey believes Bobby Joe had been shot at close range in the chest once a free spirit the lifeless
29-year-old was placed in a bag Jeff pleaded to look they unzipped the bag and it was it was my Bobby
chill did you have any idea who could have done that to your wife none but Jeff's tears weren't what cops
were looking for when did police call you in and say we have some questions for you maybe the next day or so I told
him he's a number one suspect evidence so far indicates the woman may have been trying to escape into the trees when she
was gunned down but the investigation was about to become a lot more complicated when police learned of The
Disappearance of Anette schne who vanished the very same day as Bobby Joe they probably just passed each other and
didn't even know they would be connected the first inkling Cindy French had that
her big sister Annette was missing came when her mother answered the family's old rotary telephone I heard her on the
phone I heard her start to cry I said what's wrong and she said Anette is missing all the police could tell the
family was that Annette shne had vanished the news seemed inconceivable only 21 years old Annette
had left the family's home in Sous City Iowa a year earlier and seemed to be thriving in Colorado she had two jobs
housekeeper by day and cocktail waitress by night and she was friends with her roommates and the people that she worked
at the holiday in at were her friends that she would talk about quite frequently to Mom and it was a friend
from work who reported a net missing it was January 8th 1982 the day after Bobby Joe over
holzer's body was found as soon as older sister Karen re heard the news she rounded up relatives and headed to
Colorado what were you thinking could have happened to her in that moment not knowing knowing she H shik we figured
somebody picked her up yeah we were all hoping she was still alive you know you do keep that hope but in the back of
your mind you're probably thinking not but you don't want to think that as investigators tracked anette's
last movements they discovered she had actually disappeared the same day as Bobby
Joe but the twist was that Annette vanished hours before Bobby Joe net was last seen at about 4:30 in the afternoon
in in Breen Ridge Bobby Joe over Holzer was last seen in Breen Ridge at about 7:30 in the evening
from the outset former CBI agent Jim Hardy suspected the two cases might be connected it was a a pretty allout
effort to find any information from anyone investigators learned that after Anette left her job at the Holiday Inn
on January 6th she had visited a doctor's office and then hitchhiked to a drugstore in Breen Ridge detective
Sergeant Wendy kipple showed us where that drugstore once was located so she went in to get some medication she went
in to get some medication here she was talking to a woman that we've never been able to
identify and that was the last time she was seen Cindy says not knowing the details
of Annette's disappearance haunted their mother I know Mom would just say I just
want to know why how you know I just that's all I want to know nobody can give it to me nobody knows why or how
and in a strange turn of events Jeff oberholzer already a suspect in his own wife's murder told police when and where
he thought Annette's body might be located well how would you know that I've always had different premonitions
all my life uh I had told them that I felt that she'd be found 4 miles from my house on the 4th of July it's pretty
specific yeah and it wasn't far off that sure made me look pretty bad in fact when Annette's body was
discovered nearly 6 months after she vanished Jeff's premonition turned out to be scarily accurate she was found on
July 3rd 1982 a day before Jeff prediction and her body was roughly seven not four
miles from Jeff's house it was a young boy who came across the crime scene was a fishing and founder reported to his
dad the dad called the sheriff's department Charlie McCormack a private investigator hired by the shne family
says Anette was lying face down and fully clothed in Sacramento Creek about 23 miles from the drugstore where she
was last seen but she'd been shot once in the back exit wound front on a downward angle of about 30° so what does
that tell you could be uh she was on her knees could be she was running down a hill away from her the
person shot her authorities suspected Annette might have been sexually assaulted evidence kind of indicates
that her clothing was found in disarray her blue jeans Zipper was broken we believe that the shoes were on the wrong
feet when she was found former CBI agent Harkey ATT attended Anette autopsy and his eye was drawn to something that
would forever change the course of the investigation on her left foot I noticed an orange booty and in my mind I'm
remembering the orange booty that was found at the top of hoer pass very close to where Bobby Joe over holzer's body
was found and I'm saying holy sh this is amazing this ties the cases together up until that point Hardy says
investigators never knew what to make of that orange sock or booty from the Bobby
Joe Crime Scene It was just one of those mysterious things that you pick up at a
crime scene kle believes Annette lost her orange sock in the Killer's vehicle and there it remained until hours later
when he picked up Bobby Joe and attacked her she jumps out and when she jumped out of the truck the orange sock gets
kicked out of the truck and that sock was not the only piece of evidence found on Annette's body in the pocket of her
jacket they discovered a business card like this one with a familiar name Jeff oberholzer Jeff told police he recalled
giving Annette a ride in November 1981 when she was out hitchhiking Jeff says that at the time he was promoting
his appliance repair business with those cards I gave them to everyone so now police know that you had met
Annette yes did that add to their suspicion oh yes Jeff did you have anything to do with the murder of your
wife Bobby Joe not a thing nothing did you have anything to do with the murder of Anne not nothing
no despite now being connected to the two murdered women and having that very accurate premonition Jeff eventually was
cleared his blood type did not match the blood found on Bobby Joe's glove and the
nearby tissue and as advances were made with DNA technology Jeff's DNA was not a
match I told him I said Jeff in my book you're not a suspect but after nearly 40
years could DNA help identify the real killer in the murders of Bobby Joe and Annette early in 2020 kipple and her
team decided to try and find out and I said let's try this genealogy thing maybe it can work for us she sent the
DNA sample generated from the Bobby Joe investigation to United data connect the
Denver company runs crime scene DNA profiles through publicly available genealogical
databases on January 9th 2021 I get a phone call from the genealogist says I have two more names for you and one of
those turned out to be the [Music] [Music] one I knew from the start this was going
to come down to DNA in January 2021 Park County detective Sergeant Wendy kipple got a call about those new
DNA test results and it turned out there was not one but two possible matches for
blood found on Bobby Joe's glove and that tissue that were recovered back in 1982 I'll never forget the day I got
that phone call and I got those names and what were the two names you were given Alan Phillips and Bruce
Phillips 69-year-old Allen Lee Phillips and his older brother Bruce Phillips kipple reached out to Bruce
Bruce first according to kipple Bruce said he never lived in Colorado but that his brother whom he was estranged from
had and when kipple dug deeper she discovered that not only had Alan Phillips previously lived just outside
Breen Ridge and worked in a local mine Alan Phillips still lived nearby he had his own mechanic shop and he was still
here Phillips had been married three times and had a daughter and two St stons kipple wanted to learn more about
Philip's past when I looked at his criminal history it showed that he had been arrested in 1973 for assault and
burglary and that just kind of set off all kinds of red flags so she set out to find the arrest
file but she was met with dead end after dead end the courts had no record of the
case neither did the DA's office I knew I had to find that case File so I went over to the archives for the Sheriff's
office there was a fire and a lot of them were destroyed but kipple was undeterred she says she combed through
hundreds of boxes and filing cabinets finding nothing until I get down to the last filing cabinet are you kidding me
the last one the last filing cabinet and even down to the second to the last drawer halfway back I see the this tab
says Alan Phillips wow I was like this is it this is our golden egg right here in that police report from July
1973 nearly a decade before the murders of Annette and Bobby Joe kipple found a signed confession from Phillips then
just 22 years old explaining how he attacked a young woman the first sentence reads I saw a woman hit hiking
on the south edge of Breen Ridge and I stopped and gave her a ride over to fair play and then he goes on and describes
what he did to her what kipple read was chilling Phillip said that he stopped at
an empty cabin along the road pulled the girl from the Jeep and then picked up a rock and used
it to hit her several times when I saw that first sentence I was like this is him this is our
guy incredibly the young woman who didn't want her identity revealed was able to convince Phillips to let her
go and later reported the incident to police did he say in that confession why he did it he didn't know he told her I
don't I don't know why I do this I mean that gives makes your skin crawl yeah Phillips was charged with assault and
burglary and served 6 months behind bars s kipple also learned that Phillips's name had come up in connection with the
double murder back in 2005 when an anonymous caller gave a tip to Crim Stoppers investigators checked it out
but according to kipple the lead went cold when the information couldn't be verified but now kipple was confident
she was on the verge of napping a killer who had eluded them for decades there was only one thing left to
do we had to get ctitious DNA that's what we needed so you're looking for anything
he's throwing out anything in late January 2021 Kiper team began secretly surveilling Phillips it turned out
obtaining a sample of his DNA wasn't easy he wouldn't throw anything away he didn't even throw out his garbage where
did he put his garbage I don't know that wasn't the only challenge this guy's kind of a hermit he stays at home
he doesn't interact with people too much finally after five weeks there was a break Phillips left his home and went to
a Sonic Drive-In we're all like sitting there watching and watching and he gets his food eats and then he leaves I'm
like dang it he didn't throw his trash away so kipple and her team followed Phillips as he drove to a post office he
walked in carrying the Sonic bag but on the way out he was only holding mail the second Phillips pulled away
investigators recovered that all important bag from this trash can it's like okay this that bag was like gold it
was like gold yeah the bag was taken to a lab where Philip's DNA was pulled from
saliva on a napkin and what were the results it was alen Phillips blood that was on Bobby
Joe's glove and that Kleenex nearly 40 years after the murders of two women near Breen Ridge
investigators make an arrest in this cold case on February 24th we arrested Allen Lee
Phillips I got to put the handcuffs on him and he was shocked really the look of shock on his
face is just Priceless Allan Lee Phillips was initially charged with 2 counts each
a first-degree homicide kidnapping and assault he denied any involvement in the crimes for the families of Bobby Joe and
Annette it was a moment nearly four decades in the making one they thought might never come that was a
shock the way that they were able to get the DNA to find him and catch him was amazing truthfully I didn't think it
would happen in my lifetime time it was just mind blowing jawdropping I didn't know what to
think is it like relief all at once too yes a relief and you're happy but yet it
doesn't take the hurt away but the surprises didn't end there in another strange twist after
Philip's arrest a local man recalled a harrowing story of how he helped rescue Phillips from a snow
store the very night of the murders when I heard this story my mind was blown look through more of the evidence
in the case at 48 [Music] [Music] hours.com where are we describe where this is pass like you see now with the
wind and everything and the clouds well that's the way it is up here all the time on January 6th
1982 just hours after Bobby Joe and Annette were murdered an airline passenger looked down at guela pass from
a plane flying overhead and saw lights flashing he recalled it was SOS a call for help it came from the driver of a
truck stranded in a raging snowstorm here his rear end sunk in the snow so his headlights were pointing up Dave
Montoya was a fire chief at the time who also worked in the local mines and lo and behold here comes the plane he sees
it flashes SOS SOS well he didn't know if somebody saw him or not but he took the chance well somebody did see him
when the were shot yeah the passenger notified the pilot who radioed down the approximate coordinates to dispatchers
on the ground so I was down there I had my radio with me so I said let me go check it out what were you thinking as
you're driving I thinking who does I thought it was a tourist I thought that crazy tourist he got up here now he's
going to ask us all to save you but when Montoya arrived at the scene he saw it wasn't a tourist it was someone he knew
a man named Alan Phillips and he comes running out he says man am I glad to see you I say Alan what the hell do you
doing you knew who he was I knew who he was because I worked with him in the mines he say well I got drunk and I
decided to come home and I didn't want to go on the highway to get caught so I went over the path because the cops
ain't there did you happen to notice anything about him at the time yeah he had a big old cut right here on the eye
Montoya says when he asks him how he got the injury Phillip said he hit his face
on his truck I got lie I said boy you are really stupid Montoya says Philips refused medical treatment and he dropped
him off near his home he gave an oral statement to police about the incident that week local newspapers reported the
unusual rescue and included a photo of the then 30-year-old Alan Phillips if I would have known what I
known then I probably would have left him Montoya would only learn in 2021 after Philip's arrest that he was
potentially involved in the murders of Bobby Joe and Annette who who has luck like that
really you commit two murders you get stuck at the top of a past trying to flee the scene and everything else and
you get stuck where you know you're probably going to die and you ask for mercy and you get it God gave him the
mercy but he says you're not going to get away forever you got your mercy but you get a pay Phillips may have escaped
back then but now 40 years later Alan Phillips's fate would be in the hands of a
jury on August 31st 2022 Allan Lee Phillips double murder trial began in Fair Play Colorado Annette's sisters and
brother flew in from across the country to be there but we wanted to make sure that the family was represented you know
that when the jury looks over you want them to see the concerned not leftovers but the left
behinds at times seeing Phillips in court was painful for anette's sister Cindy I was disgusted you got to live 40
Years of your life you took my sister to see him sit there so emotional less no emotion whatsoever
just very stoic was very frustrating because of the DNA match did you think this is a slam dunk in a trial
to me it's a slam dunk but to attorneys they have ways to make it not seem like such a slam dunk and that's what
Philip's defense team set out to do they would question the validity of the DNA and other evidence and instead blame
Jeff oberholzer for murdering his wife and Anette schne even though he had been cleared by investigators years before
they pointed the finger at Jeff every step of the way it's so maddening because that's not where the evidence
led to when Jeff took the stand the defense was relentless they red him over the coals and like he hadn't been
through all this for the last 40 years they definitely wanted to put the crimes back on me the murders back on me it was
quite quite painful the defense claimed Jeff had motive to kill his wife they said he was angry at Bobby Joe because
the day before her murder she brought home cold pizza Jeff had told investigators about the pizza years
earlier I kind of found that a little bit ludicrous I couldn't fathom Jeff killing Bobby Joe over a cold piece of
pizza and the defense questioned Jeff about his bizarre behavior like when he told investigators about that
premonition he had about where and when he thought Annette's body would be found
details the defense argued only the killer would most likely know this could be seen as pretty damning to some right
and so it was I just tried to tell the truth and and answer the questions and what about the DNA evidence against
Phillips hoping to create Reasonable Doubt the defense claimed evidence had been tampered with and mishandled
throughout the years there was some contamination it wasn't known oh I have to be careful and wear gloves so I don't
get my DNA on that item but the bottom line is the blood that is on Bobby Joe's glove and
the tissue was Alan Phillips blood how do you explain that the prosecution said there was a simple explanation Allan Lee
Phillips was the one and the only one who murdered Bobby Joe and Annette I mean what are the odds that it could be
anybody else on the glove it was 1 in 17 quadrillion which is 2,275 th000 times the population of the
Earth wow Phillips's DNA was found on Bobby Joe's belonging says Wendy kipple only because Bobby Joe fought for her
life and caused him to bleed she was a fighter and and without her being a fighter we wouldn't have the DNA that we
needed to solve this case and what about those orange booty socks DNA testing conducted months
before trial revealed that anette's DNA was on the inside and Bobby Joe's DNA was on the outside of that orange booty
sock found on hoer pass not far from Bobby Joe's body so that ties both women to that one sock
but despite the strong DNA evidence against Phillips investigator Charlie McCormick was concerned with the way DNA
was challenged by the defense confuse a jury are they going to buy it are they going to understand
after 2 weeks of testimony the case finally went to the jury Jeff and Wendy were nervous were you worried the jury
is going to have Reasonable Doubt I felt that that was possible there is always doubt there's always doubt cuz you know
that there's probably one juror that might hang up everybody and and you never know what do you make of the case
against Alan Phillips join the conversation now on social media tell me what it was like for you
waiting for the verdict pins and needles on Thursday September 15th 2022 the families of Bobby Joe
oberholzer and Anette schne anxiously awaited the jury's decision was Alan Lee Phillips guilty or not guilty it just
takes one the one juror that didn't believe it the waiting was the hardest parts as detective Sergeant kipple
thankfully the jury kept it short 4 hours and 45 minutes the jury's verdict on eight
charges including two counts each of first-degree murder felony murder and kidnapping guilty as charged he's going
to get what he deserves now oh and I just couldn't believe it was a happen I was so happy tell me
about the emotions you were feeling as the verdict was read Alan Phillips guilty I think I let out a
sigh for Jeff overholtzer Justice had finally been served and Decades of Suspicion decisively lifted and there
was a great weight lifted from my shoulders we hugged and said you know we were happy for him and for us
and that it was over over for everyone over for [Music] everyone Allan Lee Phillips showed no
emotion but his daughter did poor daughter cried I felt bad for the family CU what they were going through had to
be bad CU they probably wanted to believe you know that he didn't do it 48 Hours reached
out to the Phillips family and legal team for interviews but they all declined our
requests a little over 7 weeks later Phillips was back in court for sentencing his attorney insisted that
his client had been wrongfully convicted he maintains his innocence and he maintains that the wrong man is being
sentenced but judge Steven groom wasn't persuaded and handed down two consecutive life sentences without the
possibility of parole to give him the maximum allowed by law he then addressed the families of Anette schne and Bobby
Joe over holder I wish you the best and hope the healing starts today but it seems that Justice for
nette and Bobby Joe may not be the end of this story some investigators believe that the case against Allan Le Phillips
is not yet closed there are a lot of lingering questions but the one main one is are there more victims what do you
think short answer yes and I think uh there are several that he certainly could qualify for
there's just no evidence to prove it not yet same while investigators carry on two families still
struggle you know once you give someone your love you never take it back and I don't want
to there's a special place in my heart and Bobby will always be [Music] there I was cheated out of 40 years
without my sister we'd still be the best of friends today if she was still here he took a really
good person away from this world and it saddens me that we won't ever get to know how she was when she was 30 or when
she was 40 or 50 and because Alan Lee Phillips maintains his innocence they still have
one more agonizing question why you know why did you take these two beautiful girls in honor of Annette and Bobby Joe
Annette's sisters and brother decided to visit where the young women were murdered oh there's a cross there it
is they were there to thank Bobby Joe for fighting back and causing Alan Lee Phillips to leave behind his
DNA without her we went here nope thank you Bobby Joel yes thank you Bobby Joel at the place where anette's body
was found they delivered a long overdue message to their sister well Anette they caught him he'll
be in prison for the rest of his life alen Phillips just wanted you to know love and miss you
[Music] need more time with 48 Hours go deep behind every True Crime episode with
firsthand accounts from 48 Hours investigations were you at all prepared for what happened in this case shock is
the word that comes to mind get inside the twists and turns and get in on the case listen to postmortem from 48 hours
now available wherever you get your podcasts [Music]

Dek: “48 Hours" reports on cases with scary and unbelievable elements. Watch the YouTube mini-marathon, featuring "Murder by Clown," "Unmasking the Zombie Hunter" and "Last Seen in Breckenridge"

00:00 Murder by Clown 41:46 Unmasking the Zombie Hunter 1:23:12 Last Seen in Breckenridge

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Marlene Warren was murdered by a clown; Sheila Keen was arrested decades later, accepting a plea deal while maintaining innocence.

Key points

The Affair Uncovered. Rumors of an affair between Michael Warren and Sheila Keen emerge after Marlene's murder.
DNA Breakthrough in Cold Case. In 2017, new DNA evidence connects Sheila Keen to Marlene Warren's murder.
Sheila's Arrest. After 27 years, authorities arrest Sheila Keen Warren for the murder of Marlene Warren.
The Emotional Toll of Delays. The decades-long delays in Sheila's trial took a toll on the prosecution and the victims' families.
The Discovery of a Body. A woman's body is found in the canal, leading to a shocking revelation.
Brian Miller's Disturbing Past. Miller's juvenile record reveals a history of violence and a chilling note found by his mother.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I kept telling her I love her and I don't want her to go.

Joe's emotional plea to his mother after she was shot.

7:20WatchOct 26, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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