On January 7, 1982, the body of twenty-nine-year-old Bobbie Oberholtzer was found near a scenic overlook, five miles south of Breckenridge, Colorado. She had been shot twice. Her house keys were found at the scene, along with an orange sock. However, the sock did not belong to her. Six months later, police found the body of twenty-one-year-old Annette Schnee on a side road of the highway, thirteen miles away. She had also been shot to death. Incredibly, police discovered that she was wearing the match to the orange sock. The women had vanished on the same day – January 6 – and had both been shot with a medium-caliber revolver. Police are certain that the women were murdered on the same night by the same individual. They believe that the killer most likely lost Annette’s sock after he killed Bobbie.
The prime suspect in the case is Bobbie’s husband, Jeff Oberholtzer. However, he maintains his innocence. The couple married on July 1, 1977. Jeff ran an appliance-repair business while Bobbie worked as a receptionist in Breckenridge. They lived in Alma, fourteen miles away. According to Jeff, the day that she vanished started out as a normal day. She left at around 7:15AM and hitchhiked to work. At 6:20PM, she called and told him that she was out with friends. He asked 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 his wife to come home. At some point, he fell asleep. He woke up around midnight and discovered that she had not returned. He waited for her until after 2AM, when the bars closed. When she still had not returned, he began searching. He learned from her friends that she left the bar at 7:30PM; they assumed that she had gotten a ride home. Jeff tried to report her missing, but was told that it was too early to file a report. He decided to go home and wait for her.
The next morning, a farmer, who lived thirty miles outside of Breckenridge, found her driver’s license. Jeff and two friends went to pick up the license. On the way, he spotted something blue-colored in a snow-covered field. It was Bobbie’s backpack, which she always had with her. A blood-spattered glove and some bloody tissues were found with the backpack. Jeff’s friends started a search for Bobbie. Two hours later, her body was found, fifteen miles from where her backpack was recovered.
Strangely, police only found Bobbie’s footprints at the crime scene. A plastic cord was tied around one of her wrists. The same day Bobbie’s body was found, Annette was reported missing. She was a cocktail waitress from Frisco, Colorado; she also hitchhiked to and from work. Because of the similarities, the two cases were immediately connected by police. They questioned Jeff about her. At first, he denied knowing her. However, after seeing her picture on a news broadcast, he recalled meeting her once. He claimed that he had picked her up one day and gave her his business card. He denied any involvement in her disappearance or Bobbie’s death. Six months later, on July 3, 1982, her body was found. Jeff’s business card and the orange sock that matched the one found with Bobbie were also located.
Authorities tried to determine what might have happened the night of January 6. Annette was last seen in Breckenridge at around 4PM, in deep conversation with an unidentified dark-haired woman. The woman was described as a white female, 5’4″ tall, and slender build. Police believe that she left to hitchhike back home at around 5PM. The killer picked her up and drove her twenty miles south of Breckenridge. He took her down a small, dead-end road, where he sexually assaulted her in his vehicle. While she was putting her clothes back on, she forgot to put on the other orange sock and attempted to escape. He then shot her in the back, leaving her body in the snow.
He apparently returned to Breckenridge where he picked up Bobbie. He drove her ten miles south to a scenic overlook, where he also tried to rape her. However, she apparently fought back and tried to escape his vehicle. As she attempted to escape, the orange sock fell out of his vehicle. She was shot twice as she escaped over a snow embankment at the side of the highway. She also died in the deep snow.
Jeff later took a polygraph test and passed. He claimed to have had an alibi for the night of the murders. Police still consider him a suspect, and he continues to maintain his innocence. The cases remain unsolved, however DNA has been recovered from evidence.