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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at
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anytime you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
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please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website [Music]
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in 2003 seventeen-year-old Britney Phillips was thrilled when she received a full
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scholarship to study chemistry at Eckerd College in st. Petersburg a coastal city
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in florida's tampa bay region her mother dr. Maggie Sigmund had attended the same
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College in the 1970s and excitedly helped her daughter prepare for the interstate move from their hometown of
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Tulsa Oklahoma [Music] Britany was inspired to study chemistry after losing her grandmother to cancer
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during her senior year of high school and had decided to dedicate her life to finding a cure for the disease she left
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for college in August of 2003 and threw herself wholeheartedly into her studies Brittany was a friendly and trusting
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young woman who had no problem settling into her new surroundings she succeeded academically made new friends and too
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took a part-time job waitressing at a popular seafood restaurant however as she neared the end of her first year at
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Eckerd College Brittany became increasingly homesick she was a year younger than her classmates having
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started kindergarten a year ahead of schedule and she found it difficult to be away from her loved ones she decided
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to withdraw from Eckerd College and returned to Tulsa to continue her studies closer to home Brittany's mother
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Maggie and older brother Joshua supported this decision wholeheartedly they were a close-knit trio with the
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mother and daughter speaking on the phone nearly every day Maggie was always Brittany's first point of contact
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whenever she was struggling or needed advice and she was relieved that Brittany was returning to the comfort of
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Tulsa as a concerned mother she had been worried about Brittany's safety while she was studying interstate not only was
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Brittany younger than her classmates but she had a particularly youthful appearance and a trusting nature that
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Maggie feared could make her especially vulnerable in May 2004 18 year old Brittany returned to Oklahoma and
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enrolled in Tulsa Community College her plan was to obtain the relevant transfer
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grades that would allow her to study chemistry at Oklahoma State University after perusing local apartment listings
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she found a suitable one-bedroom apartment in a large housing complex called Gleneagles
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which was located at 9407 East 65th Street in Tulsa Gleneagles housed the multiple blocks of one and two-story
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apartment buildings interspersed with car parking facilities and was home to many other students at Tulsa Community
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College as well as working couples and young families it was within walking distance of Union High School where
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Brittany had graduated from just over a year prior which pleased her as she was already familiar with the area Brittany
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and Maggie inspected apartment number three two one six in the thirty second building all up the building had sixteen
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apartments across two levels with aid on the bottom storey and eight on the top depending on the location of each
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apartment access could be gained via either a front or rear entry apartment three two one six was situated
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on the top floor at the end of the building meaning there were only adjoining neighbors to one side the
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interior was small and a little dated but it had everything Brittany would have need for life as a busy student
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including a kitchen small dining area living room and bathroom the bedroom even featured a walk-in wardrobe and
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floor-to-ceiling bay windows that opened onto a small balcony the front door which was accessible from the rear of
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the building had a small dent in it but the landlord assured Brittany that would
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have it repaired and the rest of the apartment appeared to be in good condition being a safety conscious
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mother Maggie researched the area online and found that the crime rate there was
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lower than the state average she also ran a check for sexual predators in the neighborhood concluding that it would be
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a safe and convenient place to live Brittany hinted over her deposit and signed the lease
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[Music] [Music] Britany quickly settled back into life in tulsa she attended classes at college
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16 hours a week and secured a part-time job as a waitress at a nearby Applebee's
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restaurant it didn't take long for her to make friends and she soon became close with a group of female students
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who took turns hosting study groups at their respective homes Brittany warmly welcomed her friends and
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their partners to her apartment and enjoyed playing the role of host every weekend she made the two-hour round trip
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to visit her mother Maggie at her home in the small Oklahoma town of Chandler where Maggie worked as a psychologist
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and counselor at a maximum-security women's prison in Tulsa Brittany soon began dating ever since
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she was little Maggie had a nickname her pretty-pretty on account of her long curly blonde hair wide eyes and
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Infectious dimpled smile she was 5 foot 2 inches tall with a petite frame and fresh-faced and her natural beauty had
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landed her some occasional modelling work the combination of her good looks and kind nature ensured Brittany was
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never short of admirers as she was the type of person who didn't like turning anyone down
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Brittany attracted a fair share of undesirable boyfriends some of whom were physically and verbally abusive towards
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her at one stage she went on a date with the security guard who she described to
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her mother as creepy and strange despite saying she didn't want to see him again the security guard continued
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pursuing Brittany until she eventually had to block his number Maggie was relieved when Brittany
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started dating a nice young man whom she brought to Chandler for a visit on the afternoon of Monday September 27 2004
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Brittany was suffering from seasonal allergies that caused her to feel unwell and irritable this was an ongoing health
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issue and she went to the urgent care Medical Center where she sat in the waiting room for several hours before
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leaving without seeing a doctor frustrated she called her mother for advice Maggie told her not to worry and
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that she would book an appointment for Brittany to see a doctor in Chandler when she came to visit on the weekend
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Brittany agreed telling her mother she had an evening class to attend and would then go straight home to bed the pair
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ended the call as they always did telling each other I love you Brittany then drove to pick up a friend for their
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class at Tulsa Community College's south campus on the way into the class she ran
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into her brother Joshua who was also studying at the campus and the two had a brief conversation after class at
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approximately 9:45 p.m. Brittany dropped her friend home and - then drove the short distance back to her apartment the
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next day of Tuesday September 28th Brittany didn't show up to her scheduled classes her friends noted this as highly
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unusual as she was a dedicated and punctual student but they assumed she must still
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be feeling unwell that same day Maggie tried to call Brittany but her phone rang out and
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eventually went to voicemail Maggie left a message asking her daughter to return
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her call on Wednesday September 29 Brittany was once again absent from her classes and still hadn't returned
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Maggie's call Maggie phoned again and - left another voicemail although it was unusual for the mother and daughter to
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go a few days without speaking it did occasionally happen so Maggie tried to reassure herself that Brittany was
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likely just busy and would return the call in due course when Brittany still hadn't
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shown up to any of her classes by Thursday September 30 her friends began to worry
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at 9:00 p.m. that evening Maggie called Britney but for the third time in as many days the call went unanswered she
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left a third voicemail this time asking Britney to call her back immediately as she was starting to become very
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concerned Britney's friend Emma not her real name decided to check on Britney herself
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Anna's father was a district attorney with a background as a police officer so she called him as she made her way up
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the stairs to Britney's apartment and explained the situation when Emma reached the front door she knocked but
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there was no response she tried the door handle and was surprised to find that it
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was unlocked she pushed it open a crack but her father who was still on the phone warned her against going inside
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instead he offered to send a police officer around to perform a wellness check the dispatch officers arrived at
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the apartment just before 10:00 p.m. inside the bedroom alongside the bed-leg van to Brittany's lifeless body lying on
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the floor facing away from the bed head it was immediately obvious that her death was the result of a homicide with
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marks on her neck indicating she had been strangled she was wearing a sleeveless top and underwear but it
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appeared as though she may have been redressed into this outfit investigators were dispatched to the apartment while a
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crime scene was quickly established and Brittany's body was transported to the medical examiner's office for further
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investigation in the early morning hours of Friday October 1 an officer from the
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Chandler County Sheriff's Department was sent to Maggie's home to deliver the news when she opened to the door the
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officer told her bluntly you need to call the Tulsa Police your daughter has been murdered assuming
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the authorities must have Britney confused with someone else Maggie got straight into her car and
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drove the 65 miles southeast to Tulsa when she arrived at the Gleneagles complex she found Britney's apartment
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filled with police officers an officer advised that Britney was deceased and had been identified using the photo on
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her driver's license devastated and in shock Maggie left for the medical examiner's office in the hope of being
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able to see her daughter one last time [Music] Tulsa homicide detective Jeff Felton and
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a team of local officers were assigned to Brittany's case they scoured her apartment and quickly uncovered a wealth
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of forensic evidence alongside the location where Brittany's body had been found there lay a small tower that
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looked like it had been used by the killer in an attempt to clean up a pale purple pillowcase was also nearby and
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quickly attracted the detectives attention as it didn't match any of the other bed linen in the apartment this
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indicated it may have been brought there by the assailant what appeared to be a urine stain was found on the bed sheet
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and a miniscule speck of blood was found on the wall leading out of the bedroom the towel pillowcase and sheet were
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taken into evidence for further testing in the bedroom in the living room all of
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the flyscreens had been removed from the windows amounting to four screens in total each of these were dusted for
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fingerprints marks on the bedroom wall indicated that Brittany had put up a struggle in the
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attack but aside from this everything in the apartment appeared to be in place and it didn't look like anything had
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been stolen there were no signs of forced entry which led police to consider that Brittany may have known
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her attacker and willingly let them inside they speculated that after the murder the killer may have then removed
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the fly's brains to make it look like someone had broken in to conduct a random attack alternatively they may
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have accessed to the apartment from another entry point perhaps even lying in wait for her to return home it was
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presumed that after the attack the assailant had left via the front door which explained why it was unlocked when
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Brittany's friend came upon the scene at the medical examiner's office a post-mortem revealed Brittany had been
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killed sometime between arriving home at 9:45 p.m. on Monday September 27 and 8 o'clock the next morning of Tuesday
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September 28th this meant she had laid deceased in her apartment for approximately three days before being
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found the faint outline of thumb prints were detected around her neck indicating the
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killer had likely strangled her using their bare hands a rape kit determined that Brittany had been sexually
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assaulted but there were insufficient amounts of semen to extract a DNA profile it appeared as though the rape
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had taken place after she had been rendered unconscious but small traces of blood found beneath her fingernails
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indicated she had fought her attacker until the very end unfortunately investigators were unable to extract the
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DNA profile from the blood under her nails Maggie wasn't allowed to see Brittany at the medical examiner's
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office and had to wait until she was ready for burial her body and face had been covered by a thin towel and Maggie
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was advised not to look underneath instead she gently stroked Brittany's hair and said a final goodbye the same
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way she had always fair world her daughter by tracing a fingertip down her covered forehead to the end of her nose
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on Monday October 4 Brittany's funeral was held at the Temple Israel in Tulsa on what would have been her 19th
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birthday afterwards her loved ones proceeded to the Rose Hill Cemetery to lay her to rest
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Brittany's obituary lovingly penned by Maggie read a gift has been taken back on October 4 1985 your bright eyes
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opened to the world and on this day 19 years later your eyes closed for the last time my little girl with long
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blonde curls you were taken too soon your youth and aged wisdom and now locked inside you were the smiling
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spinning dancing pony princess you were the young woman who wanted to research ways to heal you love the deeper than
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many and hurt twice as hard you touched all that ever met you we all will ache with your loss for
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there was so much you had to give my little pretty pretty one last time I say remember my smile and kisses my arms
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wrapped tightly around you keeping you safe inside in this way I hold you forever as Brittany's loved ones mourned
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her sudden and tragic loss detective Felton and his team worked tirelessly on the case Brittany's death was the 38th
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homicide in Tulsa that year but one of the few that involved sexual assault and the pressure was on for police to make a
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quick arrest the amount of forensic evidence left at the scene gave them hope that the case
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would be solved quickly but the fingerprints that had been detected on the window screens were incomplete and
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couldn't be matched to a suspect however it was determined that the speck of blood found on the wall leading out of
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Britney's bedroom had to come from an unknown person and forensic experts were able to use it to establish a DNA
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profile relieved that this news Maggie thought that it wouldn't be long before her daughter's killer
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was in prison she told a reporter from Tulsa World News that once he was caught she wanted the perpetrator to spend the
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rest of his life behind a bars as death would be an easy way out she said quote I am hoping they find this person
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although I know it will not bring pretty back working on the theory that Brittany
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knew her killer police obtained mouth swabs from her friends family and neighbors as well as maintenance workers
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from the Gleneagles complex who may have had access to her apartment the young man she had recently started dating was
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also tested and questioned H DNA sample was compared against the suspects profile but no matches were found
00:20:43
the DNA search was extended to Brittany's classmates at both Tulsa Community College and Deckard College as
00:20:51
well as acquaintances who had contact with Brittany in the past not a single match was made leading investigators to
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extend the testing to local persons of interest with a history of sexual assault and violent crimes Maggie told
00:21:09
police about that date Brittany had been on with the security guard that had left
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her feeling uneasy in tents the security guard was tracked down but refused to give a DNA sample police obtained a
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court order that required him to comply however his DNA wasn't a match to the suspects and with no other evidence to
00:21:33
link him to the case he was ruled out of the investigation the suspects DNA was entered into CODIS the national database
00:21:44
used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to store and analyze DNA at the time of Brittany's murder CODIS
00:21:54
contained more than 2 million offender profiles but none matched the killer's sample nevertheless investigators were
00:22:05
hopeful that a hit may be generated in the future the Tulsa Police Department developed a behavioral profile
00:22:14
introduced that the killer may have worked in the public service sector and regularly traveled the i-35 I 44 or
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right Oddie highways for work as these provided cross-country access he was the type of person who likely stayed up late
00:22:33
and often went out during odd hours of the night he found it difficult to control his emotions and elect to
00:22:41
inflict pain on others or himself both in everyday life and sexually while he may have previously been out
00:22:50
going since Brittany's murder he had to likely become quiet and closed off from family and friends
00:23:16
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tenants within the Gleneagles complex one of the most pressing questions for detectives was how the killer managed to
00:27:59
gain access to Brittany's apartment undetected no witnesses had reported any suspicious activity nor seeing anyone
00:28:07
lurking around to the building or attempting to break in likewise no one had been seen leaving the apartment in
00:28:15
the early morning hours of Tuesday September 28th during a search of Brittany's residence one officer noticed
00:28:24
that the ceiling in the walk-in wardrobe contained an access point to the Attic sliding the manhole cover aside he
00:28:32
hoisted himself into the attic and realized that the upstairs space was shared by four apartments on the top
00:28:39
floor of the complex theoretically this meant that Brittany's killer could have accessed the Attic via any of the other
00:28:48
three top floor apartments and then lowered himself into her apartment via the manhole in her wardrobe lying in
00:28:56
wait for her to return this theory would explain why there were no signs of forced entry and why no one was seen
00:29:05
breaking into the apartment another possibility was that Brittany's attacker had managed to hoist themselves up to
00:29:13
the bedroom balcony and to then entered via the bay windows although it would have been an awkward maneuver it would
00:29:21
be possible if they were of tall stature however gaining entry in this fashion would have required the bay windows to
00:29:29
have been left unlocked which was unlikely given that brittany was a very safety-conscious additionally it
00:29:37
wouldn't have been an easy feat for the attacker to climb onto the balcony without drawing attention another lead
00:29:47
emerged when the police learned that the previous tenants in Brittany's apartment
00:29:51
were involved in drug dealing the dent that had been in her front door when she moved in had been caused to
00:29:59
during one of the frequent altercations that occurred whilst the dealers were living there in one instance gang
00:30:06
members had also broken into the apartment investigators considered the possibility that the gang members
00:30:14
returned to retaliate against the previous tenants only to find Britney there instead this line of inquiry was
00:30:23
explored but police soon concluded that the previous incidents at the apartment weren't related to Brittany's murder in
00:30:30
any way as the weeks passed by no suspects or major leads were identified in the early stages of the investigation
00:30:40
the DNA of over 1,000 individuals was tested against the perpetrators with no successful matches what police initially
00:30:51
thought would be a quick investigation with a swift arrest was turning out to be a complete mystery
00:30:58
locals were outraged by Brittany's murder and at the time that was taking to solve the case Tulsa crime reporter
00:31:07
Lori Fullbright recounted that in all her years on the job that was rare that an innocent 18 year old who wasn't
00:31:14
involved in any high-risk behavior such as drug dealing or sex work had been murdered so callously a couple of months
00:31:24
into the investigation forensic experts examined the bedsheet taken from Brittany's apartment and discovered that
00:31:31
what was initially thought to be a urine stain was in fact semen a DNA sample was
00:31:38
extracted revealing that the DNA from the semen sample was a match to the DNA from the blood sample on the wall this
00:31:47
gave investigators an even stronger profile for the suspect in order to keep the case in the spotlight Brittany's
00:31:57
mother Maggie conducted interviews with as many media outlets as possible she contacted various national crime shows
00:32:06
such as Amer his Most Wanted and the investigation Discovery Channel in an attempt to have
00:32:12
Brittany's story shared but her requests were continuously rejected one popular television program told Maggie that her
00:32:22
daughter's death was too boring a story to turn into an episode and that it simply didn't have enough of a hook to
00:32:30
cover the police continued to question those close to Brittany and obtain DNA swabs from individuals with even a loose
00:32:39
Association to her but no new leads emerged and no matches were identified with no information to
00:32:48
go on the case soon went cold as the months continued to pass with no new leads Maggie reached out to the Carroll son to
00:33:02
Carrington memorial reward foundation for assistance the foundation was established by the parents of Carole
00:33:10
sands who was murdered along with her teenage daughter Julie son and their traveling companion silvina Palazzo near
00:33:18
Yosemite National Park in California in 1999 it aimed to provide financial rewards to assist law enforcement in
00:33:28
locating missing people and bringing violent criminals to justice the foundation agreed to help Maggie and
00:33:38
offered a $5,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of Britney's killer within a
00:33:45
six month time frame the Crime Commission also added $1,000 to the reward pool on August 16 2005 a press
00:33:57
conference was held to announce the reward money during which Maggie said quote when we have children for the
00:34:06
first few minutes after they are born we think what if what if but it is too hard to think about
00:34:14
something happening to them she made an impassioned plea for anyone with information to put themselves in
00:34:23
her shoes and to not to hesitate to contact the police the announcement of the reward money generated a few new tip
00:34:32
offs but none provided any useful leads and the one-year anniversary of Brittany's murder came and went with no
00:34:40
developments in the case in February of 2006 Maggi reached out to an outdoor advertising company who agreed to
00:34:51
feature Brittany on one of their billboards to maximise public awareness the billboards would be relocated to
00:34:59
different high-traffic areas around Tulsa every three months for a 12-month period the Billboard featured a photo of
00:35:08
Britney along with the heading a murderer remains on the streets of Tulsa and a number decor with information it
00:35:17
was initially erected on the corner of the I 244 Expressway and a Utica Avenue a busy stretch of road in Tulsa hopeful
00:35:27
that the billboard would generate new leads the Carroll sunder Carrington memorial reward foundation agreed to
00:35:34
extend the time frame within which the $5,000 reward money could be claimed Maggie was cautiously optimistic but
00:35:44
once again the days turned into months without any promising leads in September 2007 as the third anniversary of
00:35:56
Brittany's death was approaching the pale purple pillowcase found at the crime scene was displayed to the public
00:36:03
at a local news conference although Brittany's was the only DNA detected on the pillowcase Detective Belton
00:36:12
explained that the killer may have taken the item to her apartment as a makeshift
00:36:16
bag and had accidentally left it behind he said he had been hesitant to release the description of the pillowcase
00:36:24
earlier in case it prompted the killer to throw out any matching linen therefore destroying evidence nearly
00:36:34
three years on he urged the public to think back to September 2004 and to recall if they had a boyfriend or
00:36:42
roommate who was missing an unbranded pale purple pillowcase that had some light bleach staining at one end this
00:36:51
announcement generated no new leads prompting police to consider whether the pillowcase may have belonged to Brittany
00:36:59
after all when the three year anniversary came and went with no breakthroughs maggie's stood on the
00:37:07
street near Brittany's apartment handing out flyers in an attempt to raise awareness about her daughter's case she
00:37:16
was frustrated by the constant disinterest of national media outlets and had decided to publicize Brittany's
00:37:23
case herself in October of 2007 Maggie had her toyota rap or SUV professionally painted in Brittany's favorite colors
00:37:33
pink and purple with images of butterflies dancing through swirls of color printed in bold capitalized font
00:37:42
along the driver's side of the car were the words caravan to catch a killer next to several images of Brittany
00:37:52
inside the car Maggie set up framed photos of Brittany alongside some of her favorite childhood
00:37:59
toys although she barely had enough money to support herself Maggie set off across the Northeast USA
00:38:08
in her eye catching SUV for three weeks she traveled through small towns stopping wherever she could to tell
00:38:16
Brittany story and successfully attracted attention from local media upon her return home and to work Maggie
00:38:25
said about saving enough money to two of her caravan to catch a killer through the southeastern states
00:38:35
at the time of Brittany's murder just 15 states in the USA took the DNA samples from offenders upon their arrest the
00:38:46
remaining 35 states including Oklahoma only took DNA samples at the time of conviction this allowed too many sex
00:38:56
offenders to slip through the cracks as some victims retracted their statements or failed to testify before a conviction
00:39:04
could be made often due to shame and fear of retribution Maggie believed that if DNA samples were
00:39:12
required to be taken from offenders at the time of arrest Brittany's killer would have been
00:39:18
identified right away she began working in close contact with legislators and police to campaign for
00:39:26
the laws to be changed in Oklahoma telling the Tulsa world a newspaper quote we can't bring Brittany back but I
00:39:35
am going to use her name and her story to change these laws so maybe this does not happen to someone else
00:39:43
in response civil rights advocates argued that obtaining DNA upon arrest was an unconstitutional breach of
00:39:52
privacy rights another problem when it came to identifying the killer's DNA was that a
00:40:00
huge backlog of DNA samples collected from rape test kits were yet to be analyzed than to added to the CODIS
00:40:08
database this was a nationwide problem as funding cuts meant more pressing issues took precedence in Oklahoma alone
00:40:19
thousands of DNA samples taken from rape victims were still untested with some dating back as far as a decade there
00:40:29
were no laws requiring that testing be done or that untested samples were kept which led to a large number of rape test
00:40:38
kits being discarded by law enforcement agencies in April of 2008 Maggi embarked on her
00:40:47
second Caravan to catch a killer tour with Brittany's pink cowboy hat riding alongside on the
00:40:53
passenger seat she traveled a total of 4,200 miles throughout America's southeast giving 17 News interviews
00:41:04
across nine states while also campaigning for Oklahoma's DNA testing laws to be changed
00:41:11
Maggie was overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers who were willing to listen to her story with son they've been
00:41:19
donating money for fuel so she could continue her journey she also met other parents whose children had been murdered
00:41:28
and began building up a support network for families to share stories of their loved ones
00:41:35
Maggie spent the next few years setting out across the country on more Caravan to catch a killer tours whenever time
00:41:44
and finances are loud in 2011 lawmakers concluded that collecting DNA from a suspect who was not a convicted felon
00:41:55
went against the Fourth Amendment rights of unlawful search and seizure they also
00:42:01
believed it contradicted the fundamental constitutional right of the presumption
00:42:06
of innocence until proven guilty disappointed by the outcome but undeterred Maggie
00:42:13
pressed on the following year the Supreme Court determined that collecting DNA upon arrest was not an invasion of
00:42:23
privacy and had nothing to do with being innocent until proven guilty as DNA was
00:42:30
nothing more than a forensic tool akin to collecting fingerprints following this more states across the country
00:42:38
started passing laws that required DNA to be collected from suspects at the time of arrest for certain crimes
00:42:47
by 2014 as the 10-year anniversary of Brittany's death past Maggie wrapped up her twelfth Caravan to catch
00:42:56
a killer tour and was more determined than ever to stop the case from going cold in May 2016 thanks in part to
00:43:07
Maggie's tireless campaigning Oklahoma became the 29th state to sign a bill that required DNA to be collected at the
00:43:16
time of arrest for suspects of rape and certain violent crimes as the votes were
00:43:23
read aloud the Senators gave Maggie a standing ovation during a subsequent interview with Fox 23 news at Brittany's
00:43:33
gravesite Maggie said quote people tell me on brave or people tell me but I could never do this but I have no choice
00:43:44
I sort of feared that if we find her killer we're going to find out that he was arrested numerous times that he came
00:43:53
through the system and that because we didn't take the DNA then that he was out there doing it again she said she hoped
00:44:03
the new laws would enable perpetrators to be captured quickly before they had the chance to commit further crimes an
00:44:13
investigator from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations DNA lab said that if the law had been passed two
00:44:21
years prior 14 murders and 25 sex crimes could have been prevented she told Fox 23 news quote we're talking
00:44:33
about bat crimes murder assault child sexual assault child physical assault obtaining DNA upon arrest casts a wider
00:44:44
net where we capture those people maybe when they first offend instead of when they offend the fifth or sixth time
00:44:54
in mid 2017 a state-ordered into the backlog of DNA test kits revealed that the Tulsa Police Department had more
00:45:04
than 3000 untested kits dating back to the early 1990s due to lack of funding the department
00:45:13
concentrated on testing the more recent kits first as there was a higher chance the perpetrator would be prosecuted and
00:45:20
there weren't enough resources to process the backlog this meant that if Brittany's killer had committed another
00:45:29
sexual crime which police believed was highly likely his DNA could be sitting on a shelf untested
00:45:44
in early 2018 nearly 14 years after Brittany's murder advances in DNA phenotyping technology allowed for an
00:45:54
image of the prime suspect to be generated using the profile obtained from his blood and semen although DNA
00:46:02
phenotyping doesn't provide an exact match it can accurately predict the person's genetic ancestry eye and hair
00:46:10
color complexion face shape and even whether or not the person has freckles although the testing is expensive
00:46:19
Maggie organized for the leading DNA phenotyping laboratory in the country paraben nano labs to create the image in
00:46:28
the hopes that would result in further tips from the public the DNA phenotype revealed that the killer was a Caucasian
00:46:37
male of European ancestry he had a the blond or brown hair and blue or green eyes with a sprinkling of light freckles
00:46:46
over his nose and cheeks upon seeing the image Maggie's first thought was that he
00:46:53
was handsome and someone Britney would have been attracted to the image was circulated via the media and Maggie had
00:47:02
it enlarged and placed on the hood of her Caravan to catch a killer vehicle this way the picture could attract
00:47:10
attention while Maggie wouldn't be forced to look at it every time she got in and out of her car within the first
00:47:18
two days of its release the image generated approximately 200 tips from members of the public who thought they
00:47:26
recognized the man in addition to the phenotype image the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
00:47:34
employed another unconventional method in Brittany's case a photograph of Brittany along with a brief explanation
00:47:42
of her murder was featured on the second deck of cold-case playing cards released
00:47:48
amongst Oklahoma prisons these decks featured a different cold case on each card with the aim of prompting
00:47:56
discussions between inmates as they played which in turn might result in new information being reported the cards did
00:48:06
generate a few tips from prisoners but investigators were also mindful that inmates may have been hesitant to
00:48:13
discuss Brittany's case given that she had such a youthful appearance and sexually motivated crimes against youth
00:48:21
so generally frowned upon in the prison community Brittany's murder has plagued the city
00:48:33
of Tulsa in 2014 criminologist Melissa Anderson began examining the case for a criminal
00:48:41
justice class she taught at Union High School which both she and Brittany had attended her classes dissected the
00:48:50
details of the case studying everything from the layout of Brittany's apartment to conducting interviews with Maggie and
00:48:57
members of the Tulsa Police Department one student had a relative who resided in the Gleneagles apartment complex
00:49:06
which had since been renamed to the Somerset apartments the layout of his relatives apartment was a mirror image
00:49:14
of Brittany's and to the students soon learned that the shared attic space was still easily accessible via the walk-in
00:49:22
wardrobe this meant that the tenants could still gain access to any of the adjacent apartments through their attic
00:49:31
manhole when the phenotype image became available the students combed through old yearbooks looking for anyone who
00:49:40
carried a resemblance but were unsuccessful in finding a match studying the case hit home for the students who
00:49:50
were struck by the fact that Brittany used to walk down the same hallways as them every day
00:49:56
one student remarked to Tulsa's news on six quote she was like one of us although no new developments have arisen
00:50:08
from their efforts maggie was touched by the amount of energy the students put in
00:50:14
she formed a special bond with Melissa Anderson and many of the class members who would show up to see her off when
00:50:22
she embarked on her caravan to catch a killer tours then welcomed her home when she returned by 2019
00:50:32
Brittany's case was being overseen by the head of Tulsa's cold-case homicide department
00:50:37
detective Eddie majors the alleged the Golden State Killer Joseph D'Angelo who's then unsolved
00:50:46
crimes were covered in episode 53 of case file had been arrested using familial DNA and investigators were
00:50:54
hopeful that the same technique could identify a Britney's killer at para bond nano labs the DNA found at Brittany's
00:51:03
crime scene was run through Jeddah match an online database that connects to other genealogy websites to compare DNA
00:51:11
samples from more than 1 million individuals it wasn't expected they would find an exact match as it was
00:51:20
highly unlikely that the killer would voluntarily submit his DNA to a genealogy site however there was a
00:51:28
chance that might detect the DNA of one of his relatives to help narrow the search to the surprise of investigators
00:51:38
the DNA belonging to the prime suspect in Brittany's murder not only detected a familial link but a direct match around
00:51:51
at the same time someone also recognized the person in the phenotype image and reported their name to police confirming
00:51:59
him to be the same person identified via the genealogy database the individual was quickly apprehended and interrogated
00:52:11
by the Tulsa Police while Maggie was informed that the prime suspect had finally been identified
00:52:18
however after 15 years searching for Brittany's killer using the DNA found at the crime scene as the number one lead
00:52:27
it was determined that the semen sample found on Brittany's bedsheet and to the blood sample found on her wall didn't
00:52:36
belong to the killer at all the DNA had been left behind by the boyfriend of one of Brittany's friends
00:52:44
after she had allowed the couple to sleep in her bed one night considering that his DNA hadn't been on
00:52:52
Brittany's body as no profile could be developed from the sample underneath her fingernails there was nothing to tie
00:53:00
this man to the crime the man was interrogated by police for hours until they were satisfied he
00:53:08
wasn't involved in Brittany's murder he was then free to leave Maggie was devastated with the hopes she had held
00:53:19
for the past 15 years dashed in an instant she told a local news station Katie ul that hearing the news was
00:53:28
nearly as hard as hearing of Brittany's death as it effectively put the investigation back to square one the
00:53:37
phenotype that had narrowed down the physical characteristics of the suspect was no longer valid meaning the
00:53:44
perpetrator could be of any ethnicity or appearance after receiving this significant blow detective majors has
00:53:56
spent countless hours going back through Brittany's case file his reinter viewed
00:54:02
persons of interest who had previously been ruled out on account of their DNA not matching that found at the crime
00:54:10
scene this is no easy task as many of these individuals have since moved from Tulsa and are difficult to track down
00:54:20
adding to this frustration is the fact that despite changes to Oklahoma's law state funding has not yet been allocated
00:54:29
to allow that DNA to be taken from offenders at the time of arrest as of early 2020
00:54:37
this means that DNA is still only being recorded at the time of conviction however DNA profiles continue to be
00:54:47
added to the CODIS database daily which now houses more than 13 million profiles
00:54:55
detective majors believes Brittany's killer likely has three or more other victims none of whom are from the same
00:55:03
location he probably moved around striking in different areas at different times one theory is that the killer was
00:55:13
a truck driver or had another occupation requiring frequent travel and was just traveling through Tulsa at the time of
00:55:21
Brittany's murder even though Maggie was crushed by the loss of the number one lead in the case
00:55:29
she has vowed to continue on her caravan to catch a killer to us until her daughter's murderer is caught and
00:55:36
brought to justice so far she has traveled a total of 240,000 miles across the 48 states of mainland America and
00:55:47
has gone through 20 different vehicles given the cases recent developments maggie intends to revisit the locations
00:55:57
of her earlier tours to keep sharing Brittany's story and educating the public about the advances in DNA
00:56:04
technology she manages a website dedicated to the case Brittany Phillips murder dotnet as well as a Facebook page
00:56:14
that provides any updates as they arise anyone with information about the case is encouraged to contact a Maggie via
00:56:24
her website I remember when I first held Libby in my arms you know the beauty of her sort of
00:56:34
angelic face - you know filled my whole body with love and as she grew up you know she just transformed from this
00:56:43
energetic fearless young little girl to this energetic spirit compassionate empathetic young woman who at times was
00:56:55
still you know like a little girl I mean I can remember a year before she died where she got upset and it was before
00:57:03
she went to school and she just you know sort of crumbled in my arms and you know
00:57:08
when she got upset you'd say mommy instead of mom and you know I just remember holding her in my arms you know
00:57:16
but as a child and as a young lady she became and I feel like both with her beauty because she was very beautiful
00:57:24
and her intelligence you know so much was taken she was you know gonna be a cancer researcher she was going to do so
00:57:33
much and that's no longer here and if anyone has a daughter a child you know hug them every day and if you're filled
00:57:42
you know with empathy from the story please send your ideas to this podcast or to me or to the Tulsa homicide
00:57:54
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