On the night of Wednesday, January 6, 1982, temperatures fell to 20 below on the snow-covered 11,500 ft. Hoosier Pass that connects the ski resort community of Breckenridge in Summit County and the bedroom communities of Alma and Fairplay in Park County, Colorado. This was the night that Barbara "Bobbie" Jo Oberholtzer and Annette Schnee were murdered under cover of darkness and desolation.

Hoosier Pass has long been a commuting route for those living in Park County and finding jobs in Summit County. There is no record that Bobbie Jo and Annette knew one another, but each was likely hitchhiking separately southbound on Colorado Highway 9 toward the pass, heading home at the end of the work day. On that bitter cold January night, the pass became a sprawling death scene for the two young local women.



Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer's body was found first, at approximately 3:00 PM on Thursday, January 7. According to evidence found at the scene and elsewhere, 29-year-old Bobbie Jo may have tried to fight her attacker(s) and run for her life. Plastic wire ties were found on her wrist, suggesting that someone attempted to bind her before she was finally shot to death. The body was found 20 feet off Highway 9, approximately 300 feet south of the Hoosier Pass summit parking lot. Additional items belonging to Bobbie Jo, including backpack, bloody glove and kleenex, were found on January 7 scattered across South Park.

CASE FILE: OBERHOLTZER

It would be six months before the body of 21-year-old Annette Schnee is found face down in Sacramento Creek south of Alma. The cold temperatures and cold water helped preserve Annette's body. The gunshot wound was through and through, leaving no bullet in the body. Socks worn by Annette helped solve a mystery from the Oberholtzer crime scene. An unidentified orange sock was found in the vicinity of Bobbie Jo's body. Annette was wearing the other orange sock, appearing to connect the two murders. Annette's backpack was also found near the Hoosier Pass summit north of the Oberholtzer crime scene.

CASE FILE: SCHNEE