18 Years Ago This College Girl Was Murdered In Her Own Apartment And Although Everyone Thought There Was DNA Belonging To Her Killer, That Turned Out To Not Be The Case
18-year-old Brittany Phillips grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and after she graduated from Union High School, she end up getting a full-ride scholarship to study chemistry in Florida.
Brittany didn’t spend very long in Florida before she ended up missing her home and her loved ones.
So, she returned to Tulsa and got her very own apartment right near her old high school as she continued working towards her college degree.
Her apartment was located on the second story of the building and her address was 9400 E. 65th Street in Tulsa.
It was September 27th, 2004, when Brittany was last seen leaving the apartment of one of her friends, and nobody knew that it would be the final time she would be seen alive.
Just 3 days later, Brittany was found dead in her apartment, after a man assaulted and then strangled her inside of her bedroom.
Brittany’s loved ones sadly laid her to rest on her 19th birthday.
Although Brittany did not live on the ground floor of the building, it seemed there were a few ways the man who took Brittany’s life had gotten in.
Family photo; pictured above is Brittany
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One possibility was that he had come through the porch doors of the balcony that connected to Brittany’s apartment.
A second possibility was that he had entered her apartment through one of her windows, and another possibility was that he could have gotten into Brittany’s apartment through an attic space that was shared through the whole building.
“He either came there before she came home from school OR after she came home, possibly after she was asleep,” Brittany’s mom Maggie wrote on a website dedicated to Brittany.
“He possibly made it look like he broke in. He could have been waiting for her.” Authorities were able to recover male DNA from Brittany’s apartment, and they suspected that it came from her killer.
Over the years, profiles and even sketches were made based on this DNA, but Maggie received a crushing blow regarding this key piece of evidence only a few years ago.
In August of 2019, Brittany’s mom shared that the DNA they previously thought belonged to Brittany’s killer had been providing false hope all along.
Family photo; pictured above is Brittany with her mom, Maggie
Although this DNA had been taken from inside of Brittany’s apartment, and everyone went 15 years assuming it came from the man responsible for taking Brittany’s life, it turned out that the DNA belonged to someone else entirely. This man came with an alibi that pointed to the fact that he couldn’t have possibly killed Brittany.
“I am devastated,” Maggie said. “This means all suspects we compared our main DNA profile to must be relooked at…IT COULD BE ANYONE!”
It’s closing in on 18 years since Brittany’s life was taken from her, but Maggie has not given up the fight to find Brittany’s killer, or generate awareness for what happened to her.
Maggie is currently driving a car across the country with Brittany’s face all over it, along with information on her case.
If you have any information related to Brittany’s case, please call the Tulsa Police Department at 918.596.9135.
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