"Every now and then a beautiful angel comes to earth disguised as a human being."
She was a child model and actress.
As she grew older, she became interested in athletics. She ran track, was involved in swimming, and experimented with shot put. She was very active as a gymnast and wanted to get back into modeling despite her insecurities about being short, which she would joke that she inherited from her mother.
Brittany's father was not really an active presence in her life outside of her early childhood, which is when her parents divorced. Both Brittany and her brother, Josh, would be raised by their mother Maggie.
Brittany and her brother, Josh, were close, but they did have sibling rivalry like most siblings tend to do. Josh was only 15 months older than Brittany, so the two were just a grade or so apart for the entirety of their childhoods.
The death of her paternal grandmother to cancer inspired her to study stem cell research. Brittany attended her mother's alma mater, Eckerd college, in St. Petersburg, Fla on a full Chemistry scholarship. Due to Brittany's keen intellect, she was younger than most freshmen. After a year she moved back and into apartments right next to her old high school and went to Junior college. She lived by herself in a quiet second story apartment complex named Gleneagles Apartments.
It was September 24th, 2004, and this was the last time Joshua saw his sister alive was sometime between 6 and 7 p.m. in the junior college cafeteria before she headed off to the doctor's office. Around 9 p.m. Brittany called her mother stating that she had terrible allergies and could not get into a clinic. They talked about calling and getting her appointment for that Friday. She thanked her mom and told her that she was going to drop off her friend that had came with her to the clinic and that then she was going to bed. Brittany and Maggie then told each other "I Love You."This would be the last time Maggie heard from her daughter.
For the next three days, Maggie heard nothing from her daughter and her many calls were unanswered and her messages unreturned. The first two days, Maggie wasn't that worried, she knew Brittany had a heavy work load at school. By Thursday however, Maggie was worried.
Maggie didn't know, but Brittany hadn't showed up to any of her classes and this prompted a worried friend to call police. When the police did a welfare check they found signs of an altercation.They also found Brittany raped and strangled to death on the floor by her bed. She had been laying there for three days.
It was about one in the morning and the rain was crying from the sky. There was a knock on Maggie's front door, when she answered it, there was a sheriff standing there, staring down at a piece of paper. He asked if she was Maggie Zingman and when she answered yes he briskly stated “You need to call the Tulsa police. Your daughter’s been murdered.” And then walked away. Maggie was in shock and didn't know what to do.
Maggie lived 50 miles away from Tulsa and by the time she arrived at Brittany's apartment it was swarming with investigators. Brittany's body had already been taken to the medical examiner's office.
Maggie never was able to see Brittany's body. Her family was Jewish, so she was never embalmed. And between that and her being murdered and autopsied, the funeral director wouldn't let Maggie set eyes on her baby girl that was once so full of life. So Maggie had to say goodbye to Brittany with her body head to toe with a blanket. Maggie ran her finger down her nose and said, "I'm sorry Britty. I'm sorry this happened, I'm sorry I didn't protect you, I'm sorry that they won't even let me touch you."
Brittany was laid to rest on what would have been her nineteenth birthday. Her pink casket was carried from Tulsa’s Temple Israel as Maggie clutched a teddy bear. Brittany was interred at Rose Hill Memorial Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
8 months after Brittany's murder, her maternal grandmother died of cancer as well.
Brittany's two-story apartment faced a storage unit. The cluster of eight apartments shared a common attic space, which made each apartment accessible to the other. The window screens in Brittany’s apartment had been taken off possibly by Brittany or the perpetrator. Police theorized that the killer could have gone through the windows or had climbed onto her balcony and gone in through those doors. DNA was found at the scene, and after six months the police had a DNA profile They have tested it against thousands of local suspects, along with approximately one million suspects in CODIS and to this day there is no match.
The death of her paternal grandmother to cancer inspired her to study stem cell research. Brittany attended her mother's alma mater, Eckerd college, in St. Petersburg, Fla on a full Chemistry scholarship. Due to Brittany's keen intellect, she was younger than most freshmen. After a year she moved back and into apartments right next to her old high school and went to Junior college. She lived by herself in a quiet second story apartment complex named Gleneagles Apartments.
It was September 24th, 2004, and this was the last time Joshua saw his sister alive was sometime between 6 and 7 p.m. in the junior college cafeteria before she headed off to the doctor's office. Around 9 p.m. Brittany called her mother stating that she had terrible allergies and could not get into a clinic. They talked about calling and getting her appointment for that Friday. She thanked her mom and told her that she was going to drop off her friend that had came with her to the clinic and that then she was going to bed. Brittany and Maggie then told each other "I Love You."This would be the last time Maggie heard from her daughter.
For the next three days, Maggie heard nothing from her daughter and her many calls were unanswered and her messages unreturned. The first two days, Maggie wasn't that worried, she knew Brittany had a heavy work load at school. By Thursday however, Maggie was worried.
Maggie didn't know, but Brittany hadn't showed up to any of her classes and this prompted a worried friend to call police. When the police did a welfare check they found signs of an altercation.They also found Brittany raped and strangled to death on the floor by her bed. She had been laying there for three days.
It was about one in the morning and the rain was crying from the sky. There was a knock on Maggie's front door, when she answered it, there was a sheriff standing there, staring down at a piece of paper. He asked if she was Maggie Zingman and when she answered yes he briskly stated “You need to call the Tulsa police. Your daughter’s been murdered.” And then walked away. Maggie was in shock and didn't know what to do.
Maggie lived 50 miles away from Tulsa and by the time she arrived at Brittany's apartment it was swarming with investigators. Brittany's body had already been taken to the medical examiner's office.
Maggie never was able to see Brittany's body. Her family was Jewish, so she was never embalmed. And between that and her being murdered and autopsied, the funeral director wouldn't let Maggie set eyes on her baby girl that was once so full of life. So Maggie had to say goodbye to Brittany with her body head to toe with a blanket. Maggie ran her finger down her nose and said, "I'm sorry Britty. I'm sorry this happened, I'm sorry I didn't protect you, I'm sorry that they won't even let me touch you."
8 months after Brittany's murder, her maternal grandmother died of cancer as well.
Brittany's two-story apartment faced a storage unit. The cluster of eight apartments shared a common attic space, which made each apartment accessible to the other. The window screens in Brittany’s apartment had been taken off possibly by Brittany or the perpetrator. Police theorized that the killer could have gone through the windows or had climbed onto her balcony and gone in through those doors. DNA was found at the scene, and after six months the police had a DNA profile They have tested it against thousands of local suspects, along with approximately one million suspects in CODIS and to this day there is no match.
After two years of no leads and no national media attention Maggie came up with a brilliant idea to help not only catch her daughter's killer, but help victim's family's throughout the United States and to educate communities about the DNA process.
This is when Caravan To Catch A Killer was born. She has driven over 200,000 miles and has visited 48 out of 50 states to spread her daughter’s story.
Using new technology, the company was able to take a DNA sample and create an image that will highly resemble the person. Their website offers examples of these images, including comparisons between suspect composites and the arrested individual. The composite was designed to look like a person in their twenties. It is not known how old he was then or how old he is now.
The killer of Brittany Phillips is likely a white male of Northern European descent, with hair that is either dark blond or brown, and eyes that are either blue or green.
This individual did not appear to be anyone that Brittany's loved ones knew. He didn't really looking like any of her friends or classmates, but Maggie says that he looks like the type that Brittany would be attracted to.
Authorities believe that the Brittany's killer may be someone who is up and/or alone at night. That he may have sexual problems, which he struggles to deal with on a regular basis He may be into high risk behaviors that are dangerous to himself or others (or may cause pain, such as painful sex acts) The killer may be someone with anger issues, who constantly deals with issues of self-worth. He may or may not have been previously arrest for rape; however, if he was, he was likely charged with crimes such as "Endangering" or "Public Indecency" (crimes that won't put him on investigators' radar and/or won't force him to register as a sex offender) He may live outside of the Tulsa area. He also may or may not have traveled in September or October of 2004, and upon his return, starting acting different (anxious, angry, depressed, engaging in heavy drug/alcohol abuse, etc.) The killer may have been outgoing, but possibly became more withdrawn following the murder. He may have attempted to hurt or kill himself in the past (he may have succeeded in the years since). He may drive along I-35, I-44, or I-40 because of work (or traveled through the Tulsa region semi-regularly for other reasons). He may have had a public service job that gave him access to customer addresses (jobs such as utilities worker, cell phone provider, etc.)
Maggie will never give up on getting justice for Brittany. Any tip, no matter how small matters. And any help you can give, whether it be donations, prayers or simply sharing her story is appreciated and goes a long way.
www.brittanyphillipsmurder.net/
The killer of Brittany Phillips is likely a white male of Northern European descent, with hair that is either dark blond or brown, and eyes that are either blue or green.
This individual did not appear to be anyone that Brittany's loved ones knew. He didn't really looking like any of her friends or classmates, but Maggie says that he looks like the type that Brittany would be attracted to.
Authorities believe that the Brittany's killer may be someone who is up and/or alone at night. That he may have sexual problems, which he struggles to deal with on a regular basis He may be into high risk behaviors that are dangerous to himself or others (or may cause pain, such as painful sex acts) The killer may be someone with anger issues, who constantly deals with issues of self-worth. He may or may not have been previously arrest for rape; however, if he was, he was likely charged with crimes such as "Endangering" or "Public Indecency" (crimes that won't put him on investigators' radar and/or won't force him to register as a sex offender) He may live outside of the Tulsa area. He also may or may not have traveled in September or October of 2004, and upon his return, starting acting different (anxious, angry, depressed, engaging in heavy drug/alcohol abuse, etc.) The killer may have been outgoing, but possibly became more withdrawn following the murder. He may have attempted to hurt or kill himself in the past (he may have succeeded in the years since). He may drive along I-35, I-44, or I-40 because of work (or traveled through the Tulsa region semi-regularly for other reasons). He may have had a public service job that gave him access to customer addresses (jobs such as utilities worker, cell phone provider, etc.)
Maggie will never give up on getting justice for Brittany. Any tip, no matter how small matters. And any help you can give, whether it be donations, prayers or simply sharing her story is appreciated and goes a long way.
www.brittanyphillipsmurder.net/
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