TULSA, Okla. — The mom of a teenager who was raped and killed in Tulsa 18 years ago says she has new evidence that she thinks could lead to her daughter’s killer.
Brittany Phillips was found dead in 2004.
Her mom, Maggie Zingman, said a new letter from Brittany turned up and it’s postmarked after her death.
Zingman said it was completely unexpected when she was shown a birthday card that her daughter had written 18 years ago.
“When I looked at the time stamp, my heart dropped because the time stamp of the stamp said September 29th,” she said.
“To open the inside and see her little scribbly messy writing, you know, I just wanted to put to my face and smell it because we do that when we lose somebody and then the words in it,” she said.
“At the end of them she said, ‘I’m sorry this is late,’” Zingman also said.
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Brittany’s body was found in her apartment near 61st and Mingo back in 2004. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Zingman said Brittany’s dad recently told her about a birthday card that was sent to him.
The postmark on card was Sept. 29., 2004. A small but maybe vital detail because that’s after Brittany’s murder.
The autopsy report said Brittany’s body was found on Sept. 30, 2004, three days after she was reportedly last seen alive. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Zingman said police told her Brittany died sometime between 9 p.m. on Sept. 27, 2004 and 8 a.m. on Sept. 28, 2004.
So, the postmark on the letter, Sept. 29, 2004, throws questions into the timeline of the events as it was postmarked after police said she died but before her body was found.
“She could have mailed it, which means the timeline, everything is wrong, some friend could have mailed it for her cause she was busy, she wasn’t feeling well, whatever or her killer could have mailed it,” Zingman said.
The stamp on the letter is machine printed, not stuck on. It’s one that’s bought inside a post office.
Zingman said she wants to know if someone else mailed it for Brittany.
“I’m putting an appeal out there, did you mail something for her that week that she died?” Zingman asked.
“We can’t assume that it was mailed by somebody and so it doesn’t mean anything because if it wasn’t, it could mean everything,” Zingman said.
Tulsa Police said they have no comment on an open active investigation.
But Zingman is hoping the stamp could maybe help finally track down who killed her daughters 18 years ago.
“As I get older and older I fear that I’m going to die before this is solved, so somebody at least coming forward and saying that they mailed it is going to at least let my heart know that the death timeline was correct,” Zingman said.
“All it’s going to do is just warm my heart that finally one more question gets answered,” Zingman also said.
If you have any information contact the Tulsa Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.
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