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Author Topic: Angela Phillips Sister of Texas EquuSearch Volunteer Identified 2 Decades Later  (Read 13915 times)
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MuffyBee
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« on: March 18, 2010, 12:24:59 AM »

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/100317-sister-of-texas-equusearch-volunteer-identified-decades-later
Sister of Texas EquuSearch Volunteer Identified 2 Decades Later
(Video Available)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010



HOUSTON - He has helped search for the missing and the murdered for a decade. The whole time, one Texas EquuSearch volunteer has been seeking his own sister.

During every search, Darryl Phillips tells FOX 26 News that he always hoped and dreaded that he might stumble over the body of his own sister, Angela.

Phillips now knows exactly where her body lies -- at the Harris County Cemetery in northeast Houston, where there are no headstones, only markers.

It is where Angela Phillips has rested since 1986, known only by a number: ML-86-5825.

Darryl Phillips was only a child when his 20-year-old sister vanished in southeast Houston. He knows what 'not knowing' is like. It is part of the reason he joined as a Texas Equusearch volunteer immediately after Tim Miller founded the organization.

"Darryl is our first member ever," says Miller. "And at the end of a search we did for his co-worker, he told me about his sister who's been missing since 1986."

For the next 10 years after meeting Miller, Darryl Phillips has helped search for people that he never met; all the while, hoping he would find his sister someday.

"I'm always trying to help other families and give them closure," says Phillips. "And it’s like the ball is in my court now."

It took almost 24 years and three failed DNA attempts, but the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences has positively identified the remains of Angela Phillips.

Her body was found in a weeded lot, not long after she vanished and not far away.

Once the autopsy was complete, she was buried at the Harris Count Cemetery, nameless -- until now.

"Once we were able to, all of us, put our pieces of the puzzle together, we were able to provide a name for our decedent," explains forensic anthropologist Dr. Sharon Derrick.

Angela Phillips' cause of death was "homicidal violence," says Derrick.

"Now I know what happened to my sister," says James Phillips, Darryl's older brother, "And we can bring her back home and have a proper burial for her."

The Phillips family is trying to raise money to re-bury Angela near her mother and her case has been reclassified from missing person to homicide.

"The person that did this, justice is coming," says Darryl Phillips, who tells FOX 26 News that he talked to a homicide detective on Wednesday.

The family has some strong suspicions about who is responsible for Angela’s murder and they are hoping this cold case will heat up, culminating in an arrest.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2010, 12:33:00 AM by MuffyBee » Logged

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« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2010, 03:25:02 PM »

http://www.39online.com/news/local/kiah-missing-person-id-story,0,5426078.story
(Video at Link above)
Equusearch Volunteer's Sister Identified 23 Years After She Went Missing
Angela Phillips Identified By Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences
Wednesday, March 16, 2010

HOUSTON - For years Texas Equusearch has helped the families of missing loved ones. Wednesday, a volunteer with the organization finally got some closure of his own 23 years after his sister went missing.

Angela Phillips' whereabouts has remained a mystery for James Phillips and his family for two agonizing decades. Phillips was the last person to see his older sister on September 18, 1986.

"It had to be summer of 1986, that's the last time I seen her. She came home to change clothes and say goodbye," said James Phillips.

Angela's family never stopped searching. Her older brother, Darryl Phillips, joined Texas Equusearch in the hopes of helping other families find their missing loved ones.

"It was always at the back of my mind that while we're out searching that maybe we might stumble across my sister's remains," said Darryl Phillips.

On Monday, Phillips and his family finally got the news they had been waiting to hear. Angela had been found. They would also learn that her body had actually been discovered six days after she disappeared in 1986, and just a mile from where she was last seen alive. But for years Angela would remain unidentified, buried in an unmarked grave.

Four years ago, Texas Equusearch founder, Tim Miller, asked to have the cold case reopened for the Phillips family.

Forensic anthropologists with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences combed through missing persons cases comparing information with where unidentified remains were found. Finally, bits and pieces of the puzzle began falling into place. The Phillips family was contacted by the forensic team and asked to identify belongings in a photograph.

"(Angela) was found with a rain boot underneath her leg. This rain boot was identified by her sister," said Dr. Sharon Derrick, forensic anthropologist with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

The forensic team also tried to use DNA to help identify the remains.

"Unfortunately, because of the way the sample was preserved back in 1986, there was no way to get DNA out of it," said Dr. Derrick.

A photograph taken of Angela at a family wedding was also used to compare features with the remains.

"It brings up a great deal of closure that we have found her and we can lay her to rest properly," said James Phillips.

Angela's body will be exhumed and laid to rest next to her mother and grandmother. Meanwhile, the once cold case is warming up.

"She's been a Jane Doe for 23 years, and I think now they are even moving forward with investigation. It was definitely a homicide," said Tim Miller.

Despite the passage of time, law enforcement is eyeing a person of interest.


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« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2010, 03:27:11 PM »

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7336600
(Video avail. at above link)
Volunteer IDs sister's body after 23 years
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Texas Equusearch volunteer finally has closure 23 years after his sister disappeared. Since then, her family has wondered if they would ever see her again. The struggle to find answers even led one family member to help others.

What happened in the brushy area of Cullen blvd. and Holmes Road 23 years ago sent one man on a mission. In September of 1986, Angela Phillips, then 21, never returned home.

"She came home to change clothes and said goodbye. That was the last time I saw her. Her back was to me, walking," said James Phillips, brother of Angela.

That was the last time her two brothers ever saw her. The traumatic experience even pushed Darryl Phillips to join Equusearch.

"So I felt like if I go out and help someone else, then maybe it will help my family. We will get some kind of closure. And it was always in the back of my mind, that while we are out searching, we might stumble across my sister's remains," said Darryl Phillips, brother of Angela.

"He joined in 2000, when one of his co-workers disappeared and after we did that search, that's when he told me about his sister," said Tim Miller, founder of Equusearch.

But four years ago, with the help of the missing person and homicide department, Equusearch began working the case. Finally, the medical examiner's office found pictures of unidentified bodies from out the same time Angela disappeared.

"When we actually looked at her picture in there from 1986, Darryl said those are her boots, those are her clothes and that's when they started doing the testing," said Miller.

On Monday of this week, dental records confirmed it was their sister, Angela Phillips. Listed as a Jane Doe all this time, Angela was actually discovered three days after she went missing, and her death ruled a homicide.

Now her brother who became an Equusearch volunteer says their family is proof that you can never lose hope.

"For any family members who have somebody missing, don't give up hope no matter how long it takes. Because you look it now, 23 years and three months later, we are here at this moment, knowing that our sister is recovered," said Darryl.

Buried as a Jane Doe in the county cemetery, her body will be exhumed and Angela will now be given a proper burial alongside their mother and grandmother. The family will focus on justice and a person of interest in this case.
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« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2010, 01:07:54 PM »

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/100407-cross-honors-murdered-woman
(Video Avail)
Cross Honors Woman Murdered in 1986
April 7, 2010


HOUSTON - A simple wooden cross has been planted in a field where a young woman's body was dumped almost 24 years ago.

After all this time, that victim now has a name. It is emblazoned on the plaque attached to the cross: Angela Phillips.

The 20-year old woman disappeared in 1986. Her family spent years searching, sick with worry. One of her brothers never stopped searching.

His name is Darryl Phillips and he was the very first member of Texas EquuSearch.

Over the past decade, Phillips has helped other families locate their loved ones, living or dead.

"I never thought in all my life that I would be in this position," says Phillips. "I always thought that this happened to other family members."

Texas EquuSearch founder Tim Miller says Phillips always had his sister in the back of his mind during the dozens of searches they worked together.

"He was out there giving it his all," says Miller. "But he was always afraid that he was going to stumble across his sister's remains."

But all those years, Angela Phillips was buried in the Harris County Cemetery for the unwanted and unidentified.

The Phillips family only learned in March that the woman whose body was found in the southeast Houston field was, in fact, Angela Phillips.

So Darryl Phillips' search had finally ended.

"I would tell any family that has a loved one missing, never give up hope," says Phillips.

Angela Phillips' death is classified as a homicide and Houston police have launched an investigation.

Her body will be buried again, this time near her mother, who died before learning the truth.

Phillips' funeral is scheduled for Saturday.

On the Web:

Angela Phillips Funeral Announcement -- http://texasequusearch.org/2010/03/funeral-services-for-angela-phillips-april-10-2010-at-1100-a-m
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« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2010, 10:49:32 AM »

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6953384.html
Family finally knows peace, 23 years later
Woman vanished in 1986, and the case had gone cold, but her brother just couldn’t forget

Saturday, April 10, 2010


Mayra Beltran Chronicle
Saturday's service at Sugar Valley Missionary Baptist Church released long-held emotions for the family of Angela Faye Phillips, including her father, James Phillips, left, a young half brother, Jovan Phillips, brother Darryl Phillips and his wife, Sarah.


He's the brother who wouldn't stop calling.

For more than two decades, Darryl Phillips hounded the Houston Police Department and Harris County Medical Examiner's Office about his missing sister.

Phillips finally got some peace on Saturday when he helped lay to rest Angela Faye Phillips, nearly 24 years after she went missing.

The 20-year-old left her south Houston home one September morning in 1986 to catch the bus for a job interview. Loved ones never saw her again.

The loss left an unshakable impression on Darryl, then 18, who promised his now-deceased mother that he would never stop searching for the baby girl of the family.

“My mom died not knowing where her daughter was,” he said. “I wanted to make sure she was found and given a proper burial.”

The young woman known as “Angie Faye” was an athletic tomboy known for winning neighborhood foot races against both girls and boys. She was a prankster who loved to laugh.

Debra Hale Knox, the oldest of the Phillips siblings, said she last spoke to her sister around 1 p.m. the day of the interview.

“A lot of times when folks are missing and they are of age, it's always assumed that they've run away,” Knox said. “But she always called and let somebody know where she was. She had no reason to get up and disappear.”

Four siblings searched the next day, but turned up nothing. Three days after Angela vanished, authorities recovered the remains of a young black female in the 5800 block of Foster on Houston's south side.

At the time, authorities didn't connect the dots.

“It's been a tremendous strain not knowing. I think that back then, had we found out that was my sister, I think we'd have been too distraught. … Only in the last couple of years have I been able to talk about it without breaking down,” Knox said. “At that time, getting even with somebody certainly wasn't beneath us.”

Knox added that she believes her mother grieved until her death in 1989.

In the intervening decades, Angela's determined younger brother kept asking about missing persons, so-called unknowns and Jane Does.
Buried without a name

Darryl Phillips was among the earliest volunteers to join Texas Equusearch, and even traveled to Aruba in 2005 to help look for Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teen who vanished during a high school graduation trip to the Caribbean country.

On the flight back, he mentioned his missing sister to HPD detectives, who vowed to help. Since then, the reopened police investigation, coupled with initiative from forensic anthropologist Sharon Derrick in the medical examiner's office, connected Angela to the remains of an unidentified black female long-since buried without a name at a county cemetery.

In December, the medical examiner's office called Phillips about a possible match to relatives' DNA. Last month, Angela's remains were positively identified.

“It's the same body that they buried and it's the same body that they went back and got,” Darryl Phillips said. “That never changed, but I don't fault nobody but the criminals.”

Last week, the Phillips family gathered at the site where Angela's remains were found and Texas Equusearch erected a wooden memorial cross.

Saturday's heavy clouds seemed to release tears as the celebration of Angela's life began. Two Texas Equusearch trucks parked just outside the church vestibule. An iridescent cotton-candy-pink casket adorned with fresh flowers brought Angela back to the sanctuary of the Sugar Valley Missionary Baptist Church. After all this time, there remained unexpressed emotion unleashed by stirring gospel music and reflections about a young woman they never forgot.
‘There needs to be justice'

“I waited 23 years for this day,” Darryl Phillips told the packed pews. “No matter how long you wait, God answers prayer.”

The experience taught Darryl Phillips to appreciate people while they're living. He even awarded plaques during the service to those who helped bring his family closure, including Derrick.

The mystery is only half solved, the 41-year-old said. Angela's case has been reclassified from missing person to homicide.

“There's forgiveness, but there needs to be justice,” Phillips said. “My passion and dream is to bring some justice. I won't stop until it's done.”
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« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2010, 10:56:40 AM »

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=141626419
Published in Houston Chronicle April 9, 2010

(Guest Book Available at link top of this page)
Angela Faye Phillips


-->The family of MS. ANGELA FAYE PHILLIPS, who had been missing since September 18, 1986, will finally be laid to rest. Her earthly remains will lie in state April 10th 10-11am with funeral service to follow. Both held at Sugar Valley Baptist Church 3200 Brisbane Rev. Robert Ve'an Pastor Interment Houston Memorial Gardens Michael O. Davis Funeral Director.


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« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2010, 11:02:41 AM »

http://www.39online.com/news/local/kiah-phillips-burial-story,0,4034843.story
(Video at above link)
Murder Victim Gets Proper Burial after Two Decades
April 10, 2010

After more than two decades of waiting, a Houston family is finally able to bury their loved one. She went unidentified for twenty three years after her murder.

Angela Phillips disappeared without a trace in 1986 and her family searched endlessly for her but it wasn't until last month that an anthropologist identified a Jane Doe as Angela. Now, the family is relieved this day finally came.

Gospel songs and prayers filled the Sugar Valley Baptist Church. Closure and healing finally came for the Phillips family.

"We're finally at the point where I wanted to be," said Darryl Phillips. "(We wanted to) give her a proper burial."

Darryll Phillips never gave up searching for his younger sister Angela. She disappearing back in 1986, clues to her whereabouts never surfaced. Phillips spent countless nights alongside volunteers of EquuSearch. While searching for his sister, he helped other families find peace of mind. He prayed that one day, he would also get the same.

"It feels real good that we have closure it's what I have been waiting on for a long time and we finally got it," said Phillips.

Phillips recognized those who stood by the family's side at the church service. Among them, Dr. Sharon Derrick, forensic anthropologist who helped the family connect the dots to Angela's disappearance. She had actually been buried as a Jane Doe days after her body was found near Holmes Rd.

"Just keep your faith and never give up hope," said Phillips.

The family's minds are at ease knowing that their loved one, Angela Phillips, will finally be buried next to her mother.

"After we have been struggling for a long time," said Phillips.
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« Reply #7 on: April 29, 2010, 05:00:18 AM »



What an incredible story of a young woman, and her family who was not willing to take no for an answer.  God bless all of you!  I hope you will find the justice you seek for your sister.  Your story has touched me in so many ways and will always reside in my heart.

There is a lesson here for any of us who care to learn.  Sometimes what you seek has been close to you all along, it may take some time and patience to wait until it is unveiled, in God's time, not our own.  There are reasons why she was not found before this, and that is not for us to understand.  Angela's brother talks about why now is a better time to have found his sister than when she was murdered, for God to reveal her to this lovely family.  Your mother did not miss you finding Angela, your Mother was greeted by your sister when your mother left this world, oh, what a happy reunion that must have been.

Trust in God with all your hearts and God will provide you with what you need.   God bless you and all who loved Angela!

 an angelic monkey


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« Reply #8 on: April 29, 2010, 05:33:26 AM »

Family pleads for end to '86 mystery

By CINDY GEORGE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
April 26, 2010, 9:08PM

Relatives of Angela Faye Phillips and the police sergeant investigating her slaying pleaded for the public's help Monday in finding the woman's killer.

Around 6 p.m. on Sept. 24, 1986, a nude woman's body was discovered in a waterlogged field in the 5800 block of Foster on Houston's south side.

It took almost 24 years to identify those decomposed remains as Phillips.

During the Crime Stoppers news conference, Houston Police Department Sgt. Brian Harris revealed new details about the case in hopes of triggering long-ago memories — or someone's conscience — and to offer a reward for information that answers the question: Who killed Angie Faye?

“The slightest detail may help,” Harris said. “The challenge behind a case that's 23, almost 24, years old is locating witnesses, preserving evidence and finding people that were originally interviewed by the investigators.”

Phillips, 20, was last seen riding a bicycle in the 7500 block of Calhoun on the evening of Sept. 18, 1986. She is believed to have been strangled and beaten to death. Phillips was a petite, black female, about 5 feet, 5 inches tall weighing roughly 120 pounds. Her “sandy brown” hair was usually styled with curls, she wore pants more than shorts and liked to wear pink, according to her older sister, Debra Hale Knox.

Looking for ‘Slim'
Investigators want to specifically locate Robert Eppert Jackson, who went by the nickname “Slim” and was known as Billy Jackson.

At the time, he was a slender “heavy narcotics user” in his mid-30s, about 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing roughly 150 pounds, Harris said. He was a “nomad” who slept under a tree near the field where Phillips was found.

“He was known to have some mental problems,” Harris said. “The officers made initial contact with him because on Sept. 26, when officers made their initial canvass of neighborhood, they ran across a neighbor who said around Sept. 18 in the late hours, she heard a scream — a cry for help — a female voice yelling: ‘Help me, help me. Oh God, help me.'”

Leads to other persons of interest hit dead-ends over the years. Phillips' boyfriend, Kenneth Ray Tolder — known as “Crow” — died in 1987.

Her disappearance went unsolved for more than two decades, partly because of missteps by Houston Police Department investigators and the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office.

Circumstantial evidence
A circumstantial case built this year by a forensic anthropologist in the medical examiner's office — now called the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences — led to the identification of those nameless remains as Phillips.

“The family was able to get at least a little bit of satisfaction,” Harris said. “We want to help solve the second portion of this mystery of who did this to her.”

Harris said the case file describes Phillips as leading a “high-risk lifestyle” that included prostituting to pay for her drug habit, but relatives expressed reservations about information from detectives who botched the investigation 20 years ago.

“Just because they found my sister in that area does not mean she was a prostitute,” said Darryl Phillips, who made the family's public plea.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477. Tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward up to $5,000.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6977014.html
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« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2010, 09:57:36 PM »

I hope Darryl Phillips and family find the justice they seek for Angela.
Praise Darryl for the fine volunteer work he does with Texas Equusearch and for never giving up hope of locating his sister Angela.

R. I. P. Angela.   an angelic monkey an angelic monkey ::MonkeyAngel:

___________________________________________________________

Thanks for bringing this to our attention MuffyBee.
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« Reply #10 on: May 02, 2010, 10:07:12 PM »

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6975752.html
One mystery down, one to go
The fate of Angela Faye Phillips may be known, but the hunt for her killer continues

April 26, 2010

TIMELINE

Sept. 17, 1986: Phillips' parents pick up the 20-year-old from her boyfriend's Gulfgate-area apartment after the younger couple have a fight

Sept. 18, 1986: Phillips last seen riding a bicycle down Calhoun on Houston's south side and at a bar in the 4300 block of Holmes; Phillips is reported missing

Sept. 24, 1986: Nude, female body found in an overgrown field in the 5800 block of Foster

Sept. 26, 1986: Autopsy perform on that unidentified female, Case 86-5825

Sept. 29, 1986: Harris County Medical Examiner's Office confirms Case 86-5825 as a black female

Fall 1986:Numerous homicide investigators work the missing person case

October 1986: Medical Examiner's Office declines to make an identification on Case 86-5825

October 13, 1986: Phillips' boyfriend, Kenneth Ray “Crow” Tolder, is interviewed by Houston Police Department investigators

February 1987: HPD investigators cannot confirm, but still believe, the now-buried Case 86-5825 is Angela Phillips

2005: Angela Phillips missing person case reviewed as part of the Houston crime lab investigation

2006: Medical Examiner's Office establishes a forensic anthro-pology division to examine bones and look for trauma in current and cold cases

2007: Medical Examiner's Office sends Case 86-5825 tissue sample to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for possible profile

2008: Case 86-5825 tissue sample submitted again to UNT ID center

October 29, 2009: A volunteer with the International Center for Missing and Unidentified Persons e-mails request asking Harris County Medical Examiner's Office to investigate Case 86-5825 as Angela Phillips

December 2009: Case 86-5825 tissue sample submitted a third time to UNT ID center, but DNA sequence is too short for identification

March 12, 2010: Forensic anthropologist Sharon Derrick submits a report based on circumstantial evidence that identifies Case 86-5825 as Angela Phillips, which is accepted as a positive ID

April 10, 2010: Angela Faye Phillips is laid to rest by her family in Houston

Sources: Houston Police Department; Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences

Mistakes, misunderstandings and missed opportunities by authorities left the mystery of Angela Faye Phillips' disappearance unsolved for more than two decades.

The Houston woman vanished in 1986, but it wasn't until this year that Harris County's forensic science and human expertise finally placed a name on her remains — giving the Phillips family a chance to say goodbye at funeral services earlier this month.

The identification also renews the hunt for the 20-year-old's killer. A Crime Stoppers press conference scheduled for today will reveal additional details about the crime scene and offer a reward for information leading to a suspect's apprehension.

Phillips disappeared in September 1986 after leaving her parents' home in south Houston. Less than a week later, authorities recovered the remains of a young black female in the 5800 block of Foster, on the same side of the city.

Police investigators believed they had found Angela Phillips, a known street person in the area who was “hooked on drugs and prostituting to pay for her habit,” said Brian Harris, the Houston Police Department homicide investigator assigned to the case a month ago.

The height, weight, gender, race and hair of the unidentified corpse matched Phillips.

Police and medical examiner's files both mention a translucent white boot found near or under the remains, but family members were never shown the item.

After the funeral, Phillips' oldest sibling, Debra Hale Knox, said she would have recognized that milky-colored shoe with blue trim.

“There were multiple times that this slipped through the cracks,” said Sharon Derrick, a forensic anthropologist with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences — the new name of the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office.
Difficult case

Investigators first assigned to the case met several other dead ends.

Missing skin made fingerprint identification for the remains impossible, Harris said. And in the 1980s, DNA wasn't commonly used in criminal investigations.

Phillips' boyfriend, Kenneth Ray Tolder — who went by the nickname “Crow” — was interviewed as a person of interest but died about a year later in a construction accident, Harris said.

A pathologist in 1986 determined that the remains belonged to a woman 25 to 35 years old, but a dentist without forensic training placed the corpse's teeth as belonging to someone about 40 years old — all likely a result of Phillips' drug use.

“She was dismissed as the possible identification and that was not followed up for many more years,” Derrick said.

Until recently, no one in the Medical Examiner's Office had the particular assignment or expertise to review acute bone trauma in cold cases.

The office established the forensic anthropology division in November 2006 to review skeletal remains of the unidentified and help recover the bones of the severely burned or dismembered in current cases.

Case 86-5825 came to the attention of the anthropology team after Darryl Phillips spoke with HPD investigators about his sister, which prompted a detective to ask the Medical Examiner's Office if they had DNA from those unidentified black female remains from 1986.

On three occasions since 2007, the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification determined tissue from the case was too degraded to draw any conclusion. There were no resources to pay for exhuming the now-buried remains, so Derrick decided to gather information from various agencies to build a circumstantial case.

“Before our office had an anthropology division, no one would have had time to do that,” she said.
Other investigation

As the case garnered new attention in Houston, a member of the International Center for Missing and Unidentified Persons — an online group of volunteers called the Doe Network — suggested a link between the unidentified woman and Angela Phillips. The network's “match panel” reviewed the evidence and voted to notify authorities.

Dawn Workman Duke, a 38-year-old systems engineer from Diamondhead, Miss., who oversees the network's Texas cases, sent the e-mail last October that landed in Derrick's inbox.

“She told me they were aware of this possible match and were trying to confirm the identity,” Duke said by telephone.

Derrick's investigation also caught similarities that were overlooked long ago, strengthening the connection between the remains and Phillips. Both had a surgically removed lower molar that had healed. Phillips was prone to cavities and the remains had multiple. Both had an appendix. An open-mouthed photo of Phillips, tracked down from an aunt in North Texas, revealed her smile had a noticeable space between the upper two front teeth. The unidentified woman had a similar gap.

X-rays from the skeletal remains also revealed clues about the person's true age. She was hardly in her 20s, not 30 or 40 years old.

A piece of pelvic bone that doesn't fuse until the mid-to-late 20s was “completely open,” Derrick said. The remains had an adolescent upper arm bone and very youthful spine.

In March, Derrick's report on Case 86-5825 was accepted as a positive identification for Angela Phillips.

“It's intriguing. It's putting a puzzle together and solving a mystery,” she said. “It makes us feel so good to be able to provide those answers. It may not be closure or peace for the family, but it gives them an answer.”
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« Reply #11 on: May 02, 2010, 10:10:11 PM »

http://www.39online.com/news/local/kiah-angela-phillips-death-story,0,316661.story
(video)

Family Looking for Closure Two Decades After Murder
April 26, 2010

HOUSTON - Twenty-four years after their loved one was murdered, a Houston family is fighting for closure. They're hoping new evidence will help someone remember and help police catch a killer.
Angela Phillips disappeared in 1986. Her body was found six days later in a field on the south side, but it took 23 years for forensic investigators to finally identify her.

Now, Houston homicide investigators and Phillips' family are asking for the public to help them locate a person of interest. In 1986, investigators were looking at a man who went by the name of Billy Jackson, or the street name "Slim." He was questioned in Phillips' disappearance, but after it was determined dental records did not match Phillips, the investigation went cold. Investigators believe drug use may have damaged her teeth, making it hard to identify her.

Earlier this month, Phillips was laid to rest alongside her mother.

"I made a promise to my mother that we was gonna find my sister. We was gonna give her a proper burial. We done that. Now it's justice time. To the person that done this I promise you we will get justice. We're not gonna stop until you are prosecuted to the full extent of the law," said Darryl Phillips, Angela's brother.

Police also questioned Angela's boyfriend, who was a person of interest at the time as well. He has since died.


Investigators are hoping residents who lived in the area can help them recreate some of the events from 1986.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
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« Reply #12 on: May 02, 2010, 10:13:25 PM »

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6977014.html
Family pleads for end to '86 mystery
April 26, 2010


Andrea Phillips, center and Debra Hale Knox listen as Houston Police Sgt. Brian Harris answers questions Monday about their sister Angela Faye Phillips, whose body was identified almost 24 years after she disappeared. Her killer has never been identified

Relatives of Angela Faye Phillips and the police sergeant investigating her slaying pleaded for the public's help Monday in finding the woman's killer.

Around 6 p.m. on Sept. 24, 1986, a nude woman's body was discovered in a waterlogged field in the 5800 block of Foster on Houston's south side.

It took almost 24 years to identify those decomposed remains as Phillips.

During the Crime Stoppers news conference, Houston Police Department Sgt. Brian Harris revealed new details about the case in hopes of triggering long-ago memories — or someone's conscience — and to offer a reward for information that answers the question: Who killed Angie Faye?

“The slightest detail may help,” Harris said. “The challenge behind a case that's 23, almost 24, years old is locating witnesses, preserving evidence and finding people that were originally interviewed by the investigators.”

Phillips, 20, was last seen riding a bicycle in the 7500 block of Calhoun on the evening of Sept. 18, 1986. She is believed to have been strangled and beaten to death. Phillips was a petite, black female, about 5 feet, 5 inches tall weighing roughly 120 pounds. Her “sandy brown” hair was usually styled with curls, she wore pants more than shorts and liked to wear pink, according to her older sister, Debra Hale Knox.
Looking for ‘Slim'

Investigators want to specifically locate Robert Eppert Jackson, who went by the nickname “Slim” and was known as Billy Jackson.

At the time, he was a slender “heavy narcotics user” in his mid-30s, about 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing roughly 150 pounds, Harris said. He was a “nomad” who slept under a tree near the field where Phillips was found.

“He was known to have some mental problems,” Harris said. “The officers made initial contact with him because on Sept. 26, when officers made their initial canvass of neighborhood, they ran across a neighbor who said around Sept. 18 in the late hours, she heard a scream — a cry for help — a female voice yelling: ‘Help me, help me. Oh God, help me.'”

Leads to other persons of interest hit dead-ends over the years. Phillips' boyfriend, Kenneth Ray Tolder — known as “Crow” — died in 1987.

Her disappearance went unsolved for more than two decades, partly because of missteps by Houston Police Department investigators and the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office.
Circumstantial evidence

A circumstantial case built this year by a forensic anthropologist in the medical examiner's office — now called the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences — led to the identification of those nameless remains as Phillips.

“The family was able to get at least a little bit of satisfaction,” Harris said. “We want to help solve the second portion of this mystery of who did this to her.”

Harris said the case file describes Phillips as leading a “high-risk lifestyle” that included prostituting to pay for her drug habit, but relatives expressed reservations about information from detectives who botched the investigation 20 years ago.

“Just because they found my sister in that area does not mean she was a prostitute,” said Darryl Phillips, who made the family's public plea.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477. Tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward up to $5,000.
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  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
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