Do you know who murdered David? In the winter of 1992, a season typically marked by festive cheer, a shocking act of violence shattered the peace of a Tulsa, Oklahoma home and left a family irrevocably broken. On the evening of December 7th, while his parents were out Christmas shopping, 19-year-old David Phillips, a Caucasian male, was brutally murdered in his bedroom. The young man, who was mentally handicapped, was discovered shot in the head, likely killed shortly after waking.
The horror of the scene was
compounded by the discovery of David's older brother, 26-year-old Robert 'Bobby' Phillips, who had also been slain. Investigators believe Bobby arrived home around 8 p.m. and was immediately attacked, bludgeoned with the blunt end of an axe. His body was then moved to a small bathroom. Evidence at the scene suggested a chilling narrative: the killer or killers had lingered in the house for hours, watching television and drinking soft drinks while waiting for their victims. In an attempt to conceal the crime, the perpetrators lit candles and turned on the gas, a failed effort to set the house ablaze and destroy any evidence. The family's car, which was missing from the garage, was found the next morning in the parking lot of a local high school.
In the years following the murders, the investigation stalled for lack of a clear motive. The Phillips brothers were not involved in any activities that would seemingly make them targets for such a violent crime. However, a break in the case came when police began to suspect the murders were a tragic case of mistaken identity. They drew parallels to the 1991 murders of Coy and Tonya Wilkerson, which bore striking similarities, including an attempt to burn the victims' home.
Authorities now believe the intended targets were Jill and Jim Phillips, the parents of Tonya Wilkerson, who had been relentlessly pursuing a man named Jackie Wright for their daughter's murder. Investigators theorize that the killers, intending to silence the Wilkerson family, mistakenly went to the home of the Phillips family. While the case of David and Bobby Phillips officially remains unsolved and no one has ever been charged for their murders, police have long suspected that Jackie Wright was responsible. Wright was eventually convicted and sentenced to life without parole for the Wilkerson murders. Despite this conviction, the family of David and Bobby Phillips has been left without definitive answers or legal closure for the violent loss of their sons.
