Video Story
Watch VideoJourney for justice
Story By: Nicole Vandeputte
Source: KOAA
Published Mon Jan 05, 2009, 06:30 PM MST
Updated Mon Jan 05, 2009, 08:07 PM MST
A mom from Oklahoma was in Colorado Springs on Monday, hoping to find the man who murdered her daughter. It's the latest stop in a journey that's taken her across the country.
Maggie Zingman started these caravans 3 years ago. She says it was a random murder, and believes he may have left Oklahoma and could be anywhere. While she's still looking for him, she's found new reasons to keep driving.
Driving through downtown Colorado Springs, Zingman says, "You either go crazy, or you do something in honor of them." Her journey for justice has taken her 13,000 miles, through 30 states.
Her car is plastered with images of her daughter Brittany. It's also got facts about her murder. She was killed in her apartment in Tulsa, Oklahoma 4 years ago. She was raped, then strangled. Brittany was laid to rest on her 19th birthday.
Police have DNA, but haven't found Brittany's killer. So, Zingman left her home in Oklahoma, started driving to cities across the country, handing out pamphlets about her daughter's murder in hopes of finding clues.
She says her car gets the most attention. In downtown Colorado Springs, people would stop and stare before she handed them a pamphlet. She says, "She had those eyes when she looked at you. You weren't going to say no to anything. Sometimes when I'm driving people are looking, and I think Brittany you're looking at them aren't you."
She's also fighting for more DNA testing on criminals, and tougher punishment for rapists. She says, "This will not bring closure, but the idea of this man still being out there. I just cannot sit with it. I'll keep doing this in whatever way I can until we find him."
So how does she afford this? She's a psychologist at a women's prison in Oklahoma. She uses savings her time off to make these treks.
This is her fourth caravan. She's heading to Denver next, then Wyoming before going home.
For more information click here: brittanyphillipsmurder.net
