Nearly 50 years after two teen girls were brutally murdered in Broward, detectives believe they've identified a suspect in the cold case.
Barbara Schreiber and Darlene Zetterower, both 14, had been sitting on a bench in Hollywood on a June day in 1975 when a white van pulled up.
The girls, who were on summer break as they prepared for their first year of high school, had been frequent hitchhikers and apparently willingly got in the van, authorities said.
They were never seen alive again.
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The next morning, their bodies were discovered by a famiy that was on a fishing outing near Interstate 75 in the Florida Everglades, near an area known as "Andytown."
They had been sexually assaulted and shot to death, their bodies left on a dirt road.
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The double murder was investigated but went cold. Dozens of detectives and investigators looked into it over the years, but there were few answers.
"They're never heard from again, there's no technology to trace, it was a very hard case to solve from the onset," Broward Sheriff's Office Cold Case Homicide Detective Andrew Gianino said in a new BSO video about the case.
Using the girls' clothing, investigators were able to obtain DNA, and a full DNA profile of a suspect emerged.
Gianino said the combination of DNA testing and detective work have led to the emergence of a suspect in the homicide.
The suspect, a man named Robert Clark Keebler, died a few years ago. His criminal history included armed robbery, sexual assault and aggravated assault from California to South Florida, Gianino said.
Gianino said investigators are still trying to determine the connection between Keebler and the girls.
“We are trying to figure out how, if, their two universes would have crossed paths back in 1975. It’s difficult to reconstruct the past that’s 48 years old,” he said.
Gianino also believes a second suspect may have been involved in the murders.
"It's sad, I mean two 14-year-old girls to be murdered in such a way, it's just sad, there's no other way to explain it, senseless, actually," he said.
The discovery could be even more significant if it can help authorities learn more abut the so-called Flat Tire Murders, in which at least a dozen girls and women were found slain in Miami-Dade and Broward between 1975 and early 1976.
“If anybody remembers Darlene and Barbara, anything about them, anything about what occurred in June of 1975, associations, friendships, I ask them to give us a call," Gianino said. "It may mean nothing to them but everything to us."
A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for information in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
