CA CA- Nicole Phillips, 23, found asphyxiated, near the embankment of Highway 99 overpass, Tipton, 30 Dec., 2007,

[dotr]

2008 rbbm

Family seeks help in solving murder

TULARE — A grieving family is asking for the public’s help to find out what may have happened to their 23-year-old daughter, Nicole Phillips, who was found murdered Dec. 29

www.recorderonline.com

'TULARE — A grieving family is asking for the public’s help to find out what may have happened to their 23-year-old daughter, Nicole Phillips, who was found murdered Dec. 29 in Tipton.'

“We want to know if anyone saw her at all, even if it was just at a corner store buying gum. Does anyone remember seeing her?” Jim Phillips said. “She’s 5 feet 11 inches tall, blonde hair and blue eyes. She would stand out, especially in Tipton. Someone has to remember seeing her. We are asking for assistance from the community in hopes that someone might have seen her in Tipton on the 28th or 29th and might know of her whereabouts or who she might have seen.”

Information about specifics about Nicole’s murder cannot be disclosed because it will impede the investigation, her parents said. But they were able to share a bit of information leading up to that day.

“She was trying to get her life turned around. She was slightly troubled and living at home but she was looking for a part-time job and planning on returning to College of the Sequoias,” Jim Phillips said.''

Looking back, the family said they can see there were some problems possibly brewing. A few days before Christmas, someone slashed the tires of her brother’s car.''

“She was worried that someone she knew may have done it. Then on Christmas Day our car was shot with BB [gun pellets.]” Jim Phillips said. “She went [to Tipton] to talk to them and see if anyone knew anything.”

Nicole never returned.
Her body was discovered fewer than 24 hours after being dropped off in Tipton.''

 

[dotr]

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article107427047.html

2016 rbbm
''A woman and a girl found dead near the Highway 99 corridor whose deaths were similar. Nicole Phillips, 23, of Tulare was found near the embankment of the Highway 99 overpass in Tipton on Dec. 30, 2007. On Sept. 17, 2008, Molly Ervin, 16, of Visalia was found southwest of Avenue 264 and Drive 94, near the Tagus Ranch Highway 99 exit in Tulare. Both victims were killed by asphyxiation and the FBI is looking at the deaths as possible human-trafficking cases.''

D

CA Post in thread 'CA-Molly Ervin,16,last seen entering older white pickup truck, found partially dressed/strangled, in field, Highway 99,Tulare,16 Sep, 2008, *New/DNA*'

Yesterday at 10:25 AM

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article107427047.html

2016 rbbm.
''A woman and a girl found dead near the Highway 99 corridor whose deaths were similar. Nicole Phillips, 23, of Tulare was found near the embankment of the Highway 99 overpass in Tipton on Dec. 30, 2007. On Sept. 17, 2008, Molly Ervin, 16, of Visalia was found southwest of Avenue 264 and Drive 94, near the Tagus Ranch Highway 99 exit in Tulare. Both victims were killed by asphyxiation and the FBI is looking at the deaths as possible human-trafficking cases.''...

• dotr

 

[Melquiades]

“She was trying to get her life turned around. She was slightly troubled and living at home but she was looking for a part-time job and planning on returning to College of the Sequoias,” Jim Phillips said.''

Looking back, the family said they can see there were some problems possibly brewing. A few days before Christmas, someone slashed the tires of her brother’s car.''

“She was worried that someone she knew may have done it. Then on Christmas Day our car was shot with BB [gun pellets.]” Jim Phillips said. “She went [to Tipton] to talk to them and see if anyone knew anything.”

Nicole never returned.
Her body was discovered fewer than 24 hours after being dropped off in Tipton.''

Both victims were killed by asphyxiation and the FBI is looking at the deaths as possible human-trafficking cases.''

These two bits of information don’t seem to line up at all.

Based on the comments of the father, this is pretty clearly not a human trafficking situation but rather a girl living at home who ran with a rough crowd and was killed by people she knew over some personal grudge/issue.