Brenda Phillips: 1983, Valparaiso

 

  Brenda Jane Buchheit was born in New York on March 2, 1955. Her family later moved to Valparaiso, Indiana. She graduated from Valparaiso High school and went to beauty School.  But she didn’t pursue a career as a beautician. She later went to work at Bethlehem Steel. 

  She married Gregory Joseph Phillips in Valparaiso, Indiana in 1976.  He worked at Bethlehem Steel as well.  Their marriage did not last, however, and they divorced in 1980. 

  Brenda Phillips was living at 3303 Churchview Dr. in Valparaiso and working as a computer programmer for Indiana Information Control in 1983. 

  Churchview Drive is a lovely looking neighborhood.  The homes all look like they were very new in the early 1980’s. They look well maintained today as well. 

   On Sunday September 4th 1983, Brenda’s parents had come to her home because they couldn’t get her on the phone.  They found a trail of blood. Brenda and her car were missing. 

  The police investigation began immediately. They questioned Brenda’s friends, family, and coworkers.  They questioned her ex husband.

  Her car was spotted in Southern Indiana. 

  Brenda’s family and friends mentioned a young man as a possible suspect.  He was a bit odd and had a crush on Brenda.  His parents were neighbors of hers. He had been in town the weekend Brenda disappeared. Police had questioned his family and friends and they discussed the target practice they had been doing over the weekend. This led police to search the area. 

  Frederick Von Almen Jr. was 21 and had been a Marine for three years. He had graduated from Valparaiso High School in 1980. He had a good service record as a Marine. 

  He had received a three day pass and gone to visit his parents that weekend in September in Valparaiso, Indiana. When he showed back up on base, on time, in South Carolina he had scratches on his face and neck. His fellow marines commented that they looked like fingernail scratches and asked him what he’d been up to on leave.

  

 Brenda Phillips was found a few days later about 4 miles southeast of Valparaiso in a shallow grave with brush and old tires piled on top. She had been shot in the head multiple times. She was wrapped in blood soaked bedsheets. 

 The area was wooded and people used it as a spot for target shooting. 

  Police got in touch with the Marine base at Parris Island.  Frederick Von Almen was questioned. His things were searched.  He had Brenda’s car keys in his locker and had driven her car from Indiana to South Carolina. He was arrested and extradited back to Indiana. 

   What he had done on leave was cold blooded murder. On September 4th 1983, Frederick Von Almen Jr. had broken into Brenda’s home while she slept. He probably attempted to rape her. She defended herself by scratching him and fighting him off. He shot her multiple times in the head.  He dragged her, wrapped in the sheets, to the garage. He drove her car to the spot where he had taken target practice and attempted to conceal her body there. Then he fled in her car back to South Carolina. 

 He tried an insanity defense. Jurors saw that he had purposefully taken her, killed her, and hidden the body. They saw that he had fled Indiana and gone back to South Carolina. They weren’t buying his insanity defense. He was convicted and sentenced to 60 years.

  He appealed in 1986 but was not successful. 

  And that is the last I can find of him. I can’t find him in the incarcerated database.  I tried many variations of the name. I can’t find an obituary.  Did he change his name? Is he still incarcerated? Was he freed? Is he out here among us? Is he in a mental health facility? I don’t know. 

   (These early 1980’s ones… it seems like there are so many more violent killers.  They are more impulsive, and messier. They get caught. The days of being able rack up a large count seems to be ending. 

   Police aren’t dismissing missing people as runaways anymore quite as much it seems. More police officers would have experience now with this impulsive and violent crime.)

   Rest in peace Brenda Phillips.  I am so sorry that this happened to you. You deserved a long life.