PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- A mother from Oklahoma came to Portland Tuesday, hoping for a break in the case of her daughter's murder 7 1/2 years ago.

Brittany Phillips was raped and suffocated in her Tulsa, Oklahoma apartment when she was 18 years old. Police have DNA evidence from her killer, but they haven't found a match.

Phillips mother, Maggie Zingman, travels the country twice a year in her eye-catching "Caravan to Catch a Killer," telling her daughter's story to anyone who will listen. Zingman believes Brittany's killer likely left Oklahoma, and so she's hoping for a tip that will lead to his arrest.
Zingman said, "It scares me about other parents, that he could be doing this to other families. On the other hand, at 7 1/2 years, I have to accept that we may never find him. But I'm not going to stop trying."
Zingman also tries to build public support for bills that require police to take DNA samples from people arrested for violent crimes. Maine's legislature gave initial approval to a bill to do that last year, but ultimately rejected it this year because of its cost. The ACLU of Maine also opposes these laws because it feels they invade the privacy of people presumed to be innocent.
If you have any information about Brittany Phillips's murder, you are asked to call Tulsa Police at (918) 596-9141. You can learn more about the case on Zingman's website: http://brittanyphillipsmurder.net
Zingman also is trying to create a database of unsolved homicides. You can learn more about that on the website as well.

NEWS CENTER