After nearly half a century, the Broward Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Homicide Unit has resolved a once unsolved tragedy that has lingered over the community. The 1975 cold case of the brutal murders of Darlene Zetterower and Barbara Schreiber, both 14, has finally reached its conclusion as investigators identified Robert Clark Keebler and Lawrence Stein as the perpetrators, both of whom are now deceased. The teen girls were last seen alive in Hollywood, getting into a white van, as reported by WSVN.
These grim events unfolded after Zetterower and Schreiber entered Keebler's van; their bodies were found the following day on the edge of the Everglades, having been sexually assaulted and murdered. The break in the case came as a result of advancements in DNA testing technology and new witness information, which together provided enough evidence to name Keebler and Stein as the culprits, as described by BSO detective Andrew Gianino in a statement to NBC Miami. Despite their extensive criminal backgrounds, ranging from violence to burglaries and child kidnappings, no one had been able to link them to this case until now.
While the detectives leading the investigation have expressed that these findings offer a sense of closure, the haunting reality that the accused will not face trial remains. "It devastated us, it destroyed us. It didn't break us but our hearts will ever be broken," Kimberly Schreiber, Barbara’s sister, told NBC Miami during a news conference. Keebler, having passed away in 2019, and Stein, in 2005, evaded the full weight of justice for their crimes.
An important piece of the investigation was a witness who claimed to have seen the teens getting into the van, a vital testimony that had not been previously recorded. This new evidence, combined with DNA from the victims’ clothing, helped seal the case. The BSO Cold Case Unit, which embarked on solving these types of cases full-time in 2019, credits meticulous police work and scientific advances for this breakthrough, as WSVN reported.
Much speculation has surrounded whether the so-called Flat Tire Murders, homicides that plagued Miami-Dade and Broward counties throughout the mid-1970s, were connected to Keebler and Stein. However, Gianino, as mentioned during his latest briefing, stated, "I don't feel that these defendants are responsible for those cases, they have an entirely different MO that does not fit theirs," as noted by NBC Miami.
