Potsdam, New York, is the kind of place where people don't lock their doors. Or at least, they didn't until October 24, 2011. That afternoon, 12-year-old Garrett Phillips was seen on a surveillance camera riding his Ripstik skateboard home from school. He looked like any other kid. Happy. Normal.
Forty-five minutes later, he was found strangled in his mother’s apartment.
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The question of who killed Garrett Phillips has haunted this small town for over a decade. It’s a case that feels like it should have been solved in hours. There were neighbors who heard a cry. There were people who saw a man jump from a second-story window. Yet, here we are in 2026, and the file is technically still open, though many feel the "justice" system did more damage than the crime itself. Honestly, the story isn't just about a murder anymore; it's about a town that tore itself apart trying to find a villain.
The Prime Suspect and the Trial of Nick Hillary
Almost immediately, the Potsdam police zeroed in on Oral "Nick" Hillary. He was a soccer coach at Clarkson University, a former Army man, and—critically—the ex-boyfriend of Garrett’s mother, Tandy Cyrus.
The theory was simple. Classic, really. A man scorned. Police believed Hillary blamed Garrett for the breakup with Tandy. They figured he snuck into the apartment, killed the boy, and leaped out the window. But theories are cheap. Evidence is expensive.
When the case finally went to trial in 2016, the prosecution's "quilt" of evidence, as the defense called it, was basically just a collection of holes. There was no DNA. No fingerprints. No hair or fiber that placed Nick Hillary in that room. You'd think in a struggle that resulted in a child being strangled, the killer would leave something behind. But the fingernail scrapings from Garrett? They didn't match Hillary.
Instead, the prosecution relied on a grainy video showing Hillary's car driving in the general direction of the apartment. They called it "hunting." The judge, Felix Catena, called it circumstantial. He acquitted Hillary, noting that the inference of guilt wasn't the only reasonable conclusion.
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What the DNA actually showed
Science is supposed to be the "gotcha" moment in true crime, right? Well, in the Garrett Phillips case, it was a mess.
- The STRmix Controversy: Prosecutors tried to use a software called STRmix to claim Hillary’s DNA was on Garrett’s fingernails.
- The Defense Rebuttal: The defense used a different firm, Cybergenetics, which used "TrueAllele" technology.
- The Result: The judge ultimately tossed the prosecution’s DNA evidence, ruling it unreliable.
Without that DNA, the case was paper-thin. It was mostly just a town’s collective "bad feeling" about a man who didn't fit in.
The Deputy in the Room: John Jones
If you've watched the HBO documentary Who Killed Garrett Phillips?, you know there’s another name that keeps coming up: John Jones.
Jones was a St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputy. He was also another one of Tandy Cyrus’s ex-boyfriends. In fact, he was the one she was with before Nick Hillary.
There is surveillance footage from the day of the murder that shows Jones’s car near the scene. There’s also the fact that Jones lived in the same building or very nearby at different points. Why wasn't he the focus? The police claimed they cleared him early on. They said he had an alibi. But for many observers, the disparity in how the two men were treated—one a local deputy, the other a Jamaican immigrant—is the most disturbing part of the story.
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It’s kinda wild when you think about it. You have two ex-boyfriends. Both were in the vicinity. One is interrogated for hours without a lawyer, strip-searched, and dragged through a five-year legal nightmare. The other is barely a footnote in the official police report.
Why the Case Went Cold
The failure to solve the murder of Garrett Phillips often gets blamed on District Attorney Mary Rain. She ran for office on the literal promise that she would "get justice for Garrett." She won. Then she charged Hillary.
But her handling of the case was, by most legal accounts, a disaster.
She was accused of withholding exculpatory evidence—basically, evidence that could prove a defendant's innocence. She was eventually censured and lost her law license for two years due to her conduct in various cases, including this one. When a prosecutor is more focused on "winning" than on the actual facts, the truth usually gets buried.
So, who killed Garrett Phillips?
The trail has gone cold because the initial investigation was so hyper-focused on one man that other leads weren't just ignored—they were potentially erased by time.
- The Fingerprint: There was a fingerprint found on the window. It didn't match Hillary. Who did it belong to?
- The Witness: A neighbor heard the struggle and called 911. They saw a man's silhouette.
- The "Other" DNA: There was foreign DNA found at the scene that never got a confirmed match.
Actionable Steps for True Crime Followers
If you’re looking to understand this case more deeply or support the push for actual answers, don't just stick to the headlines.
First, watch the Liz Garbus documentary on HBO. It’s a masterclass in showing how bias can blind an investigation. It doesn't tell you who did it, but it shows you exactly how the police failed to find out.
Second, look into the civil rights lawsuit filed by Nick Hillary. It highlights the "interrogation" techniques used in small-town departments that lead to wrongful accusations.
Finally, stay updated through local New York outlets like North Country Public Radio (NCPR). They’ve covered this more closely than any national outlet and often report on the rare updates regarding cold case leads in St. Lawrence County.
The reality is that who killed Garrett Phillips remains a question without a legal answer. But for those who have studied the evidence, the answer might not be found in a new suspect, but in the archives of an investigation that was broken from day one. To get to the truth now, investigators would likely need a "blind" review of the physical evidence, completely detached from the original 2011 theories. Until then, Garrett’s family—and the man whose life was nearly ruined—are left in a painful limbo.
Check the latest cold case initiatives in New York State to see if new forensic genealogy techniques are being applied to the remaining "unknown" DNA samples from the Cyrus apartment. That is likely the only way this story ever gets a final chapter.