The mystery of what happened to the 19-year-old Brigham Young University student captured national attention during four years of searching. The case came to a resolution in September 2009. Joel Courtney, 43, suspected since 2005 in connection with Wilberger’s abduction, had pleaded guilty to the eerily similar November 2004 abduction and rape in of a 22-year-old New Mexico exchange student. She had escaped the attack to testify against him, leading to his guilty plea.
Courtney was brought back to Oregon in April 2008. Under threat of Oregon’s death penalty, he was headed toward trial when he abruptly confessed in September 2009 to Wilberger’s murder. He lead investigators to her body in the Coast Range near Blodgett in a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table.
Through it all, the Wilberger family, with members living in Corvallis and Veneta at the time of her abduction, showed strength, grace and ultimately forgiveness in the face of a terrible mystery and the sorrowful resolution.
NBC’s lead correspondent for the project, Kate Snow, was interviewed by phone Monday from Philadelphia.
The first question put to her: Why now?
“It’s just one of those stories that all of Oregon knew it, especially (in Corvallis), but I don’t think all of America knew it, and certainly not the twists and turns and how long it took for them (the family) to get this resolution. I mean five years of waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting for this man to finally admit that he was guilty. It’s just an incredible story.”
Snow gave credit for the idea to NBC producer Shane Bishop, who lives in the Medford area.
“He has always known of the story and been following it,” Snow said. “At a certain point after it was all resolved, he reached out to the family. And, quite frankly, I think the reason we’re doing this now is that everyone is finally ready to talk about it. It’s really painful stuff — awful. But, they, the Wilbergers, told me they really want Brooke to be remembered the right way.”
“They wanted to share some of their reflections on her and what this whole process has been like as a family. They are so incredible; they have such grace.”
Snow, who is based out of New York City, visited Corvallis several times for interviews in recent months. She interviewed Brooke’s mother, Cammy Wilberger, and siblings Bryce, Stephanie and Jessica; Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson; and Corvallis Police investigators Capt. Jon Sassaman and Lt. Tim Brewer.
Wilberger was last was seen alive the morning of May 24, 2004, cleaning light posts outside the Oak Park Apartments near Oregon State University, which were managed by her sister and brother-in-law.
The public didn’t know what happened next until five years later:
Courtney had been stalking women that Monday morning. He saw Wilberger, but he drove near Oregon State University and confronted two other women, who would not approach him when he attempted to lure them near his van, supposedly to consult a map. He drove back to Wilberger and stopped the van between her and the building, blocking her from view. He forced her into the van at knifepoint, drove a short distance and then bound her with duct tape. He drove west to a wooded area in the Coast Range near Wren where he later raped and bludgeoned her to death. He concealed her body under woody debris.
After she disappeared, police and volunteer searchers conducted an exhaustive 11-day search.
Seven months later, Courtney came to the attention of law enforcement officer in Albuquerque, N.M., after kidnapping and raping a 22-year-old Russian exchange student in his vehicle near the University of New Mexico. Naked and tied with her own shoelaces, she managed to escape and flag down help when Courtney stopped in an attempt to get drugs.
Snow interviewed the good samaritans who came to the young woman’s aid, but not the woman herself. She also interviewed the New Mexico police officers who arrested Courtney, various investigators and former Gov. Bill Richardson, whose cooperation with former Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski enabled Courtney’s extradition back to Oregon in April 2008.
Courtney pleaded guilty to the New Mexico attack and was sentenced to 18 years in prison, some of which he served while awaiting trial on charges related to Wilberger’s disappearance.
“New Mexico was pivotal. That twist is what leads to the connection being made,” Snow said. “It’s an almost miraculous series of events.”
In September 2009, five years after the search for Brooke Wilberger began and with his capital murder trial just months away, Courtney pleaded guilty and confessed to her rape and murder. He agreed to reveal the location of Wilberger’s body and detail what happened. In return, officials agreed to let him serve out his life sentence at the Penitentiary of New Mexico in Sante Fe, where he is under the highest classification of prisoner confinement.
Courtney refused NBC’s request for an interview.
The NBC film crew revisited where Wilberger’s remains were located and will air police footage from the time of their recovery.
Snow spoke with Courtney’s sister, Dina McBride, and one of the new pieces of information that will be shared in the television report are childhood snapshots of Courtney.
“It’s stunning how normal his childhood looks. He was a cute blond kid. You wonder what went wrong,” Snow said.
Source: Gazettetimes
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