For an unassuming, picturesque town such as Corvallis, Oregon, “ordinary” is what people expected. Each morning people work and fell into their daily routines. Get ready and eat breakfast, drop the kids off at school before heading to work. Summer was right around the corner. Soon there would be more time for fun, leisurely activities. There was a comfort in this monotony. There was no reason to believe that it may ever change. Not so quickly and violently. Not in a parking lot in broad daylight.
A young woman’s scream ripped through the Oak Park Apartments complex. This desperate cry occurred around 10 AM on May 24th, 2004, and by the time residents investigated the parking lot, there was no victim to be seen. All they found was a pair of pale blue flip-flops, abandoned near some cleaning supplies.
Those flip-flops belonged to Brooke Wilberger. At age nineteen, Brooke was the quintessential all-American girl. She was friendly and kind; quick to laugh and even quicker to lend a helping hand. Although Brooke could often be perceived as shy, she did not hesitate to voice her opinion, even if it meant standing up to authority figures. Her favorite food was pizza, and she enjoyed shopping, snowboarding, and playing soccer. But more than anything, Brooke loved spending time with her family, friends, and her serious boyfriend. She came from a loving family, who raised her in the Mormon faith. Her deep-seated faith, combined with her natural compassionate spirit, inspired the young woman to live a life in which she could give back to others. She enrolled at Brigham Young University, where she studied speech pathology. After experiencing speech problems as a young child, this line of education remained close to Brooke’s heart, and she pursed this unfolding path with total dedication. She completed her first year in the spring of 2004. Brooke planned to spend part of her summer in Corvallis, Oregon, visiting her sister and brother-in-law and helping them around the apartment complex they owned.
Brooke Wilberger was doing just that the morning of her abduction. She was busy cleaning lamp posts in the empty parking lot when a man approached her. There were no witnesses to see the man’s face, nor did anyone see what type of vehicle he drove. All they had was that piercing scream.
Stephani Hansen, Brooke’s big sister, became concerned when she didn’t show up for lunch that afternoon. Those who knew her considered the teenager to be a reliable and punctual person. It was highly unusual for Brooke to be late, let alone not show up without warning. Dread crept into Hansen’s stomach, and fearing the worst, contacted the authorities. The Corvallis Police Department, too, believed something was terribly off. Learning about the mid-morning scream only cemented that instinct, and a massive search for the missing teen soon went underway.
Hundreds of volunteers gathered together to find Wilberger. They canvased over 4,200 acres and brought in thousands of tips. During the initial stages of the investigation, detectives zoned in on two possible suspects. Often, the perpetrators are familiar with the victim, including family members and significant others. Because of this, the police first looked at Justin Blake, Wilberger’s boyfriend. While the abduction took place, Blake was in Venezuel, serving on a mission, and he was promptly ruled out. A man named Sung Koo Kim became another prime person of interest. Kim had been released on bail from Yamhill County Jail on the day Wilberger disappeared. Previously, he’d been charged with burglary and theft after he allegedly stole women’s underwear from college dorms. However, after eight months of a thorough investigation, he too was crossed off the list.
In the spring of 2008, a new man came into the detectives’ sights: Joel Patrick Courtney. Courtney had a long history of assaulting young women. This includes the violent beating and rape of a foreign exchange student at the University of New Mexico in November 2005. Fortunately, the victim escaped, and she helped investigators arrest Courtney. Courtney plead guilty to this crime and a judge later sentenced to spend up to 18 years in prison.
While he sat in there in prison, the Corvallis police linked him to Wilberger’s disappearance. For months, detectives talked back and forth with Courtney, trying to pull out every ounce of valuable information from him. Their discussion came to a point where Courtney was ready to tell the true story of what happened on that fateful spring day. In a detailed confession, he spoke of how he approached Wilberger in the parking lot, disguising himself as a delivery man. When the nineteen-year-old got close, he pulled a knife and forced her into his van, where he then bound her with duct tape. He drove her to two locations. First, he took Wilberger to an isolated wooded area. He returned to town hours later for a bite to eat, all while keeping Wilberger bound and gagged in the van. They spent the night deep in the forest. When morning arrived, Courtney sexually assaulted the teen. Wilberger tried her best to fight back. Her attempts infuriated Courtney, and he beat her over the head until she succumbed to her wounds. Once she no longer breathed, he buried her deep in the woods, where he hoped no one would discover the true depravity of his crimes.
With the truth out in the open, Courtney felt he had no choice but to reveal the burial site. He offered his young victim’s location in exchange of the death penalty being dropped. Investigators successfully recovered Wilberger’s remains, and her family finally laid her to rest in the Oak Hill Cemetery of Eugene, Oregon.
Joel Courtney entered a guilty plea for the rape and murder of Brooke Wilberger. He received a sentence of life in prison.
For the Wilberger family, life continues on without their beloved Brooke. But even in her absence, they continue to cherish her memory. “I’ve watched her good friends graduate from college, get married, and have their own families now,” Camille Wilberger, Brooke’s mother, said in a 2015 interview. “While it’s bittersweet for me, I’m so happy for them. It’s like, ‘Oh, that would be Brooke.’ I just remember her as such an integral part of our family - very sweet and very kind.”
