The Murder of Brooke Wilberger

Brooke Carol Wilberger was a 19-year-old American student from Oregon. She had three sisters and two brothers and was described as a devout member of the church.

In May 2004, Brooke was on summer vacation and was working for one of her sisters. On 24th May 2004, Brooke was last seen cleaning lamp posts in a parking lot her sister managed.

In November 2004, a foreign exchange student attending the University of New Mexico was beaten and raped before escaping. She identified Joel Patrick Courtney as her attacker; he played guilty to the attack. Police eventually linked Courtney, an Oregon native, to Brooks disappearance. In August 2005, Courtney was charged with 19 counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, sexual abuse, rape and sodomy. It was revealed that Courtney had been close to the area where Brooke had last been seen and had been driving a green van that was spotted by witnesses near the scene. Brooke’s DNA and hair were found inside the van.

Courtney confessed that he had abducted Brooke from the parking lot on the morning of 24th May 2004 before driving her to the woods at the side of town. He had returned to town to buy food, leaving Brooke bound in his van. The next morning, he had raped Brooke and bludgeoned her to death. Courtney pled guilty to aggravated murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. His guilty plea spared him from the death penalty as did his plea bargain that he would provide information about the location of Brooke’s body. The deal also called for Courtney to be imprisoned in his home state of New Mexico. Brooke’s body was recovered from a wooded area on the Oregon Coast Range.