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Wilberger case advances, suspect faces arraignment
Joel Patrick Courtney has been extradited to Oregon, faces 14 counts of aggravated murder
Staff and Wire Reports
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: News
The man accused of raping and killing Brigham Young University student Brooke Wilberger will be arraigned at 11 a.m. today.
Joel Patrick Courtney, 41, was lodged in the Benton County Correctional Facility at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
Extradition orders, issued by Gov. Ted Kulongoski in January, gave New Mexico 90 days to release Courtney for trial in Oregon.
New Mexico District Judge Michael Vigil ordered Joel Patrick Courtney, 41, extradited "forthwith" on Friday, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Linda Lonsdale. Courtney fought the extradition.
Courtney is facing 14 separate counts of aggravated murder - one for each theory of how Wilberger was killed, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of first-degree sodomy, one count of first-degree rape and one count of first-degree sexual abuse.
Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson will seek the death penalty in this case.
A Benton County grand jury also indicted Courtney on charges of attempting to kidnap and rape two other girls at around the time Wilberger vanished.
Courtney was convicted last year in New Mexico for the sexual assault and kidnapping of a foreign exchange student at the University of New Mexico. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison for that crime.
Wilberger, 19 at the time of her disappearance, was cleaning lamp posts on May 24, 2004, outside an apartment complex her sister managed in Corvallis when she vanished, leaving behind her flip-flops and a pail of soapy water.
Her body has not been found despite an extensive search by police and volunteers. She is presumed dead.
Joel Patrick Courtney, 41, was lodged in the Benton County Correctional Facility at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
Extradition orders, issued by Gov. Ted Kulongoski in January, gave New Mexico 90 days to release Courtney for trial in Oregon.
New Mexico District Judge Michael Vigil ordered Joel Patrick Courtney, 41, extradited "forthwith" on Friday, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Linda Lonsdale. Courtney fought the extradition.
Courtney is facing 14 separate counts of aggravated murder - one for each theory of how Wilberger was killed, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of first-degree sodomy, one count of first-degree rape and one count of first-degree sexual abuse.
Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson will seek the death penalty in this case.
A Benton County grand jury also indicted Courtney on charges of attempting to kidnap and rape two other girls at around the time Wilberger vanished.
Courtney was convicted last year in New Mexico for the sexual assault and kidnapping of a foreign exchange student at the University of New Mexico. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison for that crime.
Wilberger, 19 at the time of her disappearance, was cleaning lamp posts on May 24, 2004, outside an apartment complex her sister managed in Corvallis when she vanished, leaving behind her flip-flops and a pail of soapy water.
Her body has not been found despite an extensive search by police and volunteers. She is presumed dead.
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