Oregon teen's killer back in a New Mexico prison
LOS LUNAS, N.M. -- The day after pleading guilty to the 2004 murder of Brooke Wilberger, Joel Courtney arrived in New Mexico to continue serving time for the crime that helped investigators crack the Wilberger case.
Courtney entered the custody of the New Mexico Department of Corrections Tuesday morning at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas, about 30 minutes southwest of Albuquerque, where they took his mug shot.
Wilberger disappeared from outside a Corvallis, Ore., apartment complex on May 24, 2004. Investigators now know she was taken to a secluded location in the Coast Range by Courtney, where he sexually assaulted and murdered her May 25, 2004.
On Nov. 29, 2004, a young woman was kidnapped and sexually assaulted at the University of New Mexico. The woman managed to get away, and the next day Courtney was arrested in connection with the crime.
Investigators in New Mexico working to piece together Courtney's background learned of the Wilberger case and began working with investigators here. By the time Courtney pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 years in a New Mexico prison, authorities in Benton County, Ore., had indicted him for Wilberger's kidnapping and murder.
The case had been transferred to Marion County, Ore., where prosecutors intended to seek the death penalty.
On Friday, Sept. 18, Courtney furnished information that led investigators to Wilberger's body. On Monday, Sept. 21, he pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He will begin serving that sentence once he completes serving time in New Mexico.
