Dateline: Who was Joel Courtney and what do we know about his crimes? Details of the 2004 incident, explored

NBC’s Dateline episode titled, Bringing Brooke Home reveals the gruesome details of the kidnapping and eventual murder of 19-year-old Brooke Wilberger, who suddenly disappeared on May 24, 2004. It was later discovered that the gruesome act was done by Joel Courtney, who almost got away until he tried to commit another similar crime and was caught.

The synopsis of the Dateline episode reads:

Brooke Wilberger was 19 when she was kidnapped. Her family begged for her return, but months passed before police got their first break: a similar attack more than a thousand miles away.

More on this in our story.

Dateline: Who was Joel Courtney and what do we know about his crimes? Details explored

In the Dateline episode, Brooke Wilberger's family described her as being a considerate and caring teen who excelled in various sports. A student at Brigham Young University, Brooke was back at her home in Oregon for her summer vacation. She began working in the Oak Park Apartments in Corvallis, which was managed by her sister, Stephanie, and her husband.

She was kidnapped on May 24, 2004, from the Corvallis apartments during her work hours. However, there was no witness at the crime scene, and only a scream was heard by one of the residents at around 10.30 a.m., which made the job difficult for the police. After a community search and police investigation, nothing was found on what happened to Brooke or where she was.

According to Dateline, a hopeful scenario arrived for the Corvallis police when reports about a young woman escaping from her kidnapper in Albuquerque, New Mexico, reached them. Dara Finks, a waitress, helped a young woman who was trying to escape her kidnapper by taking her into her SUV in which she was traveling with her three daughters.

The 22-year-old Russian exchange student identified her kidnapper who was sitting in his red compact car. After Dara informed the police and the description of his car given to them, the police were finally able to nab the perpetrator.

Joel courtney was arrested for kidnapping and s*xual assault, but that was not all as the police suspected more. Prosecutor Theresa Whatley told Dateline’s Kate Snow:

"You don’t start grabbing people in broad daylight off a street and grab them into your car when you’re almost 40, that’s not the way the criminal mind works."

As the police started looking into Courtney, they found a plethora of offences committed by him such as a restraining order filed by his wife and being in Juvenile custody for s*xual offences that he committed. A great opportunity arised when the background check on Courtney sent the investigators to his DUI case in Lincoln County Oregon, who further connected them to Corvallis police as their s*xual offence case sounded similar to the Brooke Wilberger case.

This new development put Joel Cortney in the midst of the crime when the police found out that he was present in the area in May with his family. Further investigation resulted in the investigators finding DNA of Brooke and Courtney in a work van that he drove around during his time in Oregon.

Joel Courtney was then charged and arrested for kidnapping the 19-year-old Brooke.

Dateline: Joel Courtney found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Brooke Wilberger

As revealed in the Dateline episode, it took five years and in 2009, Joel Courtney finally pleaded guilty for his heinious crimes of kidnapping, s*xually assaulting, and aggravated murder of Brooke Wilberger, in order to avoid the death penalty. He was then sent to prison for life without a chance to parole.

He also revealed where he had hidden Brooke’s body in exchange for letting him spend his life sentence in New Mexico to be closer to his family.

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Also Read: Dateline: 5 harrowing details about Scott Sessions’ murder, explored

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