Police, family speak on the anniversary of woman's disappearance

By Jennifer Nitson
Gazette-Times reporter

A young woman went missing one year ago on May 24 and almost 4,000 acres of land have been searched.

Police investigators have received 5,000 tips regarding the apparent abduction — including 500 possible sightings, 500 potential suspects named to police, 450 tips from psychics, and information on 250 suspect vehicles.

So far police have looked closely at 60 "persons of interest," and have conducted polygraph tests, served search warrants and subpoenas.

Dozens of investigators from a task force that includes Corvallis police, the Benton County Sheriff's Office, the FBI, Oregon State Police and the Benton County District Attorney's Office have spent untold hours compiling

information and chasing leads.

Thousands of community volunteers have assisted in the search for Brooke Wilberger since she disappeared while cleaning lamp posts in a Corvallis apartment complex parking lot on a sunny day last spring.

A Web site set up to aid the investigation, findbrooke.com, has received almost 500,000 hits.

Divers have searched bodies of water, and Foster Lake near Sweet Home was searched with high-tech sonar equipment. Even satellite photos have been scoured for clues.

The task force can access the latest technology when needed in the search, and its investigation is still, seemingly, very near square one.

At a press conference Tuesday morning, Corvallis Police Capt. Ron Noble described the investigation — what's been done, what they know now and where it might lead.

"Are we any closer to solving the case today than we were May 24, 2004?" Noble said in response to a reporter's question. "Only by the standpoint that we know what hasn't happened."

For instance, Noble said, the task force firmly believes Wilberger did not run away. They also believe she was not abducted by an acquaintance, friend, family member or boyfriend.

Investigators "strongly believe the incident was a stranger abduction."

Still, with little evidence but the cleaning supplies and a pair of flip flops left behind on the asphalt, and no leads that have panned out, investigators are still waiting for that one tip — the break that will lead to Wilberger or her abductor, Noble said.

"Either the right phone call, the right bit of information right now. ... What we need is that one piece," he said.

Tips are still coming in, though at a much slower rate than in the first few weeks, when the tipline received more than 100 per day. It's down to about one per week, Noble said.

The investigation will not end, Noble said, until every bit of information investigators have has been exhaustively checked out.

"Even though the leads are starting to dwindle, we're not done yet," he said. "Not a day goes by that some work doesn't get done on this case."

Television and print reporters jockeyed for space at the press conference, trying to achieve the best camera angle or at least see the front of the room.

When the missing woman's parents, Greg and Cammy Wilberger, and brothers-in-law Zak Hansen and Jared Cordon seated themselves to make statements and take questions, they were asked why Brooke Wilberger's case has garnered so much media attention.

"Brooke was just an ordinary girl in the wrong place," Cammy Wilberger said. "I think people can identify with that. When people see that, they think that ‘It could be my child.' "

And it could be, she said, stressing that people should be aware of their surroundings at all times, for their own safety.

Cordon said his sister-in-law's abduction has made him much more aware of crimes against women. He described society as generally oblivious or callous about violence against women. He hopes the investigation and the attendant publicity spread awareness.

"We've had a lot of people say ‘Keep doing what you're doing because it's good for all missing people. It's good for all women,' " Cordon said.

The family appealed to the sensibilities of the person responsible for the abduction.

"Bring her back," Hansen said. "You've had her for a year. I think it's time you bring her back to us."

Cammy Wilberger added: "Come forward with what you know."

She continues to express hope that her daughter will be found alive, and indicated that she is grappling with the idea that her fifth child — the second to the youngest — may be dead.

"You never as the parent ever give up," she said. "You always have that piece of hope, but you come to a realization that finding her alive is not as much of a percentage as it was in the beginning."

The family said they are trying to get on with their lives and hold onto hope at the same time, but the strain of not knowing what happened to their loved one gets overwhelming at times.

"We're still dealing with the unknown, and that's the piece that we need to resolve, so we can work on moving on," Cammy Wilberger said. "Coping mechanisms don't last forever."