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Courtney Vows To Fight Extradition To Oregon
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The man accused of killing 19-year-old Brooke Wilberger was in an Albuquerque court Thursday for his arraignment, but it may be some time before he stands before an Oregon judge.
Joel Courtney, 39, has vowed to fight extradition to Oregon, which will force the state go through all the legal hoops before he can be tried for Brooke Wilberger's murder.
Homicide investigators throughout the nation have their eyes on Courtney, the man accused not only of murdering Wilberger, but who also faces charges in a kidnapping and rape case in New Mexico.
Striking similarities between the two cases have investigators wondering if they have a serial killer on their hands, one who targets pretty, blonde college students.
Kari Brandenburg, Bernalillo County District Attorney, told KATU News the two cases sent up a disturbing red flag signaling that Courtney could be responsible for multiple deaths in multiple states.
"They have similar characteristics," she said. "You look at the time of day that the crime was allegedly committed - in daylight. You look at the individual's background and I think that anyone would wonder about that and wonder if there aren't other cases out there."
Brooke Wilberger appears to share physical similarities with the New Mexico rape victim who was able to escape her attacker. Witnesses described the woman as an attractive college student with long, straight, blonde hair, a light complexion and a petite build.
Brandenburg suspects investigators throughout the country are now reviewing their cold case homicides, especially in places where Courtney once lived - Alaska, New Mexico, Oregon and Florida.
"It's like a TV show or the movies that you see where you have a police department somewhere where the defendant possibly lived or traveled through and they say they have a case that is not solved. They go back and look at that case and try to determine if perhaps this is an individual who can be considered a suspect," she said.
Meanwhile, we are learning more details about the case in New Mexico that led to Courtney's arrest.
Last November, Dara Finks, a waitress and mother of four, saw a young woman, nearly naked, running across an Albuquerque street.
Finks got the frantic woman, who said she had just been attacked, into her car.
"She was freaking out," Finks told KATU News. "She said 'he's going to get me, he's going to get me, he's got a knife, he's going to kill me.' So I told her to get in the car. I won't let anyone hurt you. Lock the door. And he was right there at the light."
Finks says the woman had deep red marks on her neck where a knife had apparently been held. Albuquerque police took Joel Courtney into custody just a few hours after the assault.
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Is there anyone who thinks this guy has done this only three times in 20 years? I don't think so," KATU Crime Expert C.W. Jensen said.
Brooke Wilberger and the woman Courtney is accused of raping in New Mexico are similar in appearance. According to Jensen, preying on the same type of victim is common among serial rapists and murderers.
"(They) obviously have a favorite victim that they fantasize about and so should that opportunity present itself, they would go after that," he said.
Jensen added that serial criminals strike wherever they are. Although we do not know whether Courtney can be tied to crimes where he moved, we can look at his travels for 2004.
In January, he got a speeding ticket in Newport, Oregon. In March, his listed address was in Pensacola, Florida. In May, he got a speeding ticket in La Grande, Oregon, listed a Cocoa Beach, Florida address and drove a car licensed in Minnesota. In November, he was arrested on kidnapping and rape charges in New Mexico.
"A zebra doesn't change its stripes and a sex offender doesn't change their behavior," said Jensen.
That is why law enforcement agencies from Alaska to Florida, and everywhere in between, will be looking at Courtney's DNA very carefully.
For example, KATU News spoke with detectives in Anchorage, Alaska, one of the places where Courtney lived, and they said they plan to search their unsolved case files. They said when Courtney's DNA is available, they will be comparing it to their own evidence.
