he was ready for a trial. >> if you go to trial at that point, can you win? >> yes. >> so you don't need to settle? >> no. >> the only reason to settle is to help the family, to get brooke's body? >> we were prepared to go to trial and to secure a conviction and to pursue the death penalty. >> still, the judge wasn't quite ready to move on. he asked both sides to try one last time to settle the case before trial. during weeks of tense talks with joel courtney's attorneys, the prosecutor finally discovered the one incentive that might appeal to courtney and give the wilbergers their daughter back. courtney wanted out of oregon. he might admit to murder and reveal the location of brooke's remains if he could serve his prison time near his own family, in new mexico. >> the wilberger family quickly agreed. anything, they thought, to get brooke back. >> we needed to have the approval of the oregon governor and we needed to have the