Kate Snow Voiceover a College Student vanishes. I had this Chill Go through my whole body. They asked us, well, do you have a Crime Scene . No, we dont, other than flipflops in a Parking Lot. We had a community that was scared whos going to be the next victim. Kate Snow Voiceover 1,000 Miles Away, another student in danger. She said hes got a knife. Hes trying to kill me. There were guns, and there was a girl there, and there was blood. This is not the first time hes done this. Kate Snow Voiceover one case would help solve the other, one man behind two mysteries. This was dynamite to us. Thats the smoking gun. Youre not going to believe what we found. Wed gotten so close. I want to know where she is. Kate Snow Voiceover some images are eternal, timeless. Happy day Kate Snow voiceover one moment, the future seems immeasurable, the possibilities endless. But in an instant, you can be left with only memories to hold till the end of time. Brooke wilberger lived as if she had all the time i
Narrator Joel Patrick Courtney was sitting in jail in albuquerque. It was december 2004. The married father of three was facing decades in prison if convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault, and battery charges. As investigators began checking out the possible link to Brooke Wilbergers case, a call went out to her family. They had waited more than six months for news, any news, about their daughters disappearance. Now, there was a man in custody who they thought might be able to reunite them with their daughter, just as Elizabeth Smart had been returned to her family. What are you thinking in that when you hear this . Actually, i had prayed so faithfully all fall that whoever had done this would make a mistake. And when i heard the news, i thought, they made a mistake. They tried it again. And No One Else knew what id prayed, because i hadnt told anyone else, because it was always, Find Brooke. You know, help us to Find Brooke. I guess that was a selfish prayer, you know, to help whoeve
door, i love you. and that was last time i talked to her. i said worth broke, he said we can t find her. a college student vanishes. i had this chill go through my whole body. they asked us do of the crime scene? no we don t, we have flip-flops in a parking lot. we had a community that was scared, who is going to be the next victim? 1000 miles away, another student in danger. she said he s got a knife and trying to kill me. there was a girl there and there was blood. this is not the first time that he s done this. one case would help solve the other. one man behind two mysteries. this was dynamite to us, that is the smoking gun. you re not going to believe what we found. we ve gotten so close. i want to know where she is. some images are eternal. timeless. one moment of the future seems immeasurable, the possibilities endless. but, in an instance, you can be left with only memories to hold until the end of time. brooke wilbur lived as if she had
the evidence pointed to an abduction, but investigators started with questions for the people closest to the victim. first question, where was brooke s boyfriend, justin? it turned out he was serving a two-year mission for the mormon church 4,000 miles away in venezuela. next, brooke s family. we needed to go through, is the family a suspect? and we had to get that work done and we had investigators doing that. stephanie was just grilled about, you know, where was she? why don t you know where she was? and did you do it? that had to be awful. it was awful. it was it is awful. it was terrible. we made the decision that we as a family, we would do anything to get brooke back, whatever the police asked us to do, we will do it. if they suspect us, that s okay. we don t care. we want to find brooke. and soon a community came together. within hours of brooke s disappearance, dozens, then hundreds of people showed up, many from the wilberger s church. others, concerned citiz
her family s hopes were fading. slim, yet steadfast. what was that thanksgiving like around that table? we still had a good time. just because we love each other and we still are pretty hopeful. i think when we get together, for myself, brings a lot of joy and a lot of comfort. and so even though we missed brooke, there was there was just comfort in being together. police announced the reward had been doubled, hoping more money would loosen lips and shake out new leads but even investigators felt trapped as if it were groundhog day. we don t have a suspect. we don t have any clear leads. every press conference, simply another chance to make the same plea help us find brooke. the investigation had kind of gotten to a point where they were still plugging away, following up on tips, still talking to people, still turning over rock, still searching. and we were, at that point, just hoping for something to break. just waiting? it was difficult. when you don t have that