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
and he said, it s not really what it seems like and i ll never be held accountable for this. he said that to your mother? uh-huh. they ll never hold me accountable for this? uh-huh. why did he say that? because i don t think he feels the need to be held accountable for the things that he does. power? yeah, power, and doesn t have to play by the same rules that other people have to. the rules. to investigators, it did seem like joel courtney thought he was playing a game. the inmate whose sister said he had above-average intelligence knew that without physical evidence or brooke s body, it would be nearly impossible for investigators to charge him with murder. by the spring of 2005, fbi scientists were working feverishly, examining every inch of that green minivan joel once drove, hunting for dna evidence. on the day marking the first anniversary of brooke s abduction, her family and police dutifully held a news conference.
she actually asked him, point blank, joel, did you do this? and he said, it s not really what it seems like and i ll never be held accountable for this. he said that to your mother? uh-huh. they ll never hold me accountable for this? uh-huh. why did he say that? because i don t think he feels the need to be held accountable for the things that he does. power? yeah, power, and doesn t have to play by the same rules that other people have to. the rules. to investigators, it did seem like joel courtney thought he was playing a game. the inmate whose sister said he had above-average intelligence knew that without physical evidence or brooke s body, it would be nearly impossible for investigators to charge him with murder. by the spring of 2005, fbi scientists were working feverishly, examining every inch of that green minivan joel once drove, hunting for dna evidence. on the day marking the first anniversary of brooke s
scientists were working feverishly, examining every inch of that green minivan joel once drove, hunting for dna evidence. on the day marking the first anniversary of brooke s abduction, her family and police dutifully held a news conference. privately, the family had held the secret for months that police had a strong suspect and that brooke was likely no longer alive. yet, in public, they held fast. you still have that hope, though. you don t give that up. one year after brooke wilberger disappeared, her tattered picture is still posted on street signs in corvallis. but as local stations played the story of a grim anniversary, some real news was about to break. we were heading back to eugene and we got a call and they said, how far out of town are you? and we said well, not too far. they said, could you come back? unbelievably, that very day, on the one-year anniversary of brooke s disappearance, fbi special agent supervisory joe boyer received a long-awaited