Brooke Wilberger Search for missing girl continues

No New Leads In Search For Brooke Wilberger

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Police questioned registered sex offenders and residents of an apartment complex where a 19-year-old girl went missing, officials said Wednesday, but they said no new leads were turned up in the disappearance of Brooke Wilberger.

Police also fielded hundreds of tips from across the country, but nothing that has given them a break in the investigation. Police suspect Wilberger was abducted.

A student at Brigham Young University, Wilberger disappeared on Monday from an apartment complex where her sister lives.

Corvallis police Lt. Ron Noble said authorities interviewed nearly every resident of the apartment complex, as well as those in nearby apartments and homes.

They also spoke to all the registered sex offenders living within the county, he said.

Hundreds of volunteers are helping in the search. Some of them handed out fliers to motorists and passers-by.

Others combed through rough, forested terrain near the apartment complex, including Wilberger's friends and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to which Wilberber belongs.

Corvallis resident Daniel Kearl, a member of the county search and rescue unit, has been helping with the search since Monday night, battling through heavy brush and steep ravines.

"For me, the initial energy hasn't worn off," said Kearl, his forearms crisscrossed with red scratches.

Wilberger's parents, who live in Eugene, appeared on national TV morning shows.

"We just want to tell Brooke we love her," Greg Wilberger said on "Good Morning America." "We hope she's well, and that she'll have courage."

Jared Cordon, Wilberger's brother-in-law, said the family has been meeting every morning to coordinate sleep, meals, child care and media appearances.

"We're tired. It's been two days since a lot of us have slept," a visibly weary Cordon told reporters here Wednesday, adding that the family is relying on its faith in the community and God for strength.

"Our hope is to get her back," he said, "and we're not out of gas yet."

Wilberger's family told police that the missing woman is devout and studious, and does not smoke or drink. Her longtime boyfriend is in Venezuela on a Mormon mission, the family said.

Wilberger is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 119 pounds, and has a scar on her right arm from her elbow to her wrist.

She has shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes, and was last seen wearing a gray Brigham Young University sweat shirt, jeans, small hoop earrings and a ring with the initials "CTR" engraved on it.

Corvallis police spokesman Capt. Robert Deutsch said Wilberger's purse, keys and other personal items had been left in her sister's Corvallis apartment and the missing woman's car was still in the parking lot.

A piece of clothing belonging to Wilberger was found in the complex's parking lot, he said, another possible tip-off that she'd been abducted.

Wilberger was cleaning the bulb covers of the tall lamps that line the complex's parking lot Monday morning when her sister left for a few minutes, Deutsch said.

Wilberger has been studying speech pathology at Brigham Young University.

She graduated last year from Elmira High School near Eugene, where she played soccer and track. Wilberger has three sisters and two brothers.

FBI agents and Oregon State Police are assisting in the investigation.