[glow=red,2,300]Search effort gains detectives' expertise[/glow]
Kurt Wuest and Bill Kennedy, both retired Lane County sheriff's office detectives, have joined the team at the Corvallis Police Department investigating the May 24 disappearance of Veneta's Brooke Wilberger.
The two, along with Jacqueline Meyer, a retired detective from the Ventura County sheriff's office in Ventura, Calif., come to the team under Project Alert, run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The project provides volunteer, retired investigators to "missing persons" cases all over the nation.
The Alexandria, Va.-based nonprofit organization was established in 1984 and provides services for families of abducted, endangered and sexually exploited children.
We want to keep Brooke out there. We want fresh eyes," said Lt. Ron Noble, the Corvallis Police Department's spokesman in the case of Wilberger, 19, who police say was abducted while working for her sister and brother-in-law at the Corvallis apartment complex they managed.
The department has received more than 4,400 tips in the case but still have no strong leads, Noble said. However, five suspects, including Sung Koo Kim, a 30-year-old Tigard man, remain on a list that began with about 40 names. Kim is being held in Multnomah County on $10 million bail on charges of stealing underwear from three different Portland college dormitories. Kim also faces burglary and theft charges stemming from incidents at George Fox University in Newberg, and at Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Police found more than 3,000 pairs of women's underwear in the house that Kim shares with his parents - along with dryer lint labeled as being from the apartment building where Wilberger was last seen, according to an affidavit filed in Multnomah County court. Kim, however, is not being labeled a "prime suspect," Noble said.
All of the suspects are male, live in the Northwest and police know the whereabouts of all five, but Noble wouldn't say more than that. Asked if any live or once lived at the Oak Park Apartments in Corvallis, where police say Wilberger was abducted, Noble would not comment.
"There's still not really a whole lot of physical evidence, but we're still following up on tips every day," Noble said.
Wuest and Kennedy have a combined 56 years of experience with the Lane County Sheriff's Office. Wuest is used to high-profile cases, working on the case against Diane Downs, who was convicted of shooting her three children, killing one, in Marcola in 1983. "We're going to try and offer anything we can," Kennedy said.
Corvallis police will begin to use the missing children's center's 1-800-THE LOST tip line in their fliers and public service announcements. The center has many resources and corporate sponsors and is "tied in with truckers that can be our eyes and ears" across the country," Kennedy said.
In a room of the Corvallis Police Department dubbed the "Bullpen," about 10 detectives convene around a table for a daily briefing on the Wilberger case. No media have been allowed to attend the briefings.
Although Wilberger is 19, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sometimes takes cases involving 18- to 21-year-olds, said Erin Bruno, a case manager at the center.
The three retired detectives will comb over the entire case - including all leads and tips - to make sure nothing was missed, Noble said.
www.registerguard.com/news/2004/09/05/a1.brookeside.0905.html
