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YOUR COMMUNITY ... YOUR NEWSPAPER
SATURDAY
APRIL 19, 2008
WWW.GAZETTETIMES.COM
Without body, state must prove death
ton County prosecutors in the trial of
Joel Patrick Courtney, who stands accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering Brooke Wilberger, a 19-year-old
college student who disappeared from
a Corvallis apartment complex on
BY BENNETT HALL
May 24, 2004.
GAZETTE-TIMES REPORTER
Though Wilberger is presumed
How can you convict someone of dead, her body has never been found.
murder without a body?
But that doesn’t mean a murder
That’s the challenge faced by Ben- conviction is out of the question — far
Murder conviction not
uncommon even when
victim is never found
Judge: Kids
must take
DNA tests
WILBERGER CASE
from it, legal experts say.
“It’s certainly harder if you don’t
have a body, but not as hard as you
might think,” said Susan Rozelle, who
teaches classes in evidence and criminal law at the University of Oregon
School of Law.
Affidavits unsealed this week in the
Wilberger investigation offered a
glimpse into the kinds of evidence
Benton County District Attorney John
Haroldson might present at trial.
According to the documents, investigators searched the New Mexico
home of Courtney’s estranged wife
and seized physical evidence that included hair fibers possibly belonging to
Wilberger. The documents also cite
witness accounts placing Courtney in
the area of the Corvallis apartment
complex about the time Wilberger disappeared.
Prior to his extradition to Oregon,
Courtney was convicted of abducting
a young woman near the University of
New Mexico campus and raping her at
knifepoint.
SEE MURDER | A7
Students Partner Up For Live History Lesson
Polygamous-sect children
ordered to stay in custody
BY MICHELLE ROBERTS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAN ANGELO, Texas — More than 400
children taken from a ranch run by a polygamous sect will stay in state custody and be
subject to genetic testing, a judge ruled Friday.
State District Judge Barbara Walther
heard 21 hours of testimony over two days
before ruling that the children be kept by
the state. Individual hearings will be set for
the children over the next several weeks.
She ordered that all 416 children and parents be given genetic testing. Child welfare
officials say they’ve had difficulty determining how the children and adults are related
because of evasive or changing answers.
The raid was prompted by a call from
someone identifying herself as a 16-yearold girl with the Fundamentalist Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which operates the ranch. She claimed her 50-yearold husband beat and raped her.
Colorado Springs officials this week arrested 33-year-old Rozita Swinton on suspicion of making a false report. The Texas
Department of Public Safety said Friday
that she became a “person of interest’’ several days after the April 3 raid.
Business
students vie
for reward
Competition gives OSU an
idea of what a real-world
venture would be like
BY KYLE ODEGARD
GAZETTE-TIMES REPORTER
Oregon State University MBA student
Mike Peterson stood next to what looked
like a science experiment — a yellow suitcase with wires attached to a cylindrical
piece of wood — and schmoozed with
businesspeople who walked past.
“It’s a revolutionary new way to test the
strength of utility poles,”Peterson explained.
ANDY CRIPE | GAZETTE-TIMES
Franklin School fourth-graders Joe Kim, left, and Ian Bogley participate in a mock sword fight during the Medieval Faire on Friday afternoon
at the school. Earlier, the knights participated in a joust, much to the delight of the crowd of nearly a hundred spectators in attendance.
Medieval revival
‘Merlin,’
Andrey
Kornilovich,
performs
magic tricks
for the royal
court and
assembled
crowd of
fellow
students
and parents
Friday
afternoon
during the
Medieval
Faire.
Huzzah!: Franklin, Wilson
students put on 13th annual
Medieval Faire
Lords and ladies, knaves and knights alike
shouted the traditional cheer of approval over
and over Friday afternoon during the 13th
annual Medieval Faire organized by the two
classes from Wilson and Franklin schools.
More than 100 costumed classmates,parents
BY CAROL REEVES
and siblings huddled together for warmth as
GAZETTE-TIMES REPORTER
Lord Parthos (Theodore Gorchels) and Lady
It may take a lifetime for the students in Catherine (Lillian Beck),representing Franklin,
John Ulrich and Jennifer England’s fourth- and Lord Ian (Walton) and Lady Lauren
grade classes to forget one part of their recent (Rodgers), from Wilson, were ushered into a
study of medieval history: Huzzah! Huzzah!
SEE MEDIEVAL | A7
SEE CHALLENGE | A7
Golden years really are golden, says study
Oldest Americans are also
the happiest, research finds
BY LINDSEY TANNER
AP MEDICAL WRITER
CHICAGO — Eye-opening new research finds the happiest Americans are the
oldest, and older adults are more socially
active than the stereotype of the lonely senior suggests. The two go hand-in-hand:
Being social can help keep away the blues.
“The good news is that with age comes
happiness,’’ said study author Yang Yang,
a University of Chicago sociologist. “Life
gets better in one’s perception as one ages.’’
A certain amount of distress in old age
NAM Y. HUH | ASSOCIATED PRESS
is inevitable, including aches and pains
George O’Hare, 81, a retired Sears manager from Willowbrook, and the deaths of loved ones and friends.
Ill., is seen at his home Wednesday.
But older people generally have learned to
INSIDE
146th year, No. 110
3 sections, 28 pages
© 2008, Gazette-Times
50 cents
INDEX
Classified ads............C1-10
Comics ...........................B5
Community ..............A3, A6
Crossword ......................C4
Daybreak........................A2
F.Y.I.................................A6
Lotteries .........................A7
Nation/World................A10
Obituaries ......................A6
People ............................A9
Religion.......................B6-7
Sports..........................B1-4
Stock markets.................B8
Sudoku ...........................C2
TV/Advice.......................A8
53
be more content with what they have than
younger adults, Yang said.
This is partly because older people have
learned to lower their expectations and accept their achievements, said Duke University aging expert Linda George. An
older person may realize “it’s fine that I
was a schoolteacher and not a Nobel prize
winner.’’
George, who was not involved in the
new study, believes the research is important because people tend to think that
“late life is far from the best stage of life,
and they don’t look forward to it.’’
Yang’s findings are based on periodic
face-to-face interviews with a nationally
representative sample of Americans from
1972 to 2004. About 28,000 people ages 18
to 88 took part.
SEE GOLDEN | A7
For Eastern
Orthodox
Christians, today
marks the beginning of
Passion Week. B6
1
Facts
2
4
5
Quick
On Friday, Pope
Benedict XVI
became the first
pope to visit an
American synagogue. B7
A majority of the
7,000 copies of The
Daily Barometer
were stolen and trashed
Friday. A3
Canada is the first
country to declare
bisphenol A, a chemical used in many household products, a toxin. A10
The cornerstone
for the Benton
County Courthouse
was put in place on
July 4, 1887. A2
Conquering
Everest
Fewer than 100 have scaled
the highest peak on every
continent, and a North Albany
man isn’t going to let Olympic
politics detour his dream.
Coming Sunday
THE WEATHER BEAVER SAYS:
You can tell me it’s spring all you
want but I don’t believe it. The skies
this weekend will play host to a mix
of dark clouds, lots of rain, perhaps
some snow and maybe some hail.
For details, see back page.
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