[1][2] Joel Patrick Courtney ultimately pleaded guilty to the aggravated murder of Wilberger; he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

[3] Described as a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Wilberger was a graduate of Elmira High School near Eugene, Oregon.

Kim was later dropped as a suspect but received an 11-year prison sentence for multiple counts of burglary and theft of women's personal property in Yamhill County.

On November 30, 2004, a University of New Mexico foreign exchange student who was beaten and raped before escaping identified Joel Patrick Courtney as her attacker.

[11] Court documents released in 2008 revealed details showing that Courtney was in Corvallis when Wilberger disappeared, and that a green van he was driving was spotted by several people, including an OSU employee who identified him from a photo lineup.

[14] But on September 21, 2009, Courtney pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, the only crime subject to capital punishment in Oregon, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

[20][21] The Benton County District Attorney announced the recovery of Wilberger's body (without specifics or its location) in a press conference the day of Courtney's confession.

[22] It was later revealed that her remains had been concealed in the woods on an abandoned logging road between Blodgett and Wren,[23] located in the Oregon Coast Range.

[29][30] The Investigation Discovery Channel portrayed the Wilberger story on three different series: Dateline NBC aired a two-hour special on the case on February 4, 2011.