Today, on the nine-month anniversary of her disappearance, parents and family members of missing BYU student Brooke Wilberger are fasting for the law enforcement officials working on the case and for Brooke’s safe return.

The family met to celebrate her 20th birthday Sunday. Brooke’s mother Cammy said it was a special day. She made the family usual — sweet and sour chicken with spinach salad, a staple in the Wilberger house whenever the family gets together.

After dinner, Cammy, her husband Greg, their children and their grandchildren circled around a birthday cake that read “Happy Birthday Brooke.” When the family blew out the candles, three of the grandchildren made a wish.

“Our wish is that Aunt Brookie will come home,” they said simultaneously.

Nine months after Brooke vanished without any clues as to her disappearance, the family still hangs on to the hope that she will return, but Cammy said she’s realistic that it will take time.

Brooke’s mother has kept in touch with the family of Elizabeth Smart, a girl who was abducted June 5, 2002 and was reunited with her family nine months later. The Smart’s contacted the Wilberger’s after learning of Brooke’s abduction. Because of the family’s shared membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Wilberger’s have been able to relate this incident to the gospel. Cammy said just knowing there was a positive outcome to such a horrific event helps her.

“Elizabeth was gone for nine months, and we don’t know if that will be the way with Brooke,” she said. “Still, knowing that that occurred. It’s always helpful anytime someone else has blazed the trail for you.”

Brooke vanished from an apartment complex in Corvallis, Ore. on May 24, 2004. Police found nothing left behind at the scene and there were no eyewitnesses. Corvallis police and the FBI continually follow tips that pour in weekly, though, that range from Brooke sightings to reports of suspicious people. The tips they gather from the public are the only clues detectives have for the case.

“There are significant differences between Elizabeth Smart and Brooke,” said Corvallis Police Captain Jon Sassaman. “That agency had things to begin with; we have nothing. We don’t have a witness. We don’t have anything to go on. This is basically an investigation of elimination.”

Sassaman, who’s currently working on the Wilberger case, said he still receives four to five tips weekly about Brooke. They investigate each tip, which sometimes means canvassing people, searching bodies of water and conducting surveillance.

The investigation has received tips from many states across the country and has even stretched beyond national borders. Sassaman said three persons of interest are currently being investigated in connection with Brooke’s disappearance.

To protect Brooke, Sassaman said he couldn’t disclose details of the case, but said law enforcement officials feels very confident the investigation is still alive and that progress is being made.

Neither law enforcement officials nor members of Brooke’s family speculated on where Brooke could be, but both are realistic about the possibilities. Brooke’s father, Greg, said he’s aware Brooke may never come back, but for Brooke’s mother, not knowing where Brooke is and what’s happening is the hardest part.

“Everybody has to realize, and they do realize, it’s not like Brooke’s in Hawaii,” Cammy said. “Whatever’s happened to her has not been good. If she comes back alive, it’s not been an easy time.”

After today, the family will continue on like they have before: going to work, living a normal life and talking about Brooke as if she’s with them. Brooke’s oldest sister, who’s expecting twins, remarked that she has to tell Brooke the exciting news. One thing the family won’t do, Greg said, is dwell on the depressing. They’d rather turn their minds toward her homecoming rather than what she may be doing now.

“It’s too hard because you can think up all kinds of things,” Greg said. “We just think about her coming home. We’ll worry about the rest of it later.”



Copyright Brigham Young University 24 Feb 2005