05:35 PM PDT on Thursday, May 18, 2006

By ANTONIA GIEDWOYN, kgw.com Staff

The parents of a college student abducted from a Corvallis apartment complex two years ago and presumed murdered are suing the company that employed the murder suspect.

kgw.com/family photo

Brooke Wilberger seen in a scrapbook photo.

Cammie and Greg Wilberger filed the federal lawsuit against Creative Building Maintenance on Tuesday; in it they claim the company failed to conduct a background check of convicted sex offender Joel Courtney’s criminal history and failed to supervise him, thus enabling him to commit crimes.

They claim the company provided him with a vehicle – a green minivan authorities believe was used in the abduction – giving him the opportunity to commit crimes regardless of where he was assigned.

The Wilbergers requested a jury trial and are not asking for a specific amount in damages, according to their attorney. They requested "in excess of jurisdictional amount of $75,000" though they reserve the right to amend that prior to trial.

The defense has not yet responded to the lawsuit.

kgw.com photo/police mug shot

Joel Patrick Courtney as shown in police mug shot.

The high-profile disappearance of 19-year-old Brooke Wilberger triggered a huge search response. The Brigham Young University student vanished in May 2004 from in front of her sister's apartment complex in Corvallis near Oregon State University.

Her body was never found.

Courtney, 39, was indicted for Wilberger's murder last July. He was indicted on aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape and sodomy charges and is currently in custody in Albuquerque, N.M., where he awaits trial on charges he kidnapped and raped a student there.

He is expected to be extradited to Oregon to face the Wilberger murder charge.

Courtney was recently cleared as a suspect in the killings of two other women in Oregon but remains a suspect in a third case, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.