CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Three news organizations have filed a public records lawsuit asking the Corvallis Police Department and the Benton County District Attorney's Office to release a document about the man accused of murdering Brooke Wilberger.

The suspect, Joel Patrick Courtney, has been in a New Mexico jail since last Novermber on an unrelated rape and kidnapping charge.

In August he was charged in Benton County with murdering Wilberger, 19, a Brigham Young University student who vanished from a Corvallis apartment complex in May 2004. Her body has not been found.

Courtney is fighting extradition to Oregon, where he could face the death penalty.

Courtney has been indicted on 19 counts including aggravated murder, kidnapping, sodomy, rape and sexual abuse in connection with Wilberger's disappearance.

KGW File Photo

Joel Patrick Courtney is escorted into a New Mexico courtroom.

Police have not disclosed details of what led them to charge Courtney with murdering Wilberger.

This fall, The Associated Press, The Oregonian newspaper and KGW-TV each requested a copy of an affidavit in support of a search warrant authored by a Corvallis police detective in February 2005 that authorized New Mexico police to obtain DNA samples from Courtney.

The news organizations' complaint, filed Oct. 28, claims affidavit paperwork was improperly withheld in Oregon. It states that "continuing to withhold public records of this kind until trial is clearly not supported by Oregon law."

Letters from Benton County District Attorney Scott Heiser and Corvallis Police Chief Gary Boldizsar said the requested documents, if released, would compromise investigation of the "no body" homicide case and deprive Courtney and the victim's family a right to a fair trial.