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CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -- Benton County prosecutors want to combine cases against Joel Patrick Courtney, claiming they are similar.
Courtney is accused of the 2004 murder of college student Brooke Wilberger and, in a separate case, attempted kidnapping and murder of two other women on the same day.
Courtney, extradited from New Mexico, has been charged with 19 counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape and sodomy in connection with Wilberger, a 19-year-old Brigham Young University student who disappeared in Corvallis May 24, 2004, and who is presumed dead. Her body has not been found. The Wilberger trial is expected to begin in 2010.
The Corvallis Gazette-Times newspaper said hearings on the request to merge the trials are set for May.
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Information from Corvallis Gazette Times
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