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CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -- Corvallis police are asking the public for information about a green minivan that was spotted on the day Brigham Young University student Brooke Wilberger disappeared.
A man who identified himself as Brian called 9-1-1 from his cell phone that day to report an erratically driven green minivan in the mid-Willamette Valley area. The connection was lost before the call was completed, police Capt. Ron Noble said Tuesday.
Noble has asked the man to call police because a person of interest in the case is "associated" with a 1997 Dodge Caravan that is green. The authorities also want residents to alert police if they saw a green minivan in a place where it did not appear to belong, such as a logging road or a farmer's field.
Noble said such information would yield new areas to search for Wilberger, who vanished from a Corvallis apartment complex on May 24, 2004, while on summer vacation from her freshman year at BYU.
The request for the public's help could signal a break in an investigation that had seemingly stalled. So far, police have searched thousands of acres, received 5,000 tips, investigated about 60 persons of interest and have a list of 250 suspicious vehicles.
Noble said police currently have two persons of interest. He said the one with the green minivan "doesn't have the ability to be a threat to anyone at the moment." He declined to say if that meant he was in jail.
Noble said information about the person of the interest and the van came together at different times, so police are only now ready to publicly seek the 9-1-1 caller.
"We're at a point where we need help from the public," he said.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
