Justice Delayed, Justice Denied

The Times-Journal is conducting interviews and republishing articles about the 1994 killing of cowboy Phillip Brooks on the Foppiano Ranch in Wheeler County. Brooks was killed on September 20, 1994.

"I would rather know that whoever killed Phil Brooks was rotting in jail now than anticipating that person will be rotting in hell sometime later. In other words, I'm for the here-and-now in the case instead of putting it up to God to dispatch this murderer on to Hades in the Hereafter."

Those are the words of Rick Steber, Oregon's renowned author of over 30 books and holder of numerous awards for his writing, including a recent national award for his 2011 book Caught in the Crosshairs, an account of the Sept 20, 1994 murder of young cowboy Phil Brooks on a far-off hill in Central Oregon.

Seventeen years later in 2011 that volume stirred up bitter feelings from the Brooks family, but also motivated the Justice Department of Oregon to re-examine the case. In short, Rick Steber is regarded as a dirty word by Joyce Brooks, the murder victim's mother who says Steber is "lining his pockets with money," capitalizing on the death of her son. But in the same breath Mrs. Brooks states "I know who killed my son and they're hiding behind the Fifth Amendment."

On the other hand, Steber might be regarded as a dedicated crusader whose 17 years and over 5,000 hours of research culminated in the book that provided very little monetary remuneration but did provoke the Oregon DOJ into renewed action; assignment of two detectives to pick up the cold, cold trail of this long dormant but "open case" to determine if there's some way to make right what Steber describes as "justice gone terribly wrong."

In brief, says Steber, this young cowhand Phil Brooks took an afternoon off from his work on the sprawling Fopiano Ranch in Central Oregon to take a joy ride. Well, maybe a joy ride only in that it not only was an opportunity for him to work out the "kinks" of his sister's green broke horse, a filly called Flirt, but also to enjoy this beautiful last day of summer in country of magnificent views.

But such joy was short lived. For Brooks, reports Steber, apparently stumbled onto what has been described as an "Elk kill factory" and following a possible confrontation with the perpetrators of the illegal activity escaped aboard the little horse, but a ways downhill stopped to rest and maybe sort things out. And there, as he knelt and reached for his can of chew, he was drilled right through the heart by a bullet from a high powered rifle. Probably a .280 mountain rifle, popular with big game hunters.

"September of this year marks the twentieth anniversary of Phil Brooks' murder," declares Rick Steber. "And to date the person who squeezed the trigger is still at large and possibly hiding behind the Fifth Amendment, as Phil's mother suggests."

Steber relates that a long, laborious investigation led by an Oregon State Police detective named Robb Ringsage headed in the wrong direction and concentrated on trying to pin the murder on Ronny Rhoden, a young man who allegedly had some serious encounters with Brooks in the past. But finally the inquiry turned onto the husband and wife hunting guide team of Mike and Roetta Williams. Called before a Grand Jury both took the Fifth Amendment, which protects against possible self incrimination.

The then Wheeler County prosecutor soon granted Mike Williams immunity from prosecution in return for his testimony. But in Steber's view, the prosecutor failed to ask Williams some pertinent questions, the most important of which would pertain to the whereabouts of his wife Roetta on the afternoon of Sept 20, 1994. But this grand jury did indict Mike Williams on two counts of perjury.

Subsequently, the judge hearing the case dismissed the claim against Williams that he lied about a .280 mountain rifle of the type used to kill Brooks. At issue was whether Williams' wife Roetta possessed or owned such a gun. The prosecutor's contention that since they were husband and wife each owned at least half of such a rifle was thrown out by the judge. But His Honor did find Williams guilty of perjury for lying about disclosure of the caliber of the weapon used in the murder prior to it becoming general knowledge.

Steber quotes one member of the grand jury, whom the author did not identify, as saying that if someone had come forward to say they had seen Roetta Williams in the Mitchell, Oregon area on Sept. 20, "we would have indicted Roetta Williams for murder." Steber's book had not been long in circulation before Mike and Roetta Williams left Bend, Oregon and reportedly moved to Vancouver, Washington. Of course one can only speculate that the move was caused by the content of Caught in the Crosshairs.

In regard to Joyce Brooks' lament and vitriol, Steber says he's sure she continues to be daily tortured by grief. And that he understands; that he is viewed, as in the times of old, the messenger blamed for baring bad news.

"But over the 17 years I researched the murder of Phil I became obsessed not by monetary profit but by the prospect of maybe forcing some action by authorities that would finally smoke out the killer or killers. And that was my primary purpose in publishing the book." And of course Caught in the Crosshairs did trigger assignment of DOJ detectives Dennis Carson and Todd Gray to retrace the case.

Steber states that he knew he was sticking his neck out. Way out! "I ran the risk of being sued or shot!" In fact, soon after his expose sold out the first printing in just a month it became sorely obvious that he had stirred up a hornets nest. In the middle of night someone stole on to his remote property in the foothills of the Ochoco National Forest near Prineville and raked the beam of a spotlight again and again across the walls of his cabin.

It's been more than three years now since Carson and Gray reexamined the Brooks case. But there has not been as much as a ripple of renewal of legal action resulting from their study. Nor has there been any public disclosure of any of the content of their reports about what they found or didn't find. "All we do know," laments Steber, "is that those reports are buried in Department of Justice files and access to them is stonewalled with the excuse that 'it is an on going open case' and premature disclosure of its progress could jeopardize the outcome."

Steber also acknowledges that some people, perhaps Brooks' mother among them, believe the case is so old that it is now in God's hands. "God has a helluva lot to do," opines Steber, "so I think the Oregon Department of Justice should lend Him a hand. So I've called upon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to appoint a special prosecutor to the Brooks case; an attorney with enough intestinal fortitude, that is guts, to take it on with the intent of really opening this so-called open case."

In Steber's view "there is enough circumstantial evidence in the book alone to support a need for such action." And undoubtedly a special prosecutor would unveil the reports of Carson and Gray.

"And if this case is really open," Steber says, "it should be vigorously worked to reconvene a grand jury, with the aim of finally giving Phil Brooks the justice he so richly deserves!"

Editor's Note: Pat Wilkins was a TV anchor, journalist, and author. He was a pioneer at KATU News, where he worked for four decades. He passed away in 2022.