On May 31, 2001, 19 year old Bloomington, Indiana resident and Indiana University student Jill Behrman left her home for a bike ride before work. It would be three years before she would be found, and then only a partial skeleton would be recovered.
Jill's death set in to motion a chain of events that led to the arrest and conviction of John R. Myers, despite no physical evidence whatsoever, and with total disregard to the laws of time space. Myers has appealed his sentence, and while those appeals have thus far been denied, a dedicated group of people still work diligently to bring what they, and many others in the region, believe to be the truth to light.
When Jill disappeared, Bloomington seemed to lose a bit of it's luster, it's innocence. On the campus of Indiana University, where Jill had just completed her freshman year, women were uneasy walking to class
alone in the middle of the day. Terrified, panicked and anxious would all be appropriate words to describe the state of mind of many women on the IU campus. For their part, the men were not much more at ease. If the women were afraid, it was men they were afraid of.
Jill's disappearence occurred shortly after the spring semester ended at IU and most of the students had gone home for the summer. Ironically, Jill herself was supposed to leave for the summer to work at Camp Brosius, a camp for the children of Indiana University alumni the following weekend.
Jill's remains were found after most of the students touched by her disappearence had long since moved on. Despite a confession that implicated three local, violent criminals and was corroborated nearly every step of the way by witness testimony and physical evidence, local prosecutors declined to act on a probable cause affidavit prepared by the FBI agent who had worked on the case since nearly the beginning. The three individuals named in the affidavit had apparently told several people about the murder. 22 people independently told investigators what they had been told by Uriah Clouse, Wendy Owings and Alisha Evans. Wendy Owings herself confessed to FBI Agent Gary Dunn, and led investigators to North Fork of Salt Creek. A knife, plastic sheeting and bungee cord similar to those described by Owings were found in the same location she claimed the body was placed in the water. This led to a portion of the creek being drained, however, the body was not found. The affidavit was presented to Monroe County Prosecutor Carl Salzmann after the search of the creek. Despite the fact that physical evidence supporting the confession was found at the site, Salzmann dismissed the entire confession as fiction.
Jill's body was found shortly after the affidavit was submitted in a forest in nearby Morgan County. Almost immediately, John Myers became the primary suspect, despite never having been mentioned before. Prosecutors began to change the long held theory of events, asserting that Jill had ridden her bike north of town, despite the fact that eyewitnesses saw her south of town within the minutes before her bike was found dumped on the side of the road. Myers only connection to the case was apparently the proximity of his trailer home to the location where the bike was dumped. Jill's water bottle, however, was found south of town in the area her classmate and other witnesses claimed to have seen her. Despite this astonishing lack of evidence, Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega forged ahead with his case against Myers.
Throughout the trial much media attention focused on Myers' alleged violent past. Although two rstraining orders had been taken out against Myers previously, neither had been followed up on. An incident at Myers' parent's home in which the police were called proved to be particularly damning to Myers' defense. Myers' mother maintains this evidence was grossly misrepresented in the media reports leading up to the trial. Myers' grandmother claimed he made vague statements about "things he had done," and these statements were also used to convict John. Additionally, Myers' had discussed the Behrman disappearence--a case that had been featured on Unsolved Mysteries, America's Most Wanted and Fox's Greta Van Susteren--with co-workers. In particular, Myer's was alleged to have stated that her body would probably be found in the woods, a theory posited by many members of the community whenever Jill Behrman was mentioned.
Jill's death set in to motion a chain of events that led to the arrest and conviction of John R. Myers, despite no physical evidence whatsoever, and with total disregard to the laws of time space. Myers has appealed his sentence, and while those appeals have thus far been denied, a dedicated group of people still work diligently to bring what they, and many others in the region, believe to be the truth to light.
When Jill disappeared, Bloomington seemed to lose a bit of it's luster, it's innocence. On the campus of Indiana University, where Jill had just completed her freshman year, women were uneasy walking to class
alone in the middle of the day. Terrified, panicked and anxious would all be appropriate words to describe the state of mind of many women on the IU campus. For their part, the men were not much more at ease. If the women were afraid, it was men they were afraid of.
Jill's disappearence occurred shortly after the spring semester ended at IU and most of the students had gone home for the summer. Ironically, Jill herself was supposed to leave for the summer to work at Camp Brosius, a camp for the children of Indiana University alumni the following weekend.
Jill's remains were found after most of the students touched by her disappearence had long since moved on. Despite a confession that implicated three local, violent criminals and was corroborated nearly every step of the way by witness testimony and physical evidence, local prosecutors declined to act on a probable cause affidavit prepared by the FBI agent who had worked on the case since nearly the beginning. The three individuals named in the affidavit had apparently told several people about the murder. 22 people independently told investigators what they had been told by Uriah Clouse, Wendy Owings and Alisha Evans. Wendy Owings herself confessed to FBI Agent Gary Dunn, and led investigators to North Fork of Salt Creek. A knife, plastic sheeting and bungee cord similar to those described by Owings were found in the same location she claimed the body was placed in the water. This led to a portion of the creek being drained, however, the body was not found. The affidavit was presented to Monroe County Prosecutor Carl Salzmann after the search of the creek. Despite the fact that physical evidence supporting the confession was found at the site, Salzmann dismissed the entire confession as fiction.
Jill's body was found shortly after the affidavit was submitted in a forest in nearby Morgan County. Almost immediately, John Myers became the primary suspect, despite never having been mentioned before. Prosecutors began to change the long held theory of events, asserting that Jill had ridden her bike north of town, despite the fact that eyewitnesses saw her south of town within the minutes before her bike was found dumped on the side of the road. Myers only connection to the case was apparently the proximity of his trailer home to the location where the bike was dumped. Jill's water bottle, however, was found south of town in the area her classmate and other witnesses claimed to have seen her. Despite this astonishing lack of evidence, Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega forged ahead with his case against Myers.
Throughout the trial much media attention focused on Myers' alleged violent past. Although two rstraining orders had been taken out against Myers previously, neither had been followed up on. An incident at Myers' parent's home in which the police were called proved to be particularly damning to Myers' defense. Myers' mother maintains this evidence was grossly misrepresented in the media reports leading up to the trial. Myers' grandmother claimed he made vague statements about "things he had done," and these statements were also used to convict John. Additionally, Myers' had discussed the Behrman disappearence--a case that had been featured on Unsolved Mysteries, America's Most Wanted and Fox's Greta Van Susteren--with co-workers. In particular, Myer's was alleged to have stated that her body would probably be found in the woods, a theory posited by many members of the community whenever Jill Behrman was mentioned.
3 comments:
I was only 11 years old when Jill Behrman disappeared, however I tended to stay up to date on the case as it developed. I recall being quite dissatisfied with the official 'conclusion' to the case, however it faded from my young mind at about the same time/rate as the public conscience.
Soon after graduating high school in light of a recent reading of Jim Schutze's true crime novel BULLY, I recalled a 'character' similar to the eponymous 'bully' Bobby Kent in the local Uriah Clouse. Google turned up your Bloomingpedia entry, I read up on the then nearly decade old case, and ultimately moved on.
Just today I was recalling it all again and here I am. I would love to by some means communicate with you about your knowledge of the events. There might be a documentary here to be made...
Please contact me I would like to discuss this case and the possibility of it being featured on a podcast.
I think at best this case is ridiculous. There is absolutely NO physical evidence against John Myers. He was obviously depressed over his break up with his girlfriend. Surely, if he supposedly murdered her he would have left some evidence. This is so circumstantial and grossly mismanaged. I hope Johnny Myers gets a new trial at the very minimum.
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