Bloomington, Indiana, is a vibrant city in Monroe County in the southern part of the state. It is known for its rich cultural scene, diverse community, and the presence of Indiana University Bloomington (IU), one of the flagship campuses of the Indiana University system.

The university is a major influence on the city's character. IU is a renowned public research institution with a strong emphasis on arts, sciences, and humanities. The campus has various cultural events, museums, and educational resources. The surrounding area offers opportunities for outdoor activities. Monroe Lake, the largest reservoir in Indiana, is nearby and provides boating, fishing, and hiking opportunities. Brown County State Park, known for its scenic beauty, is also popular with outdoor enthusiasts. I didnt know this about Bloomington, but it is known for having a diverse culinary scene with various restaurants, cafes, and bars. The city is known for supporting local and sustainable food practices, and you can find a range of international cuisines. Bloomington offers a mix of academic, cultural, and recreational opportunities, making it an attractive place for students, professionals, and those seeking a vibrant community with a small-town feel.

The city of Bloomington is rated an 11 when it comes to safety. The violent crime rate is double the average for the state of Indiana, and a person has a 1 in 167 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime. So, it's not the worst we have seen, but it's certainly not a super safe place to live either. Having a large college or university plays a role in the crime stats, and that is why we are navigating advocacy in Bloomington, Indiana, this week.

Jill Kristen Behrman was born on September 17th, 1980, to parents Eric and Marilyn Behrman. She had one brother and was what I would consider an overachiever. In high school, Jill was a top athlete, to say the least. She competed in volleyball, track and field, softball, basketball, and soccer either at her high school or through local recreation teams. Being an athlete was not her only focus, but she also was heavily involved with her church, deCycles a nonprofit youth leadership program offering high-spirited summer bicycle trips for teenagers and young adults, a foreign exchange program, the Girl Scouts, and 4H. All while working a part-time job and graduating high school with honors and a long list of awards and scholarships.

On May 31st, 2000, Jill was 19 years old and just finished her freshman year of college at Indiana University, where she was studying business. At 9:32 that morning, she checked her email, logged off her computer at her home, and grabbed her bike to exercise like she did so often. She was scheduled to work at the college recreation center at noon, so this wasn't going to be a crazy long ride. After work, Jill was supposed to meet her father and grandfather for a late lunch/ early dinner around 3 pm. When Jill didnt show up for this family meal, her father got worried and called her work to see if she was still there, only to find out she had never made it in to work, and she didnt call to tell anyone that she wo7uldnt be there. This was extremely unlikely of Jill, who was always punctual and took her responsibilities very seriously. This raised some serious red flags for Jill’s father, and he called the police to report her missing that evening.

Once the investigation started, police asked anyone who may have seen Jill to come forward. One possible witness stated they had seen a young woman who matched Jill’s description riding a bike north of Bloomington on North Maple Grove Road around 10 am. This timeline would match the time it would take for Jill to get to this location if she left and right after she logged off her computer. A tracking dog also picked up on Jill’s scent in this same location. Another witness stated they saw a white van one of those commercial-looking ones, this van didnt have any identification on it, and it was apparently driving slowly right around the same area that Jill was last seen however, this was around 8:30, 9 o'clock in the morning. The witness stated there were two men in this vehicle. While police are conducting their interviews, the family is hard at work searching for Jill as well. They were distributing flyers all over town and around the college. There were volunteers who mapped out the routes Jill may have taken that day and searched those areas.

There were a few other tips that came in about people seeing Jill that day, but none of those matched the timeline of where she could have been seen based on the information the police already had. Two days after Jill went missing, her bike was turned in. A jogger had found it in a cornfield near Elletsville, which is a town about ten miles northwest of Bloomington. The crazy thing is this bike was found on the day Jill went missing. This jogger picked the bike up and took it with them, and then once they heard about the missing college student, they let the police know where they found it. Police checked this area, and no other clues were found. There was some slight damage to the bike. If the witnesses were correct, Jill would have been traveling south, but the bike would have been found more northwest of where she was.

Another three days would pass, and still no sign of Jill, but a digital radio that is believed to be Jill’s was found in the parking lot of a church there in Bloomington. This radio was tossed out of a car and broken or anything like that. The report said it was neatly placed in this parking lot. Now, does this mean on a curb or the sidewalk or what? I am not sure. Dozens of searches and thousands of tips were pursued without inkling what happened to Jill. Police would have persons of interest over the next few years but nothing concrete until March 22, 2002, when three people named Wendy Owings, Uriah Clouse, and Alisha Evans confessed to hitting Jill with their car on Harrell Road (how far) then they stabbed her in the chest and then wrapped her body in plastic then wrapped bungee cords around her and dumped her body in Salt Creek. In September, authorities would drain part of Salt Creek, they did find a knife, bungee cords, and plastic, but no Jill. Eventually, the three would recant their confession, but this is just too weird if you ask me, which no one did, by the way. I know people confess to things they aren't even a part of, which still blows my mind, but moving on, how did all three of them confess to doing it together and then find items from their very detailed explanation of what happened in the location they said? Unless they did this to someone else, this is so coincidental. Twenty-two people came forward to say various things about how these three people told them about covering up Jill’s death. 22, that is a lot of individuals to tell authorities basically the same thing, that these three killed Jill. These three were given polygraph tests which hinted at Owings knowing about Jill’s death however, since they didnt find Jill’s remains they decided not to charge the group and eventually Owings would recant the confession. This case doesn't stop here, because the very next year on March 9th, 2003 Jill’s remains were found by a hunter. In a wooded area near the intersection of Warthen and Duckworth Roads in Morgan County. Authorities recovered about half of Jill’s bones. Remember she had been out there for almost three years with animals in the area, its normal not to find everything. No soft tissues remained, so just her bones. Jill Behrman died of a single gunshot wound to the back of the head, and it occurred at the location where her body was found. Police were able to find a shotgun shell wadding as well as eight-shot lead pellets on the scene. There was zero evidence of her being stabbed with a knife and no evidence of blunt force trauma.

There was another suspect throughout all of this not because of any physical evidence but more so because this person would say weird things to friends, family, and co-workers that would make them raise their eyebrows and then eventually call in a tip. Needless to say, police had their eye on a man by the name of John Myers the second. John lived about a mile away from where Jill’s bike was found, he also had access to a white van from his work at the Bloomington hospital warehouse. John was on vacation the week Jill went missing. He told authorities he had plans to go on vacation with her girlfriend that week but since they broke up they obviously canceled their plans. However, his ex-girlfriend stated they didnt have any such plans and she didnt know what he was talking about. When police asked where he went that week, he said “here and there,” nothing concrete. John’s neighbors would mention that his windows were covered up that whole week, which I guess is unusual for him, I don't know if they are just super nosy or observant people, but they also said his vehicle was not parked at his house. He told police he didnt want anyone to know he was home, so he parked it about 50 yards away so no one would see it. John’s family told police he was acting erratically on May 31st and even said he might leave town. He would tell everyone it was because he and his girlfriend broke up. John would also randomly bring up Jill or Jill’s case to anyone. Co-workers or family members. He would say things like oh, they haven't found her body yet, she must be dead; very unusual things but not necessarily things that only the killer would know.

On April 7th, 2006, a Morgan County grand jury indicted John Myers for Jill Behrman’s murder. John would file a motion to change the venue because of the publicity a week or so later, which would be denied but would honestly be the first of many motions and appeals that this case would see.

To say that this trial was a shit show would be putting it mildly. This is a case completely based on circumstantial evidence at best, I read the court documents, and there wasn't any physical evidence tying John to Jill’s murder, but add that on top of a few issues that occurred during the trial, I am shocked John has not been given a new trial. But let’s discuss what went on that John and his lawyers would eventually file appeals for. First, an expert named Dr. Stephen Radentz would testify multiple times that Jill was most likely raped even though there was no evidence of this, but this was his assumption based on the fact that she was found without clothing items. John’s lawyers only objected once, but honestly, any decent lawyer wouldn't let the word rape be mentioned if it had not been 100% confirmed that the victim was sexually assaulted. It does nothing but make the suspect look even worse. The state also showed or played the audio of John’s interrogation but only a small portion of his multiple interviews. John has always claimed his innocence (I'm not saying he is innocent; I'm just saying he has never admitted to killing Jill), and apparently, none of the audio of him denying was entered as evidence for the jury to hear. I believe this would be his lawyer's mess up, I wouldn't think the prosecutor would highlight John denying he committed this horrific crime. His lawyer would do this. His attorneys would move for a mistrial four times during the trial, so it's good that they tried something. Once, Jill’s parents wrote a statement and gave it to the media, and John’s lawyers stated this violated the court's separation of witness order. Witnesses are not allowed to speak to the media during the trial. The detective on the case mentioned the polygraph test while up on the stand, which we should all know is a big fat no-no. Lie detector tests are not admissible in court, meaning they have no bearing on the outcome, and no one is even supposed to mention the outcome of a test because it could sway the jury even though it's not supposed to so the fact that this detective said anything about a polygraph is not good. Then this same detective mentioned that John knew things about the murder that only three people knew. However, he stated this even though that information was not put in as evidence so he wasn't supposed to mention that. Then there was another issue of allegation about jury misconduct for jury members using their phones, TV, and alcohol which zero of that was permitted. I know mistakes happen, but this seems like a bit much. John Myers would be convicted of Jill Behrman’s murder, and on December 1st, 2006, he was sentenced to 65 years in prison. I want to mention that we still have a bit more to cover; however, this case is technically solved; John is still in prison and has filed an appeal after appeal with all denials except one. In October of 2019, a federal judge ordered John Myers's conviction to be vacated. They said he had to be released within 120 days unless prosecutors decided to retry him. You would think he would either be out now or there would be a new trial, and hopefully, this one is done better than the last right well nope. Somehow, he wasn't released, and the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed that previous judge's decision. They stated the jury’s verdict would have still been the same, so his original conviction was upheld. In 2021 a petition to review was sent to the US Supreme Court, and they refused to look into it.

Obviously, I do not know if John Myers killed Jill Behrman, but a jury of his peers did find him guilty though. I do think the trial was not the fairest I have seen them be but would it have changed the outcome, we may never know but with the previous confessions and other theories out there its safe to say that there are questions. Could this have been a hit-and-run, and then the person panicked and got rid of the body? Police stated there wasn't very much damage to the bike itself, so if it was a hit-and-run, they think Jill would have been resting or possibly fixing something on the bike and not riding it because it would have been more damaged. Another thing that raises questions is an 18-year-old woman came forward and told police that two weeks after Jill went missing, she was walking in Elletsville, remember this is where the bike was found, around 1030 at night when a man that was in an old black ford pickup track grabbed her and tried to pull her inside his vehicle. Luckily, she was able to break free and get away. Police were never able to find this man or this vehicle. Another situation occurred in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where a woman was biking and was purposely stuck by a vehicle, and then as she was stunned and on the ground from being hit, a person tried to drag her into his vehicle. Luckily in this case, there was a person nearby that chased away the man. There is a composite of this man. Bloomington and Bowling Green are about a three-hour drive away from each other. The composite of this attack looks nothing like John Myers so I don't think he is a suspect in either of the other incidences.

Sources:

Indiana : Jill Behrman

Iowa : Donna Sue Davis

Illinois : Damien Henderson