Bios

Jill Behrman
Bloomington resident Jill Behrman, 19, disappeared on May 31 while on an early morning bike ride through the countryside in Monroe County. Her disappearance made national headlines, and people scoured the countryside looking for Behrman for weeks. A rising sophomore at IU, Behrman was finally found March 9, 2003, when hunters stumbled upon her remains in rural Morgan County.

Eric and Marilyn Behrman
The Behrman family has long ties with Indiana University and the Bloomington area. Eric received both his BS and MS from the university, and was the director of Camp Brosius for many years. Now he is the IUAA director of alumni clubs. Marilyn is a development analyst at the IU Foundation. Jill’s older brother Brian is a teacher at Oaklandon Elementary School near Indianapolis.

John Robert Myers II
John Myers II, 30, of Ellettsville was indicted by a Morgan County grand jury April 11 in the murder of Jill Behrman. Authorities said they began narrowing in on him as a suspect in December 2004 after interviewing over 90 witnesses. In addition to once living close to where Behrman’s bike was found, Myers reportedly has a car similar to one seen by a witness on May 31 in the area Behrman went missing. Other information regarding Myers connection to Behrman has been kept sealed by the court.

Morgan County Grand Jury
The six-member grand jury was formed in March 2003 after Jill Behrman’s body was located in rural Morgan County. A grand jury has the power to subpoena witnesses and require them to testify under oath. It also has the power to issue a criminal indictment of suspects, which it did in April 2006, charging Myers with one count of murder. During the three years leading up to Myers indictment, the grand jury interviewed over 90 witnesses. Much of the grand jury transcript, which is 6,185 pages long, has remained sealed to the public in the months leading up to the trial.

Uriah Jay Clouse
Uriah J. Clouse was named as a suspect in the Behrman case in April 2002, after allegedly making threats against people assisting investigators in Jill Behrman’s disappearance. He was never charged in the case, even after Bloomington resident Wendy Owings confessed that she, Clouse and another friend had hit Jill Behrman with their pick-up truck, panicked, and dumped her body in a nearby body of water. Clouse was in jail at the time he was named a suspect on unrelated charges, and later was charged with attempting to abduct another woman in 2000.

Wendy Owings
In March 2002, police and FBI thought they had a break in the case when Owings confessed that she, along with two friends, Alisha Sowders and Clouse, had accidentally hit Jill Behrman with their truck, wrapped her body in plastic and dumped her in Salt Creek, which was subsequently drained in the search for her. After the discovery of Behrman's body in Morgan County in 2003, Owings recanted her statement.

Alisha T. Evans, nee Sowders
Alisha Evans, 26, was indicted on two counts of perjury, both class D felonies, in connection with the case. Evans, who was accused of helping to kill Jill Behrman in a confession by Wendy Owings, was indicted by the grand jury in 2006. She allegedly lied to the grand jury about her relationship with certain witnesses involved in the case. Evans is a cousin by marriage to Myers.

Stephen Sonnega
Steve Sonnega is the Morgan County prosecutor heading the state’s case against Myers.

Patrick Baker
Patrick Baker is the attorney defending Myers in this murder trial. Baker, who is based out of Indianapolis, also owns the Bloomington vitamin store, Vitabody on 10th Street.

Christopher Burnham
Morgan County Superior Court Judge Christopher Burnham is presiding over the murder trial of John Myers. Burnham has kept many of the details surrounding the case, especially grand jury testimony, tightly sealed.

Kimberly King
Kim King, a reporter and weekend meteorologist for the Indianapolis WXIN news station, learned in September 2006 she is on the extensive witness list for the murder trial of John Myers. It is not known what interest the defense or prosecution has in the Fox 59 News reporter, but she told the IDS she has covered the Behrman case since the beginning.