Suspect named in Behrman case, alibi questionable

NASHVILLE, Ind. -- Prosecutors want a judge to raise the bond for a man named as a suspect in the disappearance of Jill Behrman, citing alleged threats he has made against people assisting investigators.\nUriah Clouse, 26, of Monroe County is serving jail time on unrelated charges and has not been charged in the May 2000 disappearance of the Indiana University sophomore.\nBut the Brown County Jail inmate has been named as one of several suspects in the investigation of the missing 19-year-old and authorities want to delay his release so they can question him further.\nIf his bond on other charges is not increased, Clouse could be released from jail Saturday on $3,500 bond.\nDuring a hearing Wednesday, Brown County Prosecutor Jim Oliver asked a Brown Circuit Court judge to increase Clouse's bond to $250,000.\nThe bond motion was filed April 5 based on information shared by the FBI and also based on Clouse's violent criminal history, Oliver said.\n"The (FBI) agent told me that his sources said Clouse was threatening to kill people involved in the Behrman investigation," Oliver said.\nOfficials said that Clouse has also expressed interest in going to South Carolina, where his mother lives.\nOliver said he expects Judge Judith Stewart to decide by Friday on the bond request for Clouse, who has been in the Brown County Jail since September. Before that, he was jailed in Monroe County.\nHe is now serving time for invasion of privacy after violating a no-contact order with a former girlfriend, Oliver said. That sentence will be finished Saturday.\nBut Clouse has a pending charge of battery stemming from an alleged assault on a fellow inmate at the jail and must post at least $350 bail on his $3,500 bond before he is released, Oliver said.\nBloomington Police Detective Marty Deckard said Clouse, who has a long criminal record, is one of several suspects without a viable alibi in the Behrman case.\n"Uriah is a suspect, as are several others, based on having an alibi that doesn't stick," Deckard said.\nBehrman, who grew up in Bloomington, disappeared while riding her bicycle May 31, 2000. The IU freshman was last seen riding alone just south of Bloomington on the morning of her disappearance.\nHer bicycle was later found along a roadside about 10 miles away, northwest of Bloomington, but no trace of Behrman has ever been found.\nPolice believe Behrman was accidentally hit by a vehicle whose occupants then panicked and may have tried to conceal her body. She is presumed dead.\nA recent tip in the case led investigators to an area north of Lake Monroe, where a large dive team has been searching for the past two weeks.\nAuthorities have not revealed what they were looking for or whether they have found anything.