Police: Behrman in creek

Evidence found during a search of Salt Creek confirms missing IU student Jill Behrman was placed there, investigators said Wednesday.\nAt a press conference near Salt Creek, investigators said they are consulting with the IU Geological Department and with crews on site about the possibility of using ground-penetrating radar to find Behrman, who disappeared while riding her bike in May of 2000.\nInvestigators now have additional hope they will find Behrman, FBI Special Agent Gary Dunn said.\n"We found items that once again reinforce to us that Jill was placed here, and that gives us that much more encouragement that we\'re going to find what we\'re looking for," Dunn said.\nSearch crews have spent the past week draining and searching for evidence in Salt Creek. Natural conditions have stifled work as rain, mud and water seepage from the ground fed back into the creek bed.\nDunn said the 27 person Salt Creek crew spends 10 to 15 minutes removing one worker stuck in the sludge on average. Wednesday's effort saw two workers stuck in the sludge.\nBloomington Police Department Detective Marty Deckard said while parts of the creek bed are now showing, pools of water dot the 1.4-mile stretch of the creek. Workers have been concentrating on the few hundred yards south of the north dam. \n"We've exposed an area of land that has been under water for hundreds of years. I don't expect that mud to dry up any more," Deckard said. "You end up with mud up six inches above the knee, stuck and it stinks."\nThe ground-penetrating radar, which Deckard called a CAT scan for the ground, could help.\n"It will be able to layer images for us, so that it can tell us what is one inch under the ground, what is two inches and what is three inches," he said. "We are going to look at that as some type of magnetic resonance imaging, like the medical profession uses."\nManual searches by crews and search dogs will be the main methods for seeking clues and evidence for now, until the ground-penetrating radar is used, Deckard said.\nBefore the radar is used, workers will have the benefit of working with an additional 20 National Guardsmen this weekend. Starting on Friday and continuing throughout the weekend, the Guards will work along side firefighters, law enforcement and conservation officers already out at Salt Creek, said Steve "Rocky" McClain, a conservation officer who has worked with the crews since the beginning of the search. \n"Part of the excitement of the day was that we were going to get reinforcement by the end of the week, and I think we're all looking towards that due to the fact that…it's getting to the point where (the search crews are) a little fatigued and a little exhausted," McClain said.\nDunn commended the volunteer firefighters who have been out at the scene throughout the search.\n"The firemen from Bloomington and Ellettsville have been magnificent," he said. "We've had to put pumps in, take them out and put them in ad nauseum. We've done this in the evening hours when it's dark and treacherous, and these guys have done this without a whimper."\nBehrman was last seen on May 31, 2000. She left her house that Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. for a bicycle ride, but was reported missing late that night by her family. Local and federal law enforcements have been working for the past 27 months to find Behrman and also possible suspects in what has now been called a hit-and-run.\nLaw enforcement officers encourage people with information to call the Bloomington FBI office at (812) 332-9275 or the local police at (812) 349-3325.