Storms sink search for Behrman

The search investigators hoped would find Jill Behrman's body ended Sunday after heavy rains punished two temporary dams built to drain a portion of Salt Creek.\nStorms Friday afternoon caused torrential rainfall in the watershed area near Salt Creek, weakening a dam that had been built in search of Behrman, an IU student who disappeared while riding her bike in May of 2000.\nExcess rain from Brown County and the surrounding areas flowed into the creek Friday and Saturday, putting pressure on the north dam.\n"The dams, while strong, were never meant to be permanent or leak proof," FBI Agent Gary Dunn said Monday afternoon. "The pressure on the North End caused the dam to leak substantially. We didn't want to take a chance and a decision was made yesterday afternoon to terminate these operations."\nEric Behrman, Jill's father, said Monday investigators now believe Jill was alive when she was taken to the creek.\n"We now believe very strongly that the situation that Jill wasn't just struck and possibly killed and dumped somewhere," Eric Behrman said. "…Whatever happened, Jill was possibly still alive when she was brought to this site. So I think that's something we all may want to realize, too."\nAs the water rose, crews conducted last-minute searches using pitchforks to haul mud around the site so they could examine it for evidence. \n"Mother Nature is a great force and as the water came up, safety issues brought us to the point where we had to pull people out of the creek," Bloomington Police Department Detective Marty Deckard said. "After we did that, we pulled the pumps to save them, and within a matter of 14 hours, the creek was back up to 13 feet in depth. It was monumental what we were holding back."\nThe decision to forgo any more investigation came Sunday evening after crew members from all organizations deemed the search too much of a safety hazard. \nInvestigators previously contemplated using ground-penetrating radar, but the device, mounted much like a lawn mower, would not work for future searches because of the large quantities of mud. Also, Dunn said crews will not restart the search because of the strength of nature.\n"It is impossible to start over," Dunn said.\nThough the search did not produce the missing student, crews discovered numerous items with evidentiary value throughout the two-week search, which places investigators closer to filing charges against suspects, Dunn said.\n"The evidence definitely corroborates our story that Jill, in fact, was placed in the creek," Dunn said. "It certainly is disheartening we didn't bring Jill home, but nonetheless, there's always been two parts to this investigation: bringing Jill home and to hold those accountable for her abduction and murder."\nOver the weekend, Dunn was granted the use of 20 National Guardsmen in the Behrman investigation. They began their active duty Thursday night at station at the Bloomington National Guard Armory, said Staff Sergeant Bob Hatton from the second Battalion 150 Field Artillery unit. \nUpon their arrival at Salt Creek, the soldiers were unsure of what to expect, but Dunn explained to them that their first task was a bucket brigade -- a line of men passing buckets of mud and water down a line to where the contents could be safely dumped.\nThe bucket brigade proved to be inefficient because of the increase in water level, though.\n"The search phase is over, but nonetheless, the nice thing about this is that the media has been putting (the search) in the news, on television and on the radio," Dunn said. "I got a phone call Friday evening from an individual who said, 'Hey listen, you and I have talked before, but I remembered this,' and it was a very critical piece of information. This has happened time and time again."\nDunn said he still encourages anyone with information to call the police at 349-3325 or the FBI at 332-9275.