Suspect watched girl struggle before drowning, court says

BROWNSTOWN, Ind. -- The man accused of killing a 10-year-old Crothersville girl watched her struggle for 20 minutes in a creek before leaving her body in the water, according to court documents.\nCharles Hickman, 20, is jailed awaiting trial on charges of murder and criminal confinement in the death of Katie Collman. Two others have been accused of making false statements to police.\nPolice said Hickman told investigators the girl fell into a creek and drowned after she was abducted on Jan. 25. The kidnappers planned to scare her from talking about a methamphetamine operation, Hickman told police.\nJackson County Prosecutor Steve Pierson said the amended affidavit filed this month contained some details left out when Hickman was arrested in early February.\n"I wrote the original affidavit the way it is now," Pierson said. The arresting officer made some changes to not reveal some details of the crime, he said.\nCollman's body was found Jan. 30 in the stream about 15 miles from her home by a state trooper. She last had been seen five days earlier as she walked to a Dollar Store about three blocks from her home in the town about 40 miles north of Louisville, Ky.\nThe amended affidavit says after Katie was in the water, "Hickman watched her struggle for about 20 minutes until she finally lay still in the water."\nIt said the girl was told "that if she didn't keep her mouth shut, she would be pushed into the creek."\nThe affidavit said, "Hickman rejected an idea to remove her from the water and bury her somewhere, so he left the area with Collman's unmoving body still in the creek."\nThe affidavit was unclear on whether the burial idea came from Hickman or someone else, but Pierson said he could not yet release more information.\n"I realize that the phrase does leave a lot of room for interpretation by the reader," Pierson said.