Separate man charged in Collman case

CROTHERSVILLE, Ind. -- A 10-year-old girl who police say was abducted to keep her quiet about a methamphetamine operation was also sexually molested, but not by the man charged with her murder, authorities said Thursday.\nAnthony R. Stockelman, 38, of rural Seymour made an initial court appearance Thursday morning after being arrested Wednesday on a felony count of child molesting. Jackson Circuit Judge William E. Vance ordered Stockelman held on $500,000 cash bond at the county jail in Brownstown.\nThe Associated Press left a message seeking comment at the office of Stockelman's attorney, James R. Kilburn of Austin.\nJackson County Prosecutor Steve Pierson said Stockelman molested Katie Collman close to the time of her death. Collman's body was found in a creek about 15 miles from her Crothersville home on Jan. 30, five days after she disappeared during a trip to a nearby store.\nThe Indiana State Police laboratory in Indianapolis notified investigators on Wednesday that DNA taken from the girl's body matched a recent sample provided by Stockelman.\n"The evidence was present at or about the time she was killed," County Prosecutor Steve Pierson said.\nThe prosecutor and other authorities declined to discuss when the assault occurred or how they obtained Stockelman's DNA. Stockelman has no record of sex offenses, Pierson said.\nCrothersville Police Chief Norman Ford said in a statement police had considered Stockelman a "person of interest" since they learned he was in the area at the time of Collman's disappearance.\nPierson said investigators were unaware of any link between Stockelman and the man charged with the girl's murder, Charles Hickman, 21, of Crothersville, a town about 40 miles north of Louisville, Ky.\n"There is a possibility there were two separate crimes -- a child molesting and a murder," Pierson said.\nHickman is being held without bond in the Jackson County Jail on a murder charge in Collman's death. He also faces an unrelated child molesting charge involving a girl who was 12 at the time of the alleged crimes, between August 2002 and May 2003.\nPolice said Hickman told investigators Collman fell into a creek and drowned after she was abducted by others on Jan. 25. The kidnappers planned to scare her from talking about a methamphetamine operation she had seen, Hickman told investigators.\nTwo others have been arrested on charges of false informing in the case.