Myers' family helps prosecution's case

MARTINSVILLE -- Prosecutors continued to build their case against murder suspect John R. Myers II Saturday by calling his family to testify against him.\nMyers' grandmother, Betty Swafford, broke down in tears while recounting a conversation she had with him in November 2004.\n"I said, 'What's on your mind to upset you so much?'" Swafford said, wiping away tears. "He said, 'Grandma, if you just knew the things on my mind ... If the authorities knew, I'd spend the rest of my life in prison. He said 'My dad knew, and he took it to the grave with him.'"\nMyers showed no visible signs of emotion during Swafford's testimony, but the 12 jurors and three alternates appeared to be taking many notes on her testimony.\nMyers, 31, of Ellettsville, is on trial for the murder of then IU sophomore Jill Behrman. Behrman vanished during a morning bicycle ride May 31, 2000. Her bicycle was found two days later in a cornfield outside Ellettsville less than a mile from the trailer Myers was living in at the time.\nBehrman's remains were found in a wooded area near Paragon, Ind. in March 2003.\nThe November 2004 encounter was not the first time Myers had made disturbing comments to Swafford. She testified that her grandson had mentioned he was a suspect in Behrman's disappearance as early as June 27, 2000, when he called to ask her for $200. She told him she only had $10 to give him, and he would have to come to her home to pick it up.\n"He said he couldn't come get it," she said. "He said they have road blocks on Maple Grove (near where he lived), and he said, 'Don't you know, grandma? I'm a suspect in the (pause) Jill Behrman murder.'"\nMyers' aunt, Debbie Bell, who took the stand earlier in the day, described a conversation she had with Myers that left her "distraught."\nShe asked how he was doing, and he said, "I'm scared ... There was a girl abducted near here, and I'm afraid they're going to blame me," Bell said. She then asked why he would be scared if he had nothing to do with Behrman's disappearance, and he changed his tune, saying "I'm not really scared."\nDuring the conversation, Bell asked if the girl was still missing, and Myers answered, "Yeah, they haven't found the body yet," Bell said.\n"I said, 'You mean she's dead?' He said, 'Yeah, uh, I guess ...'" Bell testified. \nThe defense did not cross-examine Swafford or Bell but asked they be kept under subpoena to possibly be recalled when the defense presents its case.\nEarlier that morning, Myers' mother, Jodie Myers took the stand. She testified that her son, along with his two brothers, Lucas and Sam, were very upset May 31, 2000, because their father had undergone surgery the previous day to treat his cancer.\nBut while she was on the stand, prosecutors asked Jodie Myers to read a portion of her grand jury testimony in which she was asked what she remembered of that day and replied, "Not a thing."\nJodie Myers also said that when she visited John May 31, 2000, she noticed blankets covered several windows on his trailer, but he told her it was because he was growing marijuana.\nThe youngest Myers brother, Sam, testified that he kept a 12-gauge shotgun at his parents' house, but when he came back to Bloomington in the summer of 2000 for an internship, he was unable to find the shotgun. He said to this day he does not know where it is.\nMorgan County coroner Dan Downing said Monday that Behrman was killed with a 12-gauge shotgun\nFriday morning, before the jury was summoned, defense attorney Patrick Baker motioned for a mistrial on the grounds that Eric and Marilyn Behrman spoke to the media after Thursday's trial. \nProsecutor Steve Sonnega argued the Behrmans did nothing wrong and were merely trying to defend their daughter's reputation. \nBaker had told reporters last week that he thought Jill Behrman was pregnant and was running away from home when she was murdered in 2001.\nJudge Christopher Burnham denied the defense's motion.\nDr. Stephen Radentz, the forensic pathologist who conducted Jill Behrman's autopsy, testified Friday that he believes Jill Behrman was raped and then shot with the gun less than an inch from her head. The scenario of a young female being killed and dumped without clothing in a remote area is classic in a rape-homicide case, he said.\nBloomington Police Detective Rick Crussen testified Friday that he interviewed Myers on June 28, 2000, to see if Myers had an alibi for the day Behrman disappeared after receiving a tip that shifted the focus of the investigation.\nMyers told Crussen during the interview he had been "'here and there,'" during the week of May 31, 2000, Crussen said. \nBurnham denied the defense's second request for a mistrial Friday, this time because of Indiana State Police Detective Rick Lang's use of the term "polygraph" during testimony.\nPolygraph tests are not admissable evidence in court.