Woman who once confessed testifies

MARTINSVILLE -- Wendy K. Owings, 32, of Bloomington, testified Tuesday about her involvement in the Jill Behrman murder case, which stemmed from a false confession of murder. \nIn her testimony, she denied knowing John R. Myers II, the man on trial for killing Behrman in 2000, and said she had never spoken with him.\nIn 2002, Owings told police that she, along with Uriah Clouse and Alisha Sowders, were in Clouse's truck on May, 31, 2000, when they accidentally hit Behrman on her bike. Owings said they panicked, and Clouse threw Behrman, still alive, into the bed of the truck along with her bike. Clouse drove to Salt Creek, and after wrapping Behrman up in an off-white tarp and tying bungee cords around her, he stabbed her, Owings said. Clouse then forced Sowders and Owings to stab her also and then dumped her body into the water, Owings said.\nOwings' confession prompted a massive search by police and FBI that involved building two dams to drain a 7,000-foot section of Salt Creek. But after Behrman's remains were discovered in 2003 in a wooded area near Paragon, Ind. Owings recanted her statement.\nOwings told the court Tuesday she had lied to the FBI about killing Behrman because she was receiving pressure from investigators to tell them any information she might know about the case and because she was afraid of the potential jail time hanging over her head at the time. \n"(I) had 86 years worth of felonies brought against me, and I thought if I didn't tell them ... I'd have all these felonies against me," Owings told the jury.\nOwings said she hoped to received less jail time for providing information.\n"I figured they would just believe what I said and let me go home," she said.\nOwings was originally questioned by the FBI in 2002 after she made a comment at a party stating she had killed Behrman. Baker suggested to the court that Owings wasn't telling the full truth this time either and asked her if she would really lie about killing someone to get out jail.\n"To get out of 86 years, yes, I would, and yes, I did," Owings replied.