Jill Behrman, 19 years old, logged off her computer at 9:32 am, according to court records, and grabbed her bicycle for a ride as she had done many times before. However, later that day she failed to call in to work or show up to her shift at noon. Later that day she also missed a lunch date which she had planned with her father and grandparents.

She never returned home. This was Wednesday, May 31st, 2000.

Police jumped on the case, as well as volunteers to search for Jill. During this time police received many leads, some witnesses saying a white van had been seen where Jill would have been on her bike, but most were dead ends or discredited. However, On that Friday, June 2nd of 2000 Jill’s bike was found on a county road North West of Bloomington. The report that led police to the bike stated that a trailer home near the location of the bike had all of their blinds shut, which was seen to be out of character to the owner. This trailer was the home to John Myers. This led to an interview with Myers and his parents where they discovered Myers had access to a white van through work and had recently broken up with his girlfriend. However, no promising leads were found after the discovery of her bike. On June 3rd 2000, Police suspended the search for Jill Behrman.

But her family and even Indiana University, where Jill had just finished her freshman year of college, would not let that end the search. According to an IndyStar report “Behrman’s parents, university officials and others offer a $25,000 reward for information. The reward is later raised to $50,000.” Marilyn Behrman recalls the reward being even higher than that.

Over the next two months the FBI joins the search and John Myers begins to become a person of interest, but not an official suspect in Jill’s disappearance. In an interview with police in August, John’s brother Samuel brought up that his 12-gauge shotgun had gone missing. On November 10th of 2000 the Behrman story hits the Fox TV series “Million Dollar Mysteries”.

 The show prompted over 50 called in tips to the FBI. However, in 2002 the police received an unexpected confession from a woman named Windy Owens. She confessed to herself and two of her friends hitting Jill Behrman on her bike with their truck, stabbing her, and throwing her in Salt Creek. Officials dammed the creek and searched for any evidence that would support this claim, But Owens later withdrew her confession. Later in March of 2002, Myers, who was in jail for unrelated circumstances, reported to an officer he had found letters relating to the Behrman case on lunch trays he was washing. He then told police he wanted to help in the search for Jill, records say “Myers additionally compiled a list of places potentially providing clues to Behrman’s location,”. Officials investigated these locations, but nothing was found. A year later in March 2003 Jill’s remains were found,  three years after her disappearance and discrediting Windy Owens confession.

A hunter found her remains in a Morgan County field. Beside the body were also shotgun shells, determined to most likely be from a 12-gauge shotgun. Court records said “The cause of Behrman’s death was ruled to be a contact shotgun wound to the back of the head. Scattered skull fragments and the presence of lead pellets in a variety of places, together with certain soil stains consistent with body decomposition, suggested that after being shot, Behrman’s body had come to rest and had decomposed at the spot where it was found.” A coworker of John Myers reported to the police that Myers had mentioned he often hunted in that area Jill was found. On March 13, 2006 the Morgan County Grand Jury began an investigation case and found enough cause to charge Myers. In April 2006 Myers was arrested and indicted on a charge of murder by a grand jury. The trial began in October and lasted 16 days.