By Tom Spalding
tom.spalding@indystar.com
MARTINSVILLE, Ind. -- For the first time since his arrest, prosecutors
today laid out what appears to be the prime reason why John R. Myers
II is linked to the 2000 slaying of IU student Jill Behrman: Myers'
guilty conscience.
Records unsealed by the Morgan County Superior Court during the first
day of Myers' murder trial show he implicated himself to his
grandmother and a former jail cellmate.
Myers, according to the records, told his grandmother Betty Swafford
in late 2004: "If the authorities knew what I have done, I would go to
prison for the rest of my life."
And in May 2005 after an unrelated arrest, the records show, Myers
told an inmate at Monroe County Jail: "I wouldn't have done it if the
(expletive deleted) would have done what I told her."
Behrman, 19, vanished May 31, 2000 after a morning bicycle ride in the
Bloomington area. Her remains were found in March 2003 in a remote,
rural area of Morgan County. Despite national attention and several
people identified as "persons of interest" the case grew cold.
Myers was arrested in April after a grand jury was convened in Morgan
County to examine the evidence.
No evidence linking Myers to the murder had been publicly released.
Myers, who turns 31 Tuesday, has plead not guilty.
Attorneys on both sides today are arguing a variety of motions and it
remains undetermined whether the court records that describe Myers'
comments to others will be admitted by Judge Christopher Burnham.
The records go on to say that Myers had the time and the ability to
have been involved in Behrman's disappearance.
The records show that investigators in June 2000 had privately
identified Myers as a suspect because of strange behavior on and after
Behrman's disappearance, but that investigators turned their focus to
other potential suspects.
But Myers eventually turned into the state police investigators' No. 1 target.
"His state of mind at the time (is) relevant to establish the
defendant's identity and motive to commit the crime of murder as well
as to negate the defendant's explanation for his actions and behavior
the day Jill Behrman came up missing," the records show.
Myers' attorney, Patrick V. Baker, is seeking to block the records
from being admitted. He told Burnham there is no proof that Myers
killed Behrman and the statements are "speculation and innuendo."
But Robert Cline, chief deputy prosecutor for Morgan County, told the
judge today: "The statements from the defendant clearly imply guilt."
The opening statements from attorneys are scheduled to begin later
today. The 12-person jury is expected to listen to weeks of
testimony.
