Panel updates Behrman case

It's been almost a year-and-a-half since missing IU student Jill Behrman was last seen by a friend riding her bike down Harrell Road, just a little more than three miles from her home in Hyde Park.\nBehrman never made it to work at the Student Recreational Sports Center that May afternoon and never returned home. Her bicycle was found later that day in an Ellettsville cornfield.\nThe Union Board Debates and Issues committee sponsored a discussion last night, "Remembering Jill: Looking Back and Moving Forward." Behrman's parents and FBI Special Agent Gary Dunn discussed the investigation of Behrman's disappearance and the importance of personal safety in the community. \n"We thought it would be good to remind students and the community that this is a problem and still has not been solved over a year-and-a-half later," said sophomore Libby Lewis, director of the Union Board Debates and Issues committee.\nAfter showing a home video of Jill training for the Little 500 and various pictures of her during high school and freshman year of college, her parents, Eric and Marilyn Behrman, spoke about not giving up hope.\nJill recently completed her freshmen year at IU when she disappeared. She had left her home that morning for a routine bike ride, said Marilyn, who works for the IU Foundation.\n"Jill is not just a missing person," Marilyn said. "Her case is not just about yellow ribbon, a face on a button or a candle that stays lit on our doorstep. This is really about a girl named Jill who is daughter, sister, friend and classmate."\nDunn was not able to disclose confidential information about Jill's missing person case, but said the FBI firmly believes the suspect is someone who is from southern Indiana, that foul play was involved and that the abduction could have been pre-meditated. The reward for information connected to her case stands at $100,000, Dunn said.\nDunn gave advice on personal safety and ways to minimize the chance of becoming a victim.\n"Common sense is the best thing to employ," Dunn said. "It's all in your own hands, it's up to you to make sure you're not the victim and it's up to you to enforce the law."\nStudents, especially, should be able to decide whether they want to take part in a lifestyle that would put them at risk of becoming a victim, Dunn said.\nWhile the FBI continues its investigation, Jill's parents do not allow their daughter's appearance to be forgotten.\n"There are still so many unknowns," Eric said. "Still so many questions. We hope that Jill will somehow find her way home"