Behrmans frustrated by pace of prosecutor

Eric and Marilyn Behrman say they are frustrated with the Monroe County prosecutor amid reports of a videotaped confession that tells what happened to their daughter, Jill.\nMarilyn Behrman said she would like the prosecutor's office to communicate better with her and her husband.\n"We wish they would make a point of keeping us informed so that we know where things stand," she said. "We've known a lot and been informed about a lot of things, but I'm not sure they tell us everything."\nBroadcasts by two Indianapolis news stations recently generated a buzz in the Behrman investigation.\nLate last week, Indianapolis stations WXIN and WRTV ran reports on Behrman, who disappeared nearly three years ago on a bike ride south of Bloomington. A source "close to the case" told WRTV that a videotaped confession by Wendy Owings, 28, one of three suspects in the investigation, led detectives to search Salt Creek.\nWRTV reported that Uriah Clouse and Alisha Sowers, 21, are the other suspects.\nBoth are being held at the Brown County jail and Monroe County jail, respectively, on unrelated charges. \nThe anonymous source told the stations that investigators found a plastic tarp, knife and at least one bungee cord during a June search of Salt Creek, located in Monroe County.\nOwings reportedly told authorities a truck she, Clouse and Sowders, were driving on May 30, 2000 accidentally struck Behrman. Owings said the group wrapped Behrman in the plastic and drove her to Salt Creek. They saw she was still alive, stabbed her and threw her body in the water, WRTV reported.\nMonroe County Prosecutor Carl Salzmann refused to comment on the reports.\n"I don't know and I have no comment," he said. "Because this is a continuing investigation, I'm bound by the ethics rules not to comment." \nHe said he cannot identify people and evidence. \n"We're still getting fresh evidence in right now," Salzmann said.\nThe Behrmans have voiced frustration with the prosecutor's pace. A new concern is that charges have not been filed despite Owings' reported confession. \n"Why, if you have a confession from an individual that was evidently involved, is it taking so long?" Eric Behrman asked.\nThe Behrmans are also disappointed that actions they asked to be taken haven't.\n"There were things, when we have met with him (Prosecutor Salzmann), that he promised to go ahead and do as far as assigning a full-time person from his staff to be the lead prosecutor," Eric Behrman said. "To date, we don't know that that's happened."\nEric Behrman said they would like the prosecutor's office to give more urgency to reading over a 70-page report the Bloomington Police Department and FBI gave the prosecutor's office in December. \n"The other concern, of course, is the material given to them Dec. 20. They still have not had time or taken the time to go through the materials," he said. "We have heard and been told there are things they haven't even taken the time to look at yet."\nThe Behrmans said they did not know who WXIN and WRTV's "undisclosed sources" are, but Marilyn Behrman speculated on the information leak. \n"Bloomington is kind of a small town and people know each other," she said. "People come to me and ask me questions that let me know they've heard things -- and sometimes I'm surprised at what they've heard." \nThe news stations told the Behrmans what had been revealed to them and about the broadcasts they were going to air.\n"We were concerned when we first heard they were going to come out with this," Eric Behrman said. "When we heard they were going to be realizing details, we worked to convince them to keep the details as general as possible so as not to taint any future confessions."\nInvestigators have already said they believe Behrman was hit by a pickup truck driven by someone under the influence of alcohol or drugs and that she was taken to Salt Creek, where she was killed and her body dumped. \nThe FBI and BPD have searched the creek many times, draining a 1.4-mile stretch in September. The group has found evidence, but not her body. \nAfter the conclusion of the Salt Creek search, the BPD and FBI investigators compiled the information they found into a 70-page report that they handed to the prosecutor's office in December. \nProsecutor Salzmann, Deputy Prosecutor Mary Ellen Diekoff and a corps of research assistants and legal interns have since been reading over the report, as well as thousands of pages of interviews.\nThe Behrmans said they will meet with Prosecutor Salzmann this week. They intend to discuss assigning a full-time person to the case and giving that person office space. They have requested to view Owings' videotaped confession and hope to watch it this week, also. \n"I try to trust that the system will do the right thing and there will be justice for Jill," Marilyn Behrman said, "that those responsible for what happened to her will be held accountable"