Jill Behrman disappeared 25 years ago

On the morning of Wednesday, May 31, 2000, Marilyn Behrman saw her daughter Jill for the last time.

Jill rode her red and white Cannondale bike to work at the IU Student Recreational Sports Center and planned on having dinner with her grandparents and her father Eric that afternoon. Jill never made it to work or dinner, and the disappearance captured Bloomington’s attention for years to come.

When she didn’t come back that evening, the family quickly spread flyers across town. Eric went driving with Jill’s brother, Bryan, down her usual routes, looking for any sign of her. The family called hospitals and then the local jail, but with no luck.

By Friday, Jill’s photo was in the newspaper and the Behrman household phone was constantly ringing. The Bloomington Police Department formed search parties with community members.

“I never went out and searched,” Marilyn said. “I wanted to be home in case she showed up. I couldn't let her come home to an empty house.”

Jill’s disappearance began to receive national attention. Soon, Eric and Marilyn spoke to reporters from across the Midwest and were featured on Good Morning America. America’s Most Wanted aired an episode about Jill’s case two years later.

Local investigators chased down every lead, only to come back empty-handed.

“I remember one of the investigators say, ‘it would be so much easier if we had a crime scene,’” Marilyn said.

Three years later, Jill’s remains were found outside Martinsville, putting a tragic end to the search.

• • •

To this day, Marilyn is still surprised by the way Bloomington rallied around her family. Local organizations and church groups raised money to fund a reward for anyone who could offer information, while hundreds of residents gathered to grid search across town.

It wasn’t long after her disappearance that her friends and co-workers at the SRSC wanted to organize an event to keep Jill’s story in the public eye. The annual competitive 5K “Run for the Endzone” was renamed in Jill’s honor and has been a campus staple ever since.

The run this year is Saturday, April 5 at 11 a.m. The route begins and ends at the SRSC and makes its way through IU’s campus. Registration takes place through race day and is $35.

What started as a way to help bring Jill home, is now a celebration of her life — one that her recreational hobbies would feel right at home with.

Jill was an avid cyclist and had completed a cross-country trek to Atlantic City after her high school graduation in 1999. Marilyn said she was obsessed with pushing herself to the limit and joining the pace setters at the front of the pack, colloquially known as the “burners.” Marilyn said it was this drive that often led Jill to ride alone. While her friends thought it would be a casual bike ride, to Jill, it was a training opportunity.

The JB5K has no clocks or timers to inspire competition, instead, it has become a celebration. The 5K is a color run, where participants are covered in bright, colorful powder along the route, creating rainbow like patterns on their clothes by the time they reach the finish line.

Runners warm up through a dance party before the race starts and rejoice in crossing the finishing line in the same fashion.

The commemorative 5K is a proper memorial in Marilyn’s eyes, choosing positivity and joy over tragedy.

Alongside the 5K, the family created the Jill Behrman Emerging Leader Scholarship, which is awarded to a student or students who are involved in recreational sports for at least a year and have showed leadership abilities.

“I didn’t want to spend a lot of time thinking and mulling about what happened,” Marilyn said. “Eventually the stories bring smiles instead of tears.”

• • •

Although most current IU undergrads weren’t even born in 2000, Jill’s story is remembered.

Students like Sophie Wellbaum relate to Jill. Wellbaum, like Jill, works at the SRSC and walks to work. Wellbaum, a junior majoring in outdoor parks and recreation and hospitality and event management from Fishers, Indiana, met several of her best friends while running the 5K during her freshman year. She later joined the steering committee which oversees the 5K.

Jill’s story and others like it may strike fear about the endless ‘what ifs’ while doing something as routine as walking or biking to work. For Wellbaum, it’s a reminder to advocate for campus safety, especially for first year students.

But instead of fear, Jill’s impact continues to be one of optimism and celebration.

“You can see how the run is meant to celebrate her life, and how they (Jill’s family) don’t necessarily want remembrance on how her life ended, but how her life was conducted when she was alive, which I think is amazing,” Wellbaum said.

Ayanna Culmer-Gilbert, a fifth year PhD candidate in chemistry from the Bahamas and member of the steering committee, stumbled into the 5K as a personal challenge, just to see if she could finish it.

Culmer-Gilbert said she believes the high energy and less competitive nature of the run helps bring more people in who wouldn’t usually think a 5K is for them. The event is so much fun, she said, that many attendees don’t know the story behind it.

“I think knowing that the university cares enough to have done something like this for a student, I think is comforting to everyone,” Culmer-Gilbert said.

• • •

Marilyn, now 73, is the Undergraduate Administrative Services Coordinator for the Media School at IU. She has a poster advertising the JB5K and signage supporting IU women’s basketball hung around her office space.

For Marilyn, and many other parents who have lost a child, time is measured in the before and after their child was lost. Marilyn’s world changed that Wednesday in May 2000, and the change brought with it life lessons that won’t be easily forgotten.

“It taught me what’s important,” Marilyn said. “It showed me what relationships to invest in.”

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