Court records show that less than two months after Jill Behrman disappeared in mid-2000, now-indicted murder suspect John R. Myers II was served a protective order for alleged violence against a woman in April 2000. Another woman sought and obtained a protective order in mid-2001. In the 2000 case, violence included physical assault and alleged threats to rape and kill her while confining her naked in his house for two days.
The protective order in that case was issued in connection with a complaint of acts for which Myers could have been charged with misdemeanor battery plus felony confinement and intimidation, had the victim filed a complaint with the prosecutor....Sheriff Steve Sharp was having his staff check old office records to see if they could find any record of a complaint being filed....
Based on those allegations, Monroe Circuit Judge Douglas Bridges issued a protective order against Myers, prohibiting any contact with the woman. It was not renewed the following year and expired.
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2006/04/13/news.new.1144898600.sto--------
It seems to me that the women who had requested a protective order had given her version of her assault and confinement to the Sheriff/Prosecutor and that the Sheriff should have investigated and turned it over to the prosecutor to prosecute.
I wonder how common this is - that the woman was severely assaulted/confined - and that the police/prosecutors knew about it (for the purposes of the requested protective order) and yet did not file charges. It seems to me - if they knew about it and had testimony they would have enough to file charges on it.
I also think that it shouldn't be up to the women - who probably feels threatened - to make a "complaint".
It was less than 2 months after this confinement that went uncharged that Jill Behrman came up missing - later found killed - the murder he is now charged with.
While it can seem like it's obvious looking back that too little was done/charged - I don't like the implication that the Prosecutor could not have done more - it sounds to me like they knew what the story was.