METH-MYTH FUELED FALSE CONFESSION -- Anthony Stockleman, who was linked through DNA to the murder of ten year old Katie Collman from Crothersville, Indiana, is expected to plead guilty to her murder on Friday. Collman's case made the cover of the Sunday NY Times when it was featured as part of a story on the devastating effects methamphetamine use in small-town Indiana. The meth-angle was a myth -- the FBI and Indiana State Police coerced a false confession from a local meth-user named Charles Hickman -- and maintained that Hickman murdered Collman because she stumbled on his meth lab operation. Even though the true killer was in their sights, had been seen near the crime scene and was in a white pickup truck that matched the description of the truck in which Katie was last seen, the FBI and ISP let him go and wasted months trying to sell the meth story. The interrogations of Hickman (I've reviewed the transcripts) were very unprofessional and show agents force feeding Hickman with details of the crime that only the true perpetrator would have known. Today's story is in the Louisville Courier Journal by Harold Adams. Stay tuned for a more detailed story about the case in the days and weeks to come.
