“But I would like for him to not be anyone in my life now. "I was around him for so long that he’s kind of a voice in my head,” Ellis said. But he still finds himself dwelling on his onetime friend, evaluating day-to-day situations as Murbarger would have. As Ellis watched jurors deliver a guilty verdict, he was relieved that justice had been served. Investigators had suspected all along that Murbarger had strangled Megan in a fit of rage, and when his trial began last year, prosecutors presented the theory to a jury. Murbarger’s comment didn’t amount to a confession, Ellis said, “but it was pretty close.” "I probably couldn’t even have lifted my own body weight, much less strangled - if someone with anger issues found out about something and strangled her,” he said.Įllis described the exchange as a “pin drop moment.”Įllis had always known Murbarger to be a smart, polite person, but he had another side - one that seemed fueled by anger and control and that responded badly to disagreements, Ellis said. On July 2, 2018, Ellis made the case the FBI had made to him, telling Murbarger that the blood the agents had found was Megan’s, according to a transcript of the conversation obtained by “Dateline.” "He was clearly nervous, but Kyle is certainly motivated by the right thing,” Hart said. It needed Ellis, Hart said, because Murbarger was no longer talking to authorities without a lawyer, and officials wanted to see how he’d respond to the new evidence. When Murbarger left town for a couple of weeks, Ellis moved out - and he later planned a get-together to explain why he’d left so suddenly. Fearing what Murbarger might do to others - including a new girlfriend Murbarger was seeing - Ellis met with the FBI again and agreed to help. Putting on the wireĮllis said he didn’t sleep for days. "I’m sure the color just drained out of my face, and the only thing I was thinking, like, the whole time they were talking was ‘oh, s-!’” Ellis said, recalling his first meeting with the FBI. The tests confirmed that the stain was Megan’s blood, Hart said. The couple agreed to the testing without a warrant, which wouldn’t have been possible to obtain because of how much time had passed since Megan disappeared. After the crash, it was sold to a salvage yard, which then sold it to a Missouri couple, who allowed the FBI to conduct more extensive testing on the trunk, Hart said. He was floored when Hart, the FBI agent, showed up two years later with critical new information about the car.Ī stroke of luck had allowed Hart to track down the Avenger. Ellis - who by then was living with Murbarger in Evansville, where they attended the University of Southern Indiana - recalled his roommate saying he’d been involved in a single-car crash: He’d passed out while driving to his parents’ and veered into a tree. The car - a 2009 Dodge Avenger - became key evidence after state police turned to the FBI for help. And when state police investigators field-tested a stain in its trunk, believing it could be blood, the results came back negative. Murbarger told authorities he’d cleaned the car because he couldn’t sleep, Colclasure said. on July 4, hours after his girlfriend had vanished. "That’s a massive red flag," Hart said, noting the strangeness of a 19-year-old’s cleaning his vehicle at 8 a.m. And her mother found ominous clues in her bedroom - a cellphone that had been wiped and a note telling her mother she loved her but not to look for her. Authorities later discovered security video from two local banks showing her withdrawing cash from an ATM the day she disappeared. Three months later, on the night of July 3, Megan vanished. But the fantasy kept evolving, with Murbarger running away sometimes on his own and sometimes with Megan, Ellis said. Murbarger could also be overly dramatic, Ellis said, and he didn’t believe his friend was serious. Murbarger was sick of his family, he told Ellis, and he wanted to run away. He wanted to give Ellis all of his things - his guitars, video game consoles and motorcycle - in exchange for $3,000. In April 2014, Murbarger made a strange offer. "My opinion of him at that time was that he was, at least deep down, a very logical person, a very smart person." Megan vanishes To him, Murbarger had always been polite and respectful - "like a brother to me," he said. Murbarger’s best friend, Ellis, said he wasn’t aware of the exchanges. His family declined to talk with “Dateline,” and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois declined to make Murbarger available for an interview after he was convicted. Murbarger’s lawyer didn’t respond to requests for comment.
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