CUE Center lists Bentley as missing

The Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons (CUE) has listed Beth Bentley as a missing person. Its website is www.ncmissingpersons.org/ The center is located in Wilmington, N.C.

Unfortunately, the listing for Beth is just a re-hash of old, and possibly erroneous, information. For example, it says she is missing from Centralia, Ill. and mentions the Amtrak Station. And it lists Beth as "endangered" with nothing to back that up.

Beth will be missing for 19 weeks as of tomorrow. The Woodstock Police Department has never explained its use of "endangered" as applied to Beth's disappearance. No mention is made by WPD of her mental health, physical health, use of prescription medications, or any other factor (such as in the case of elderly missing persons, senility or Alzheimer's) that would qualify her to be so labeled. In other words, the label "endangered" seems to mean nothing in connection with Beth's case.

There has been no identification of any circumstances that would indicate that she is subject to harm. The police seem to be treating the case as a simple walk-away (or runaway), voluntary disappearance.

A person has the right to disappear. Yes, it's awkward. Yes, it's uncomfortable and disturbing for family and friends. But it's not illegal to take a hike.

The CUE Center could have done a better job of providing current information or identifying stale information as such. Presumably, the stale information was provided by the Bentley family, but why wouldn't the CUE Center nose around to see if there is more to the story? Or did it?

It's impossible to know what effect on Beth's case the CUE Center will have. A local newspaper article, probably based on information provided to it in a press release from the family, provided three phone numbers for contact; notably, the Crime Stoppers phone number was omitted.

If you have information about Beth, notify 800.762.STOP (Crime Stoppers). Get your Crime Stoppers tip number and then call the Woodstock Police Dept. at 815.338.2131