Beth Bentley - missing 45 weeks now

Beth Bentley disappeared last May. She was 41, when she told her husband she was going to Wisconsin for the week-end. Instead, she may have gone to Mt. Vernon, Ill. with her friend and co-worker, Jennifer Wyatt.

This case appears to have gone "cold" at the Woodstock Police Department. There was a rumor a month or two ago that the case would be transferred to the Illinois State Police. There has been no official announcement. After a recent Chicago Tribune article, the case has gone quiet again.

Have the people of Woodstock forgotten this woman?

What really happened to Beth?

Did she take off on her own? If so, with whom, if anyone, did she likely disappear? On what is she living? Was she pregnant last April-May, as some believe from photos that could be viewed on Facebook then but which have since been removed?

Did she drive with Wyatt to Mt. Vernon on Thursday night, perhaps arriving at Wyatt's boyfriend's residence in Mt. Vernon about 2:00AM Friday, May 21? Did Beth, Wyatt and two young adult males eat and drink at the Frosty Mug in Mt. Vernon on Friday night? Did they really rent a boat on Rend Lake on Saturday? Did Wyatt drive Beth to Centralia on Sunday and drop her off near the Amtrak station where, as Wyatt told me on June 10, Beth had never intended to take a train.

Whom was she meeting? Wyatt says she doesn't know. How is it that a best friend wouldn't know whom Beth was meeting? Or is she afraid to say? Or is that whole story a red herring?

If the story is untrue, Jenn, find somebody you can trust, like maybe a lawyer in Chicago, and tell him the truth. Put it in writing. Make it a sworn statement. Videotape the interview. Make it one of those "If something happens to me, take this to the State Police or the F.B.I." statements.