After last week's Northwest Herald article about Woodstock's #1 missing person, Beth Bentley, I made a list of questions about this case. You know, a spontaneous, off-the-cuff list - just typed them off the top of my head.
Three pages of questions.
One near the top of the list is why no persons-of-interest (POI) have been identified. What's a POI? It's a suspect that the police are not yet ready to name as a Suspect. Since he isn't a Suspect, they can keep talking to him and not have to read his Miranda Rights to him. I could list a whole bunch of them, and surely the police have identified them.
You'd think that by this time those in the close-in circle would be looking over their shoulders, wondering who is the weakest link. Someone in the know will spill the beans pretty soon. Over the next few weeks some of the stories will be picked apart and people placed in the spotlight. Perhaps the police have already done this. Well, let's do it again.
Since this is reportedly a missing person case that is now a year old (and not a criminal case), what records at the Woodstock, Mt. Vernon and Centralia Police Departments are now open to public inspection? All? Any? And what about the Illinois State Police? Are they involved? Seems like that question might have a multiple-choice answer: Yes, No, Maybe.
Is there a basis for FBI involvement? What if some fresh hands got on this case? What if a keen investigator started at the ball diamond on Thursday night, May 19, and traced every single footprint?
This case went cold far too quickly.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
2 comments:
It's showing again, Gus... Your ignorance and lack of understanding. Stop getting your legal education from the television and movies.
You say "Since he isn't a Suspect, they can keep talking to him and not have to read his Miranda Rights to him."
That a person is a suspect and the investigation has focused on him or her has nothing to do with Miranda. Miranda doesn't become an issue until the person is in custody. Not free to move about, leave, vamoose, take a sneak, depart. It's not complex. Most people understand it. Why doesn't a candidate for sheriff understand it?
Thank the lord you lost the election. Not that you ever had a chance.
Right, Toa. That's what I said.
If you've got me in the room with the padded walls and the rubber hose and I ask if I'm a suspect and you say "No", I'm going to walk out and you're not going to be able to stop me. I'm not in custody. You're fishing and you're in the wrong pond without a license.
You can take a chance and arrest me, and then read me my rights. If you're wrong? You're not going to get away with handing me a Release form and saying you'll let me go if I sign it.
What if Gary Gauger had known he could just walk out of the sheriff's department? If people know their rights, yes, cops' work will get harder.
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