New website for missing Woodstock woman

A new website has been established for a woman missing from Woodstock for more than a year. Beth Bentley, then 41, disappeared, probably in southern Illinois, on or about May 23, 2010. You can visit this new website at http://www.missingbethbentley.com/

Come on, folks. It's time to stop "talking" about the train. That part of the story blew up on June 10, if what Beth's traveling companion of the week-end said on that date was true.

I'll admit that I too fell for the bait when the story first came out. I had grabbed my Metra schedule and figured out that, if Beth had taken the 6:08PM train northbound from Centralia on that Sunday, she would have had to walk through that nasty, dark, lonely tunnel from Union Station about 11:00PM, cross Madison Street to the Ogilvie Transportation Center, catch the 12:30AM (May 24) train and arrive in Woodstock at 2:01AM (Monday). Who was going to pick up her at the Woodstock Depot? Nobody ever mentioned that.

So that story didn't make sense to me. And then, on June 10th, her traveling companion, Jennifer Wyatt, called me and told me that Beth "never intended to take that train." She told me that Beth and she were going to rendezvous in northern Illinois on Monday, so that Beth could get home (on Monday) before Scott, her husband, got home from work.

Surely, she must have told the Woodstock Police that.

So that would put the women back in Woodstock by, say, 5:00-6:00PM. Right?

Why is anyone still talking about a train? Beth wasn't going to take the train. Period.

A lot of attention is given to the lack of use of Beth's cell phone "since" Sunday, May 23, 2010. Why isn't anyone talking about the use of her cell phone on Sunday, May 23, 2010? With what other phones was Beth's cellphone connected (calls made? calls received) for either voice or text messages on Sunday?

From one of the rumors circulated on a Facebook page that started after Beth disappeared, there were many text messages on Sunday between Beth's phone and one particular telephone.

When did Beth last speak with one of her three sons in Woodstock? Sunday? Saturday? Friday? Anytime that week-end? Wouldn't that help pinpoint whether she was alive on Sunday? or Saturday? or Friday?

But let's take a look at the phone usage of her traveling companion for the week-end, Jennifer Wyatt.

From Jennifer's phone there were four calls between 2:30PM and 4:00PM on Sunday to the same phone number of the person Beth supposedly exchanged so many text messages with on Sunday. Where would this lead police investigators?

And there were four telephone calls between Jennifer's phone and Josh's phone (Josh is one of Beth's sons in Woodstock). Of course, Beth could have been using Jennifer's phone. But the family has said that Beth didn't call.

If Jennifer (and Beth) went to Mount Vernon, Illinois, for a week-end with Ryan Ridge (and his brother, Nathan), why would there be 15 telephone connections between their phones on Sunday from 9:58AM-11:46AM? Wasn't she there with him?

What happened when Jennifer called Beth's cell phone on Monday at 8:56AM? at 4:19PM? and sent Beth a few text messages during Monday?

And what about the many calls on Monday from Scott's telephone to Beth's phone, starting at 6:01AM?

At what time and where were Jenn, who supposedly was driving the car rented by Beth, and Beth to meet? At what time did Jennifer first inform Scott that she didn't know where Beth was?

Why did Scott call Jenn at 3:31PM on Monday? What was that call about? He had been calling Beth all day but apparently not reaching her. Did he want to know where his wife was? He called Jennifer again at 5:13PM and 6:03PM. Did she answer? And further calls in the evening, including several after the police received the missing-person report.

Where was Jennifer all this time? During the evening she made or received phone calls with a McHenry (Ill.) lawyer? Why would she be calling a lawyer before Beth was reported missing to the Woodstock Police just before 11:00PM (Monday, May 24)?