This is the 129th week that Beth Bentley has been missing. She was age 41, when she vanished on May 23, 2010. Or was it on May 22? or May 21? or maybe even on May 20? And was it really from Centralia, Ill.? or Mt. Vernon, Ill.? Or from Woodstock?
At least three people ought to know. Jenn Wyatt. Ryan Ridge. Nathan Ridge. Will one of them (or all) cough up information about where Beth is?
So far (and it has only been 2 1/2 years) the Woodstock Police, believed to still be the lead investigative agency, has never named a suspect or even a person-of-interest in what many now believe is no longer a missing person case. Wow!
Last week a reader reminded me of Jenn Wyatt's indictment last summer by a McHenry County Grand Jury on two felony charges brought by the Woodstock Police Department that were related to the Beth Bentley missing person case. (Yes, it is still (only) officially a Missing Person case...)
When the charges were first announced, I thought (and wrote), "No way." The Woodstock Police Department didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of succeeding, but on they went. And a Grand Jury indicted Wyatt. And a judge threw it out, long before it ever got close to a trial. Short of Beth's strolling into the courtroom and saying, "Hi, everyone. She's lying", Jenn was not going to get convicted.
This morning I was thinking of the phrase "A grand jury would indict a ham sandwich" and wondered about the source of that line. The source was easy to find on Wikipedia.com. "New York State chief judge Sol Wachtler was famously quoted by Tom Wolfe in The Bonfire of the Vanities that a grand jury would 'indict a ham sandwich,' if that's what you wanted.'"
When the Grand Jury was presented with Woodstock PD's "case" and the statute was explained, why didn't the men and women on the Grand Jury see through the charges right then?
Their failure to realize that the PD really didn't ever have a case is inexcusable. But it's also preposterous that the State's Attorney's Office authorized charges in the first place and that they then took the charges to a Grand Jury.
How closely have the Woodstock Police examined the drug angle? Did Beth use drugs? Did people around her use drugs? People at the office? People at Gus's Roadhouse? If she did, where did she get them? Where did they get them?
Is there anyone on that circle of acquaintances who is no longer in Woodstock?
I've heard that Mt. Vernon doesn't have a lily-white reputation, so far as drugs go. How closely is the Woodstock P.D. working with the Mt. Vernon (Ill.) P.D. and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office to solve this missing person case? At all?
This country, this state, this county and this city have a huge job ahead to turn around the current acceptance and use of illegal drugs. The tolerance level must be Zero. You've got to be willing to turn in your own mother. It won't be easy, because so many think that recreational use is okay. It's not.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
7 comments:
I am pretty sure it's week 130. And I love the revisionist history of you saying that there was no case against Jen Wyatt, you made that observation later when I said as much ... making fun of your "everybody needs to be arrested and grilled, routine." I guess I am proud that the legal system works, with people like you slurring, spitting, stuttering, and frothing for some sort of personal vengence for a supposed wrong done to you so many decades ago.
We might both be wrong on the Week number, Ray. One calendar calculator shows 889 days from May 23, 2010 to October 28, 2012.
If that's correct, then 889/7=127.
I see two errors in my paper trail of the number of weeks. Do you think 127 (through yesterday) is correct?
I just noticed that you ran with 129 twice ... are you ignoring the part about how you didn't initially think the state was going to have a problem with the charges?
As I said then, your approach to rounding up the usual suspects and attempting to brow beat them, sounds like a great idea until you are one of the suspects.
Keep pluggin away Gus maybe you will get something right.
Seems to me that I realized the charges couldn't be proven right away, unless Beth waltzed into the courtroom and testified for the prosecution. And that wasn't very likely to happen.
What was that old movie where the prosecutor called the witness that was thought to be dead, and the only person who didn't look at the back door of the courtroom was the suspect on the stand?
I guess it's time to hop in the time machine and take a look at how it all went down.
First, waaay before Jenn was charged with anything, you decided that anyone connected to this matter in even the most remote way should be questioned for what they didn't know. Second when assorted remotely connected people were charged with wholly unconnected traffic cases, etc. You decided that those people should be jailed to squeeze them for what you thought they knew, instead of the matter they were charged with. Lastly, Jenn got charged (and hangin' were too good a punishmunt), again you were let's put pressure on her ... until barely a day or so after she had been charged it became crystal clear both on facebook and other places that there were only two horses that could be rode: Beth is alive (because she communicated after she was supposedly dead), or the charges were worthless.
But, I do like how you are never wrong, that part is hilarious.
Gus... you are the ONLY one that seems to give a rats azz about this case. Don't let those like Ray bring you down! Keep up the fight Gus. Beth deserves better. Her kids deserve to know what happened to their Mom even though Dad seems to not give a crap!!
I am keeping her poster up still at the office until this case is solved.
Debra, I didn't say anything bad about Gus "keeping this in the press." Beth's kids certainly deserve to know what happened to their mother. And I can't see how you would know how their Dad feels about it (but you are free to continue to jump to conclusions about it).
Now back to what we were talking about. Gus and his ideas of how the police should pursue this matter, and of the indictment of Jenn.
As I was saying: Bad ideas, and the fact that Gus tries to make himself sound more astute than he did back then when he was stepping in the poopy.
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