Beth Bentley - 144 weeks

As of yesterday, Beth Bentley has been missing 144 weeks. Beth vanished on May 23, 2010.

How many people know where she is?

I suggest that at least three do.

For a missing person case, this is really a strange one. In other parts of the country, when a person goes missing, people get excited. Friends take an interest; family searches endlessly; even strangers get involved. Law enforcement seeks leads from the public and shares information that might lead to finding the person.

In this case? Where is the information from law enforcement? The Woodstock Police Department claimed the lead, because Beth's disappearance was reported to Woodstock PD late Monday evening, May 24, 2010. However, initial reports indicated Beth had been in southern Illinois with her friend Jennifer Wyatt. Jenn says she drove Beth from Mount Vernon, Ill. to Centralia, Ill. and dropped her off near the Amtrak Station.

Supposedly, the Mount Vernon and Centralia Police Department had a hand in the investigation. So did the Jefferson County (Ill.) Sheriff's Department, since the Ridge home was in the county, not in the city limits of Mount Vernon. The Woodstock Police Department chief said the Illinois State Police was involved.

Beth and Jenn had gone to Mount Vernon, so that Jenn could visit her boyfriend, Ryan Ridge. Ryan and his brother, Nathan, were at a house in rural Mount Vernon owned by the Ridge family.

Police have never offered details of the week-end, from the time early Friday morning when Beth and Jenn would have arrived by car after leaving Woodstock Thursday evening. Or even from the time Beth and Jenn were supposed to have left Woodstock. What did one, two, three or four of them do over the week-end?

Three of them are available to talk about it. But they aren't. Why not?