Beth Bentley, from Woodstock and 41 at the time, disappeared on May 23, 2010. Probably.
From Centralia, Ill. Maybe.
She was reported missing on May 24, 2010. That's for sure. There is a record of that at the Woodstock (Ill.) Police Department.
Beth is classified as an Endangered Missing Person, but the police have never explained the "endangered" classification. That is often used when threats have been made against the missing person or they have a health condition (and need medications) or a mental health condition.
My first FOIA request to inspect the records at the Woodstock Police Department was denied, so I waited a year.
I filed my second FOIA request on March 28, and on April 1 (no foolin'; they didn't even wait out the full week) the City of Woodstock denied that request, citing the exemption that disclosure would "Interfere with pending or actually and reasonably contemplated law enforcement proceedings conducted by any law enforcement agency."
So, let's see...what are they really saying?
1. that there could be pending law enforcement proceedings; or
2. that there could be actually contemplated law enforcement proceedings; or
3. that there could be reasonably contemplated law enforcement proceedings
by any law enforcement agency.
Yeah, right ... That's why the boiler-plate wording in the monthly report by the Woodstock Police Department to the Woodstock City Manager dropped the reference to the Beth Bentley case.
And then even that disappeared from the P.D. report. Out of sight, out of mind.
In many parts of the country, when a person goes missing, there is a loud, ongoing outcry, appealing to the public for information. The police and the public, in other jurisdictions, cooperate to find the missing person. Instead, here the police clammed up and released virtually nothing that would help find Beth Bentley.
Is this really "only" a missing person case? Would the exemption claimed by the City really hold up? Have there been any "law enforcement proceedings" since Jennifer Wyatt's perjury charges were dismissed on August 29, 2012?
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2 comments:
I thought she wasn't really dropped off in centralia. Why is that story still told? Its there wherever you read. And why doesn't the police update if it's not true?
The Woodstock Police have never commented on what Jenn Wyatt told them, and so the Amtrak Station information remains on the flier on the Police Dept. website.
Jenn told me on June 10, 2010, that Beth never intended to take a train. She did not tell me that that she didn't drop Beth off near the Amtrak Station in Centralia.
There are still people who are following the story closely, and they question the entire week-end. The truth has yet to come out.
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