Beth Bentley - 161 weeks gone

Beth Bentley vanished 161 weeks ago, probably on Sunday, May 23, 2010.

The Woodstock (Ill.) Police Department (WPD) claims to be the lead investigatory police department in this case, which it classified first as a missing-person case and subsequently escalated slightly, when it named Bentley as an Endangered Missing Person.

WPD never explained the "endangered" classification. "Endangered" is commonly used in cases where there is a known physical or mental health issue, a need for prescribed medication(s), threats of harm, etc.

WPD never updated the flier on its website to remove questionable details or the dissolution of the Woodstock Area Crime Stoppers organization that had offered one-half of the $2,000 reward.

The local (Woodstock) Crime Stoppers group was involuntarily dissolved on June 14, 2013, for failure to file its last Annual Report or pay the miniscule filing fee ($10.00?). The last Board let the 25-year-old organization go down the drain without a struggle to keep it going. Offers to re-energize it got no response. Obviously, "younger blood" was needed for it to continue, but the Board did little or nothing to perpetuate the group. Remaining funds were transferred to the Crime Stoppers of McHenry County, and presumably the $1,000 reward was abandoned.

Whether or not the Crime Stoppers of McHenry County still offers its own $1,000 reward in this case is anyone's guess. It is virtually impossible to contact the group or get a response from them. In any event, no one is likely to step forward with information about Bentley for the petty sum of $1,000. No private or family reward has been mentioned for almost three years.

Who should care if a married woman goes missing from a community? If family and friends don't "raise hell", should anyone else? I've had several women tell me that they hope they never go missing from Woodstock.

What does that tell you about whether Woodstock is a caring community?