Beth Bentley - gone 164 weeks

One hundred sixty-four weeks ago Beth Bentley vanished. Very likely, she disappeared (maybe with a little help?) on May 23, 2010, from Centralia, Ill. Or from Mt. Vernon, Ill. Or maybe not even from either. Or on that date...

It's all murky. Only one person says that Jenn Wyatt drove Beth from Mt. Vernon to Centralia on Sunday, May 23, 2010. That person is Jenn Wyatt.

What did Ryan Ridge and Nathan Ridge tell Jefferson County (Ill.) sheriff's deputies (the house where Beth reportedly stayed from May 21-23 is in Jefferson County, outside city limits), Mt. Vernon Police or Woodstock Police? Did any law enforcement officers ever interview them? More than once?

When Beth's husband, Scott Bentley, and friends went to Mt. Vernon soon after Beth didn't return, with whom did they talk and what did they learn?

Wyatt says she doesn't know what Beth was going to do after she was dropped off in Centralia. Wyatt has said that she doesn't know whether Beth was going to meet someone. Wyatt did tell me on June 10, 2010, that Beth never intended to take a train that evening. And that they were to meet up on Monday afternoon in northern Illinois, so that Beth and she could return to Woodstock in time for Beth to get home before Scott got home from work.

Phone records don't seem to indicate any urgent, frequent or repeated attempts to reach Beth. Assuming that a good time back in Woodstock would have been 5:00PM, you'd expect to find calls during the day to confirm meet-up plans and, when there was no contact, you'd expect to find more attempts and more frequently. And you'd expect the police to get called earlier than about 10:50PM.

What smells here?

Did Beth really make it to Mt. Vernon? What were her activities on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? What happened on Sunday?