Sunday, October 27, 2013

Beth Bentley - gone 179 weeks

What kind of day was May 23, 2010?

That's the day that Jenn Wyatt says she last saw Beth Bentley, when Jenn says she dropped Beth off near the Centralia (Ill.) Amtrak Station at about 6:00PM.

Was it still sunny (like today) on that early summer afternoon? Was it dry? Apparently, the weather was warm, because Beth was reported to have been "traveling light".

Her attire, as reported at the time, certainly didn't make sense for what some (many?) thought was a northbound train ride to Chicago. Would she really have walked, dressed like that, to the Ogilvie Transportation Center late on a Sunday evening? Or would she have taken a cab the 2-3 short blocks?

That story was definitely a "red herring", but people bought it - initially. Then I received a phone call on June 10th from Jenn, telling me that Beth never intended to take a train and also that she never even intended to spend the entire week-end in Mount Vernon.

Why would Jenn have said that? Another misdirection? Why didn't she reveal that immediately to the Woodstock Police, when Beth disappearance was reported late Monday evening, May 24, 2010? Or did she?

But, if she had, why did friends go into Chicago to distribute Missing Person posters? Or did they?

What will it take to get this case out of the freezer and back on the front burner? What new leads can investigators follow? What old leads can be dusted off and worked further?

Who from Beth's circle of acquaintances and friends has left Woodstock? Who has experienced life changes? Divorce? Marriage? Job relocations?

I always felt that Beth's father, the late Ron Rogers, knew information that might have contributed to finding Beth, but he may not have realized that what he knew was important. On the day Beth vanished, she was to have a delayed birthday dinner with her father. He was in Harvard. But she was thought to be in Mount Vernon, more than 300 miles away.

Unanswered questions are: When was he informed that there wasn't going to be any dinner to celebrate his birthday? What was the reason? When and how was he informed? Had that dinner been re-scheduled from the week before, and by whom? Did police interview him and ask these questions?

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