Beth Bentley - Week 198

When the Woodstock Police updated its flier in the Beth Bentley case, it released information that Beth Bentley was classified as an Endangered missing person because of her "purported prescription and illegal drug use while she was visiting the Mt. Vernon and Jefferson County area of southern Illinois."

The first press release issued by the Woodstock Police Department did not so classify her and, when the Department did classify her as Endangered, it would not say why. In its February 12, 2014, press release it did say "why".

An article in today's Northwest Herald about the prevalence of heroin in McHenry County caused me to wonder again what drugs Beth might have been using and where she got them.

Did Beth have friends who were druggies? Was any member of the "posse" using drugs? Where did he or she get them? How long was she using, if she was?

If Beth had any local medical treatment, would any lab work have revealed the presence of illegal drugs? Even with HIPAA, is there not a way to investigate illegal drug use? 

Did Beth OD in Mt.Vernon? Whom was she with? Where was the party? What happened to her body?

How hard is it to track a person's drug history? Don't police generally know who is using and who the dealers are? Of course, proving it is another matter. That's what detectives do.

Does Woodstock PD still have its policy of rotating officers in and out of detectives like it's a game of Musical Chairs? If a detective develops informants, do those informants stick around, when the detective puts his uniform on and goes back to Patrol?

This case is going to hit the four-year mark in May. It's time to bear down on six people and extract the information needed to find out what happened to Beth Bentley.