The probate case is No. 17PR000295. You can follow it at www.mchenrycircuitclerk.org
The entries in court records for December 21, 2017 are:
ORDER-IMPOUND
LETTERS OF OFFICE
ORDER-LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE APPOI
BOND-OATH
ORDER
ORDER-HEIRSHIP
ORDER
MEMORANDUM-OPINION AND ORDER
AFFIDAVIT
NOTICE
OATH
AFFIDAVIT-HEIRSHIP
These documents are all public record. Anyone can go to the McHenry County Courthouse, 3rd floor, and read them on the Court's computer system, without charge. If you want to buy printed copies, the cost will be $2.00/page.
On August 28, 2017, there was filed a PETITION-TESTAMENTARY.
Somewhere in the process Beth is going to have to be declared dead. She hasn't been seen or heard of for more than seven years. It seems to me that a Petition should have been filed for a Presumption of Death Order before the Estate was ever opened for probate, but the court must have accepted it among other papers.
If she had a Will, the Will can be read at the courthouse. I thought I had read a newspaper article that she did not have a Will. If not, then she will have died intestate. But since the August 28 filing reads TESTAMENTARY, I wonder whether there was a Will. If there was a Will, it can be read as filed.
The name of her husband at the time of her disappearance, Scott Bentley, appears in online court records as Independent Administrator of her Estate.
The lawyer for the estate is Guy Youman, of Rupp & Youman.
The Illinois Attorney General is listed as ATTORNEY - INTEREST OF. Is this normal in cases of Petitions for Presumption of Death? Or is the State interested for another reason?
The ORDER-IMPOUND may be related to any records from law enforcement agencies that police want withheld from the public view while they continue their investigation.
On December 1 Judge Chmiel issued a HIPAA QUALIFIED PROTECTIVE ORDER. There were rumors in 2010 of a health condition of Beth that, if true, would have interested police investigators. Could this Order impede a police investigation that could proceed after a Presumption of Death Petition is granted?
The Illinois State Police have assigned FOIA Response No. 17-2930 to my FOIA request, filed December 18, for the location at which suspected human remains were found in Jefferson County by the Illinois State Police. Several people from southern Illinois have told me where police activity was on December 4, but I'm waiting for official response.
The address of the property visited by Jenn Wyatt and Beth Bentley on that May 21-23, 2010 week-end is 17974 N. Miller Lake Road. It's a Mt. Vernon (Ill.) mailing address, but the house is in Jefferson County, outside the city limits of Mt. Vernon. According to Zillow.com the house was on and off the market. The listing and sales activity from Zillow.com shows
 |
| December 2010 |
7/31/10 Listing removed
8/5/14 Listed by owner $156,900
5/28/15 Listed by Century 21 $156,900
6/26/15 Pending sale $156,900
8/7/15 Back on market $156.900
9/9/15 Price change (-5.4%)
1/19/16 Pending sale $148,500
3/4/16 Sold $142,500
The Zillow information may or may not be complete.
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