Within the past day or two the following message was posted on the Facebook page titled "Missing Beth Bentley."
"I keep seeing the other page and Gus questioning why there is no private investigator and why the family isn't stepping up to get one. Well, we have and it got nowhere. He was supposedly a big shot PI who drove cross-state to come here. I met with him gave every piece of info I could possibly dig out of my mind and he also met with others. He gave up because he claimed it was a "dead-end." I don't want my family or myself questioned about what we haven't done, we don't have to publicize every step we have taken to avoid harsh questioning by the ignorant."
Read that message. Read it several times to make your own interpretation of what was written. And of what may have really occurred.
How thick was the notebook of "every piece of info I could possibly dig out of my mind"? Was it a notebook with three 4" rings, tabs and pages and pages of contemporaneous notes since May 24, 2010?
When a Private Investigator is contacted, he makes a preliminary decision whether to take on the case. Some of his considerations might include
* how long the person has been missing;
* the locations involved in any investigation or search;
* the extent to which family members can be expected to cooperate with full disclosure;
* the locations of other persons who might have information (i.e., will out-of-state travel (say, to California) be required to interview anyone?);
* the initial efforts made to find the missing person;
* the police department(s) involved;
* the reward(s) that were offered;
and
* the ability and willingness of the family to pay a PI's retainer, fees and expenses on a current basis.
If a PI came to Woodstock to meet with the author of that message, did he also meet with other members of the immediate family (husband, children, father)? Did he talk to former co-workers of Beth? Did he talk to Jenn Wyatt? Did he talk to Ryan Ridge and Nathan Ridge? Did he meet with any detective at the Woodstock Police Department? Did he talk to any of the bar friends from Gus's Roadhouse (now, Offsides) or collect the names of any acquaintances with whom rumors of Beth's various "activities" might have been confirmed or disspelled?
Were his services engaged or was it only a consultation? To me, for a PI to so quickly determine a "dead-end" to this case doesn't square with the facts and the obvious investigatory steps still readily available?
The only thing that matters -
the ONLY thing - is finding Beth or finding out what happened to her.
Compare the missing-person efforts and press in other cases around the country with this case.
When someone says "There is nothing else to do", that is not right. There is always something else to do.
When someone says, "I can't think of anything else to do," that's probably true. He cannot think of anything else to do. That does not mean there is nothing else to do. It only means that
he cannot think of anything else to do.
