Beth Bentley - Week 69

Beth Bentley, Woodstock mother, wife, legal secretary, benefactress, friend to many, has now been missing for 69 weeks. Beth vanished on (or about) May 23, 2010, possibly while in southern Illinois.

Why do I write "on (or about)" and "possibly"?

It is apparently according to only one person, who now herself has disappeared from the local scene, that Beth was last seen in Centralia, Ill. That person said she dropped Beth off near a train station, but she told me 17 days later that Beth "never" intended to take a train and, in fact, never intended to spend the entire week-end in Mount Vernon.

If there is any credibility to that statement, then how did Beth intend to spend her week-end? The friend has never revealed that publicly.

Was it ever really confirmed that Beth was in Mount Vernon, Illinois, that fateful week-end? Supposedly, she had dinner with her friend and traveling companion, Jennifer Wyatt, at The Frosty Mug in Mount Vernon on Friday evening, May 21, 2010. Supposedly, Jenn's boyfriend at the time, Ryan Ridge, and his younger brother, Nathan, were with them.An employee remembered them and that alcohol service to Nathan was refused, because he could not show proof of being of legal age to purchase or consume alcohol.

Later that sighting was challenged by Woodstock friends (who weren't there), who claimed the dinner wasn't on May 21 but, instead, had been on May 7.

So maybe the last time Beth was seen alive was at a Woodstock baseball game of her youngest son on a Thursday evening. It was after that game that Beth and Jenn, at least as initially reported, left Woodstock in a rental car and drove to Mount Vernon on the late evening of May 20.

Where is Jennifer Wyatt now? Recently her job with the law firm of Beth's husband, Scott Bentley, ended. A civil lawsuit about past-due child support, naming Jennifer as defendant, has lingered in McHenry County court. Will she show up at a hearing scheduled for October 21?

She also may be a witness in a criminal case which is following a typical court path of continuance after continuance. That case was filed in November 2010. A trial date has not yet been set.

Is Jennifer back in California, where she may have family? Are her kids in school? Have school records from Woodstock District 200 been transferred? That trail ought to give Woodstock Police a lead on where to find her and attempt to persuade her to return as a witness in the criminal trial.

Hopefully, she will find employment and be able to establish a safe home for herself and her children.