Beth Bentley - gone 103 weeks!

Beth Bentley has now been gone 103 weeks. She vanished on the week-end of May 20-23, 2010, from Centralia, Ill. Or was it from Mount Vernon, Ill.? Or was it from Woodstock, Ill.?

One person knows for sure. Two others very likely know. And several others know more than they are saying, which is nothing.

When will those who know start talking? They have stories to tell. Maybe they'll stop telling "stories". It's way past time for the truth.

One interesting thing about telling the truth is that the story doesn't change. No matter how many times the story is told, it is basically the same. Small items might change - a little. When you tell the truth - whether you tell it today or told it last week or last year or two years ago - the story will be close to the same.

It's when you lie that you trip yourself up. Few liars are good enough to keep telling the story over and over and not start falling all over themselves. There are interviewing techniques that help detectives trip up liars. The detectives know those techniques. At least, they should know those techniques. And they should use them.

All the principals in the Beth Bentley missing person case, and I could name about a dozen of them non-stop, should be interviewed and re-interviewed. And by different detectives. Maybe even by different agencies. Maybe by detectives who don't know the stories.

Different detectives will pick up different information and cues, while the stories are being told. They will spot the hesitations and also the parts of the stories that have been rehearsed, thought through, thought out. The part of the story that just comes out "too smoothly".

The detectives will find the answers within the files that they have already accumulated. They should have someone new look at the case. Fresh eyes will see what's "wrong". Put pride in the bottom drawer and focus only on finding Beth. Start fresh.