Beth Bentley - now 104 weeks!

By my count, Beth Bentley has been missing for 104 weeks.

Sometime on the week-end of May 20-23, 2010, Beth vanished. Nobody is really sure from where she vanished. Mt. Vernon, Ill.? Centralia, Ill.? Woodstock, Ill.? Do the police believe they really even know the date when Beth was last seen alive?

Who wants her to be found?

Who doesn't want her to be found?

Where is the family's voice? Was there even any event in May of this year, two years after Beth vanished, to remind the public that Beth is still missing? I didn't hear of one. Was there one?

Recently someone asked me how much life insurance was in force on Beth's life? I don't have the answer to that one. The Woodstock Police certainly ought to have the answer.

What was the total amount of life insurance in force on her life?
Accidental Death Benefit?
When was it purchased?
What type of policy? Term insurance? Whole Life?
Who was the beneficiary?

Who was the agent?
What company issued the policy?
Was the amount of insurance "reasonable"?

And a while back someone asked me if it was possible for a policy to be taken out on a person who didn't know about it?

It's not supposed to be possible. And it happens all the time.

The agent is supposed to be the insurance company's first line of defense against fraudulent applications for insurance. "Supposed to be" ...

Suppose someone who resembled Beth "stood in" for her. If the insurance were purchased from an agent who didn't know her, he (or she) wouldn't have any reason to suspect he was being used.

Many insurance policies are issued without physical examinations. The agent just asks the questions about health. Or sometimes a paramedic nurse does a cursory examination, recording medical history and taking weight and blood pressure readings.

If the face amount applied for is large, a medical exam by a doctor might be required. Let's say the stranger shows up at the doctor's office and says, "Hi, Doc. I'm Beth." The doctor will do the exam.

If blood work is involved, due to medical history or amount applied for, here is where the policy might now fall apart. But first the insurance company would have to question whether it had the right blood. And the lab might not have done tests that could be compared with Beth's DNA now. Most likely, it no longer has the blood sample that it tested.

The insurance company isn't ready to pay off, because Beth is still "just" missing.