DU QUOIN, IL — Illinois State Police (ISP) officials have announced the positive identification on the body of Benedetta “Beth” Bentley based on human remains, located December 4th, 2017, in rural Jefferson County.
Bentley was in the Mt. Vernon/Centralia area with a friend on May 23, 2010, when the friend said she dropped Beth at the Amtrak station in Centralia so she could catch a train home. But Amtrak had no records of Beth buying a ticket, and no one recalled seeing her in the vicinity. The wife and mother of 3 boys was never seen or heard from again.
In December 2017, a McHenry County judge granted Bentley’s family’s request to have her declared dead.
Information was developed which led the ISP to a rural location in Jefferson County where they unearthed “badly burned” human remains near Saddle Club and Miller Lake roads.
The 41-year-old Bentley had been staying with two brothers from Woodstock at the time of her disappearance at a home in the area where her remains were ultimately found.
No further information has been made available from the Illinois State Police.
The results of the joint investigation conducted by the ISP Zone 7 Investigations, ISP Zone 1 Investigations and Woodstock Police Department (WPD) have been forwarded to the Jefferson County State’s Attorney’s office for review.
Jefferson County State’s Attorney Sean Featherstun says the report is currently under review by his office.