DU QUOIN – Illinois State Police (ISP) officials announce the positive identification of the body of Benedetta “Beth” Bentley. The human remains, located on December 4, 2017, near Saddle Club and Miller Lake roads in rural Jefferson County and described as “badly burned,” have been positively identified.
The wife and mother of three boys was never seen or heard from again after being in the Mt. Vernon/Centralia area with a friend on May 23, 2010. The friend said she dropped the then 41-year-old at the Amtrak station in Centralia so she could ride a train home. But Amtrak had no records of Bentley buying a ticket, and no one recalled seeing her in the vicinity.
In December 2017, a McHenry County judge granted Bentley’s family’s request to have her declared dead.
The results of the joint investigation conducted by the ISP Zone 7 Investigations, ISP Zone 1 Investigations and Woodstock Police Department were 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.