This past summer, I used to travel back and forth between Chicago and home on the Metra. I would take the Union Pacific Northwest Line which travels between Chicago and Harvard, IL almost every weekend.

I became interested in missing persons when I first heard about a local case a few summers ago–the case of Catherine Sjoberg. She vanished after prom in 1974 and there has been no trace of her ever since. (For more, visit http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/sjoberg_catherine.html )

That’s why when I saw this poster on the wall at Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago…

I had to stop and read it. The first thing I noticed was that I was surprised that she was 41 years old. I thought by her picture she was in her 20’s.

The poster said she was coming back from a trip in Southern Illinois with friends and simply did not arrive home. When I returned from the trip of my own, I did some more research on the case.

Bentley was supposedly last seen on May 23, 2010. Tomorrow will mark 9 months of her being missing. After discovering facebook groups dedicated to finding her, there are so many questions. Did Beth run away? Was she taken against her will? Did she know the person or not? Did she disappear from Southern Illinois? Centralia? Chicago? Nine months later there are still so many questions, and so little answers.

I never knew Beth, and nine months ago she was just a picture on a missing person’s poster in the train station to me. (By the way, that poster has since been taken down. Yet Beth is still missing). Now I have learned so much about her. She was from Woodstock, IL. She is a mother of three.

Now, everytime I pass Woodstock on the Metra, I think of Beth. I don’t know her, but I hope there are answers as to what happens to her soon. Her family deserves to know.

Visit Beth’s Charley Project Page.

Check out another blog post about Beth by visiting the Woodstock Advocate.

For more information on Beth’s case, go to this website dedicated to finding her.