Posted on 10/15/2006 1:39:33 AM PDT by hawkeye101
Officials: Family of 5 Shot Dead in Iowa
BONAPARTE, Iowa — Three high school girls and their parents were found dead Saturday morning at their home in eastern Iowa, and the couple's son was arrested in Illinois and considered a suspect, officials said.
The victims were found shot at about 4 a.m. near Bonaparte, according to the Van Buren County sheriff's office. It was not immediately clear what prompted the slayings.
Shawn Bentler, 22, was arrested Saturday in Quincy, Ill., on an unrelated charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, the Van Buren County sheriff's office said. The Iowa Department of Public Safety said he is a suspect in the slayings.
Quincy is about 57 miles southeast of the family's home.
Parents Michael Bentler, 53, and Sandra Bentler, 47, were found dead with their daughters Sheena Bentler, 17, Shelby Bentler, 15, and Shayne Bentler, 14, Van Buren County authorities said.
The Harmony school district confirmed three of its female high school students — a freshman, sophomore and senior — and their parents were killed.
The slayings shocked residents of this eastern Iowa town, located about 145 miles southeast of Des Moines.
"The whole town knew the family," resident Marilyn Thomas said. "This is only a town of 465 people."
School officials said they will have counselors available Monday to speak with grieving students.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I was shocked when I read the news on the Red Star's web page yesterday afternoon.
My condolences to the community.
Louisa County?
Guns? I would think that drugs were responsible, unless we blame it on the son.
Prayers for the familes and those affected by this.
Ditto, and AMEN. My sincere condolences to all who knew and loved this family.
"We all survived w/o counselors.
"
Yes, and so have many who have had tragedy occur around them. On the other hand, I cannot see the harm in counselors in such situations. Since I can't see the harm, I can't find any reason to whine about them.
My first thought was meth. It's tearing rural areas up.
seems that the real story is how the son occupied himself (when not killing his family), if guilty.
So is Grace.
Fair and balanced reporting.
Exactly right. Good point.
May the latter consume the former.
""Grief counselors" are the humanistic version of clergy. Can't pray or look to God for comfort in the schools so they had to come up with something else"
yeah, rural area north of columbus junction...
Yeah. Uh huh. The gun grew a pair of legs, got an evil idea and started walking around shooting people.
Meth heads use knives to kill people too. I suppose following that line of reasoning, you don't have any cooking knives in your home. It must be tough carving a turkey with a spoon.
Prayers for the community.
Meth is blamed for an incredible percentage of violent crimes in Missouri. These people surrender their minds and souls for a buzz.
It's a big problem here in Carver County, MN as well. Meth production seems to thrive in the rural areas where they are less likely to get caught.
I didn't know much about meth....that is until I recently moved to Bullhead City, AZ, the meth capitol of the US. I'm shocked by the amount of crime in the small town, and frankly, the looks of the people who walk the streets. I lived in NYC for a long time and it's a different kind of street person. BHC is really trying to address the issue with an anti-meth campaign. I hope it works. It's such a terrible addiction that ruins lives so quickly.
Blame it on the son? Don't be silly, it was an inanimate object that killed those poor people, and it was a chemical substance that forced the helpless human shooter to do it. As soon as we pass laws to ban inanimate objects and chemical substances this kind of tragedy can't happen anymore.
Oh wait, we already did that, why isn't it working? Maybe we don't have enough gun bans and drug laws? I guess we should elect more Democrats who will pass more laws to put a stop to this kind of thing.
(sarc alert)
did you know about this when you moved there?
There are rural places here in the Ozarks that I'm not sure the sheriff even knows about. Wife and I got lost looking for a fireworks wholesaler south of I-44 a while back. Blacktop turned to gravel, then to dirt and finally we ended up in the yard of a Mennonite family and their goats.
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