Collier County Sheriff's Office
Sheddrick Deon Bentley
Cory Brightman
Posted on 06/26/2004 10:52:03 AM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Collier man charged in death of NHS graduate By BRIGID O'MALLEY, bmomalley@naplesnews.com June 26, 2004
His clothes covered in blood, the man walked into the Wal-Mart in East Naples.
He tracked blood through the aisles, picking out a new pair of khaki shorts, a white shirt, some Band-Aids and trash bags before he headed to the register early Friday morning.
He paid with a bloody $100 bill.
But before he left the parking lot, several people got a good look at Sheddrick Deon Bentley, 26, of East Naples.
Store employees snagged the license tag on the pickup he was driving.
A few hours later, Collier County sheriff's deputies found the truck and then Bentley, and after a chase around a Naples neighborhood, he led them to a body.
Cory Brightman, 18, of Naples, was discovered wrapped in trash bags and stashed in a Dumpster behind the Gulf Gate Plaza. He had been stabbed to death.
Bentley, of 1363 Chesapeake Ave., whose criminal record dates back to 1993, is being held at the Collier County jail on a second-degree murder charge. He will see a judge at a hearing today, when his bond will be set.
He faces other charges in connection with stealing the truck from Brightman and running from deputies.
Brightman, a 2004 Naples High graduate, was stabbed to death after the two men, whom sheriff's officials described as friends, got into a fight. No motive was known.
The two had been hanging around together recently, said Bentley's uncle, Albert Bentley, an Immokalee High School graduate who played running back at the University of Miami and then for the Indianapolis Colts in the NFL. The Bentleys lived together at the Chesapeake Avenue condo.
"They were together a couple of days ago," Albert Bentley said Friday night, describing his nephew and Brightman. "They were hanging out together. Everything seemed fine."
Albert Bentley had been out of town for a few days, had talked to family members but didn't have a lot of information about what had happened. He was hoping to return home today.
"I've only gotten bits and pieces about what had happened," he said while en route home.
Arrest reports give this account:
Sheddrick Bentley came into the Wal-mart at 3350 U.S. 41 E., which is open 24 hours, around 3 a.m. Friday. He had a lot of blood on his clothes, a blue shirt and khaki pants, and on his body. The blood was tracked throughout the store.
He went into the bathroom and tried to clean up and then came out and bought the new clothes. The $100 bill he paid with also had blood on it and was kept for authorities, who confirmed it was blood.
The Wal-Mart employees watched Bentley get into a white Dodge pickup registered to Brightman's father.
Deputies were called to the store around 3:50 a.m. and given Bentley's description and the tag number from the truck.
Brightman's father said his son usually drives the truck and said he didn't recognize the description of Bentley. He told deputies he was concerned for his son's safety.
Around 5 a.m., deputies found Bentley walking over the Gordon River bridge. He had scrapes on his hands and blood on his body. The deputy did a weapons pat-down and, while he was waiting for backup, Bentley ran away.
Other deputies and Naples police officers teamed up to try to capture Bentley. K-9 deputies, marine officers and aviation deputies conducted an intense search for Bentley.
While they were searching for him, a deputy found the white Dodge pickup in the parking lot of the Comfort Inn at 1221 Fifth Ave. S. in Naples.
There was a lot of blood on the driver's seat and the back seat, visible through the window. There was also a lot of blood on the driver's side and on the outside of the truck. Deputies said it was dried blood.
A short time later, Bentley was found riding a stolen bicycle in the Pier E and Flounder Drive area in Naples Land Yacht Harbor, a mobile home park. He once again tried to run from deputies, but was held.
There were cuts on his fingers, but he refused medical attention.
After deputies read his rights to him, he agreed to answer questions. He told deputies about a fight he had with Brightman and that his body was in the Dumpster behind the Gulf Gate Plaza at U.S. 41 East and Bayshore Drive.
Deputies found Brightman's body wrapped in garbage bags in one of the commercial Dumpsters. Deputies had the entire Dumpster and its contents taken to the Medical Examiner's Office for analysis.
Brightman had been stabbed multiple times, deputies say. The wounds on Brightman's body and the injuries to Bentley's hands were not consistent with self-defense, authorities say.
On Friday, a woman called the Sheriff's Office to report that she had seen two people in front of her apartment on Wild Pine Court in East Naples around 1:30 a.m. She said they were near a white pickup and one of them was on top of the other. When she left for work, she said, there was puddle of blood there. One of the shoe prints matched the shoe found in the Dumpster with Brightman.
Deputies found some of Bentley's bloody clothes in some mangroves near the mobile home park.
Bentley also is facing charges of tampering with evidence because authorities say he took Brightman's body and other evidence of the crime and put them into a Dumpster for disposal. He is charged with grand theft auto in connection with stealing Brightman's truck and resisting arrest without violence for running from the first deputy who stopped him and evading officers for several hours. He also is believed to be wanted on a parole violation warrant from Duval County.
Bentley had lived with his uncle, Albert, for about the past 2½ months.
Sheddrick Bentley's criminal record was recorded mostly around the Jacksonville area. The charges range from burglary to shoplifting to cocaine possession to aggravated battery, Department of Corrections documents say. He served around two years behind bars on robbery, trafficking in stolen property charges in 1997 and was on parole, records show.
"Sheddrick is more of a follower than a leader," his uncle said.
He was a loner-type young man, his uncle said.
"He mostly kept to himself," Albert Bentley said. "He had a couple of friends here."
He worked at a Wendy's restaurant for a couple of weeks and was trying to get some construction jobs recently.
"He was turning his life around," Albert Bentley said.
Albert Bentley said his mother is a pastor at an Immokalee church and his nephew had talked to her about moving in with his uncle.
"We were trying to sterilize his environment, I guess," he said.
He said he had no idea what his nephew and Brightman had argued about. He didn't know about any arguments the two had gotten into lately.
He said he didn't know if his nephew was involved in drugs.
"I hope not," he said. "He's 26. It wasn't like a parent-child relationship."
He said his family extends their sympathies to Brightman's family.
"Our family, regardless of the circumstances, is saddened," he said.
Collier County Sheriff's Office
Sheddrick Deon Bentley
Cory Brightman
He's still alive, hence, no Darwin award.
A moron, obviously. But how do you figure him for a Darwin award? He's not out of the gene pool yet, and knowing our lenient courts, even a life sentence won't stop this nimrod from doing his bit for devolution.
Ok Darwin nominee...
Possibly the poster means the murder victim is the Darwin award winner. I would be very concerned if I found my 18 year old hanging around with the likes of Sheddrick Bentley, 26 and a career low life, now murderer.
I'm wondering how this is any different than the probable hundreds of murders that happen every day?
Naples, FL isn't exactly the murder capital of the world, nation, or state.
gay advance rejected?
In my opinion that fact makes it local news.
This doesn't look odd and stupid to you?
<<His clothes covered in blood, the man walked into the Wal-Mart in East Naples.
He tracked blood through the aisles, picking out a new pair of khaki shorts, a white shirt, some Band-Aids and trash bags before he headed to the register early Friday morning.
He paid with a bloody $100 bill.
But before he left the parking lot, several people got a good look at Sheddrick Deon Bentley, 26, of East Naples.
After a look at the perps picture, it seems Brightman wasn't so bright. The perp looks like trouble from a mile away,
I'm curious why they waited to call the police till after he left.
I'd have called the police when I first saw some one dripping blood.
Gay and drugs as factors. If not both then at least one.
Darwin award applies because he walked into a Wal-Mart at 3:00 am with bloody clothes, leaving bloody footprints and paying with a bloody 100 dollar bill. In short, he's a bloody idiot! His numbskull decision to wash up and buy new threads at Wal-Mart has earned him a seat on old Sparky! Dead man walking!
Oh, like that Simpson chap in California?
Shame on all of you. Cory was a great kid. You have no right to assume anything about him. Show some respect for his Mother, Father, Sister and Family.
since you are a long-standng veteran of freerepublic, you should know that I assume nothing, but you seem to assume
I was talking about cory making an advance. I meant the crazy dude may have made an advance, Cory said no, crazy dude went crazy.
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