Murdered family owned local buisness: Son arrested, motive still unknown

BONAPARTE (AP) - An Illinois man has been charged with murdering his parents and three teenage sisters at their home in southeastern Iowa, authorities said Sunday.

Shawn Bentler, 22, faces five counts of first-degree murder for allegedly gunning down his family then fleeing to Illinois, according to the Van Buren County sheriff's office. Bentler is being held on a $2.5 million bond at the Adams County jail in his hometown of Quincy, Ill.

An extradition hearing was scheduled for 10 a.m. (CDT) on Monday at the Adams County courthouse.

"The forms have already been filled out and we expect he will sign them," said Sgt. Bruce Harmon of the Adams County sheriff's office. He added that Bentler had shown no signs of wanting to fight extradition.

The victims were found early Saturday near Bonaparte, according to the sheriff's office. They were identified as Michael Bentler, 53; his wife Sandra, 47; and their daughters Sheena, 17; Shelby, 15; and Shayne, 14. Autopsies were planned for Sunday.

Authorities provided excerpts of a 911 call that paint a grisly picture of a family frantically seeking help from authorities. The sheriff's office said it received the call from Shayne Bentler at 3:38 a.m. Saturday and that she told the dispatcher her brother was "going to do something." Another voice is heard in the background pleading, "Shawn, don't."

An apparent gunshot is then heard. Shayne Bentler begins to scream.

"Shawn, no!" the 14-year-old yells.

The line goes dead.

Authorities said they received a second 911 call at the same time from the cell phone of Sandra Bentler. That call went unanswered.

Bentler was arrested Saturday in Quincy, about 60 miles from the family's home, on an unrelated charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the Adams County sheriff's office.

Jim Saunders, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, said investigators have not offered a motive for the killings.

"It's going to take them a while," he said, adding that a handful of officers continued to comb the home for clues Sunday.

Saunders said Shawn Bentler could be extradited to Iowa as soon as Monday.

"The whole town knew the family," Marilyn Thomas told The Associated Press. "This is only a town of 465 people."

Thomas said she didn't see any indications of strife in the family and was surprised to hear of the slayings.

The girls attended Harmony High School, where school officials were organizing counselors to speak with students when classes resume on Monday.

District Superintendent Tim Peterson said he started his job nearly two months ago and never imagined he would need to handle a mass murder in this quiet community.

"It's something that you hear on the news, and it's somebody else," Peterson told the Des Moines Register. "Now it's us. That's why we have our emergency plans in place."

At 7 a.m., Peterson said the Harmony instructional staff met to discuss how to speak to the students about the tragedy. "You talk to an elementary student differently than you do to a high schooler," Peterson said.

At 8:35 a.m. the district held an assembly at the high school to also address the issue. Peterson said counselors and clergy members are available all day, and will continue to be around all week if needed.

High School principal David Stammeyer told the students that the schedule for Monday would be to attend class periods, but expected little class instruction to take place.

Harmony was scheduled to host the first round of district volleyball tonight with Danville. that event has been postponed until Tuesday, Oct. 17, starting at 7 p.m.

The Bentler teens - a freshman, sophomore and senior at Harmony High School - were children of an affluent family that owned more than 20 acres and an elevator business that served most of southeast Iowa.

On Sunday morning, a deputy stood guard at the street corner in front of the home - a large house that sits on a sprawling tree-lined bluff just outside Bonaparte.

The shootings have cast a pall on Van Buren County, a quaint, mostly rural area just north of Missouri.

Bonnie Cass, a Bonaparte resident, said the family was beloved in this tiny community of less than 500 people. She called Michael and Sandra Bentler ideal parents whose deaths have sent ripples of pain across the region.

"We don't want this sensationalized," Cass said. "Our kids are hurting. Our families are hurting. We're going to school tomorrow and it's going to be rough, very rough. There's no escaping that."

Earlier Sunday, at the St. Boniface Catholic Church in nearby Farmington, where the Bentler family worshiped, some parishioners wiped away tears as they knelt to pray, while others sat transfixed, their hands on their faces or clasped in prayer.

"You saw this in the Amish country when those girls were shot, and now it's in our backyard," youth minister Mike Linnenbrink said, referring to the shooting deaths of five girls at an Amish school in Pennsylvania this month. "It's not surprising at all that we turn to church at this time. This is a tight community, not just in Van Buren County, but in all of southeast Iowa."

?Larry Kershner, MP News Editor contributed to this report