Prosecutors seek death penalty against Marine who sexually abused children & then faked his own death by killing & burning unidentified man,in NV
Joe1orbit
Over in Nevada, prosecutors have announced that they will seek the death
penalty at the upcoming trial of 45 year old Arthur Gus Bennett. Arthur, taught
and trained and brainwashed beautifully into becoming a predator by his society
and very specifically by the USA marine corps, is facing a whole host of
criminal charges, including of course, murder.
Arthur's man True Reality path of vengeance seems to be child sexual abuse.
But when push came to shove and he realized that his pedophiliac activities
were about to catch up with him, Arthur decided to turn to murder, and hatched
a rather ingenious plot and plan that involved murdering a man, placing the
body in his own trailer home, and then BURNINg the trailer home down, to try
and make it look as though he had committed suicide. Arthur did do a good job
of burning the body, rendering it virtually unidentifiable, but he tripped
himself up by CONTINUING to engage in child sexual abuse, even after
successfully carrying out this fake suicide. Three years after the murder, his
own daughter turned him in to police, because he was continuing to sexually
assault and rape her. At the time of the 1994 murder, Arthur ws already facing
numerous child sex abuse counts, involving 4 different children.
This was a well thought-out plan. Arthur even STOLE his own dental records
from the military base where he worked, specifically so that investigators
would be unable to have access to those records and compare them to the teeth
of the body found dead in his burned out trailer. This shows WISE tactical
thinking on his part.
At least Arthur's family got to FINANCIALLY profit from Arthur's faked
suicide. The body was so badly burned that no identification could be
positively made, and since the body was found in Arthur's trailer, it WAS
eventually decided that he should be declared as the dead victim, which allowed
his family to collect $200,000 in life insurance money. No word on whether the
family will now have to PAY BACK the money, although I'm sure the insurance
company does want their money back.
It appears CERTAIN that Arthur's former wife was well aware of his scheme to
fake his own death, at least AFTER committed the murder. She chose to join him,
taking along her THREE daughter-slaves, and they fled out of state, and Arthur
adopted a new, fake name and ID. But she will NOT face any criminal charges,
because NV state law specifically States that family members CANNOT be
prosecuted as accessory to crimes after the fact for harboring a relative as a
fugitive. Very interesting, and a bit surprisin to me. What this state law
seems to say is that even if you HIDE a MASS or SERIAL killer inside of your
home, as long as you are RELATED to that person, you cannot and will not face
any criminal charges. Cool law! I wonder whether other states have similar
laws?
If only Arthur hadn't gone back to his child sex abuse ways and assaulted TWO
of his three daughters, Arthur very possibly could have gotten away with this
murder and fake suicide scheme for the rest of his life. In addition to the
murder, he is now charged with sexually assaulting his 2 older daughters, aged
13 and 15, along with one of their 13 year old female friends. Yup, Arthur
liked the young stuff, the fresh meat. It is of course 99% certain that Arthur
was himself sexually abused as a child, and 99.999999999% likely that if not
sexually abused, he was severely traumatized and abused in other ways as a
child.
Arthur is refusing to co-operate with police, and the identity of the
mysterious man found horribly burned inside Arthur's trailer home in 1994
remains unknown. Well, apparently nobody has reported him missing, or maybe he
got snatched from a far off area. But most likely this man is just some bum or
druggie or other homeless person that Arthur spotted and realized that he would
make a good victim due to not having any ties to others. If you want to kill
someone and have the person not be missed by anyone, or reported missing, your
best choice of who target is obviously a homeless drifter or an illegal alien.
Even prostitutes do often have families, or at least fellow prostitute/pimp
contacts on a regular basis who would notice if they disappeared.
If you would like to view a photo of Arthur, as he looked yesterday in court,
simply point your web browser to:
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1998/Oct-17-Sat-1998/news/8423316.html
You will be greeted at that URL by the sight of a bald, moustached, tough
looking, and tattooed Arthur. If you would like to ENLARGE the photo so that if
fills up your computer screen, simply click on the photo itself.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's Associated Press news wire:
Death Penalty Sought in Nev. Case
By ROBERT MACY
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a man accused
of trying to fake his death by killing another man, putting the body in his
trailer and setting it on fire.
Arthur Gus Bennett, 45, a former Marine sergeant, was ordered held without bond
Friday on charges of murder, arson, kidnapping, insurance fraud, theft and
sexual assault of a minor.
Prosecutors Chris Owens and David Schwartz said the state is seeking the death
penalty because of aggravating circumstances surrounding the February 1994 fire
at a Lake Mead trailer belonging to Bennett.
At the time of the blaze, Bennett was facing a court-martial amid accusations
of sexually abusing the child of a fellow Marine in Arizona and at least three
young women in Okinawa.
Identification of the charred body was nearly impossible. A Navy dentist
declared the death a suicide and Bennett the victim, which allowed members of
his family to collect on a $200,000 government life insurance policy.
But Bennett was alive. He moved to Hurricane, Utah, with his former wife and
three daughters and changed his name to Joe Benson. His lie unraveled in
October 1997, when one of his daughters told authorities he sexually assaulted
her. A fingerprint check revealed his true identity.
Bennett was eventually charged with sexually assaulting his two oldest
daughters, ages 13 and 15, and one of their 13-year-old friends. He pleaded no
contest in May to three second-degree felony charges of sexual abuse and was
sentenced to three one-to-15-year prison terms.
He was brought to Nevada this month to face the charges here.
Investigators say they may never learn the identity of the burned body found in
Bennett's trailer, since Bennett has refused to cooperate with authorities.
Prosecutors said one of Bennett's daughters indicated to a Clark County grand
jury that her father may have known the victim, and investigators believe the
wife may have known about the faked death plot.
Grand jury testimony indicated Bennett stole his military dental records at his
previous base in Yuma, Ariz., to prevent identity of the body in his trailer.
AP-NY-10-17-98
------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 10/17/98 online edition of The Las
Vegas Review-Journal newspaper:
Saturday, October 17, 1998
Death penalty sought in Bennett case
A man accused of killing a man and using the body to fake his own death appears
in court.
By Caren Benjamin
Review-Journal
Prosecutors announced Friday they will seek the death penalty against
Arthur Bennett, charged with killing a man as part of a ruse to fake his own
death and avoid military prosecution.
Also, a federal investigation is continuing into whether Bennett's
children illegally received Social Security payments after his "death,"
prosecutors said.
The state will not file charges against Bennett's former wife, though she
may have known of his scheme before he carried it through, Chief Deputy
District Attorney David Schwartz said.
State law does not allow family members to be prosecuted as accessory to
crimes after the fact for harboring a relative as a fugitive.
Bennett, 45, was indicted in April on charges of first-degree murder,
kidnapping, arson, insurance fraud, theft and two counts of sexual assault with
a minor. The minor listed in the charges is Bennett's oldest daughter.
The slain man, who was unidentified, died in a trailer fire in early
February 1994 near Lake Mead. Prosecutors believe Bennett lured him inside then
set the fire with propane gas. The victim, believed to be a homeless person,
possibly someone Bennett knew, was burned alive, officials said.
The investigation into his identity continues, Chief Deputy District
Attorney Chris Owens said.
At the time of the fire, Bennett was on a short leave from the Marine
Corps in Yuma, Ariz., where he was facing a potential court-martial on charges
he molested a child there.
A military dentist identified the charred remains in the trailer as
Bennett, but the identification was done by memory because someone made off
with Bennett's dental records, officials said.
Shortly before the fire, Bennett took out a $200,000 life insurance
policy. The check was cashed and went to his mother, Schwartz said. His
children also received Social Security and military benefits because he was
presumed to be dead.
In 1995 Bennett and his family moved to Hurricane, Utah, where he lived
under the name Joe Benson. His true identity was discovered a year ago when new
child molestation allegations against him surfaced.
Bennett did not appear in Nevada immediately after the indictment because
he was in Utah being tried on charges of molesting both his daughters and
another child.
He pleaded no contest in May to those charges, and a Utah judge ordered
him to spend 45 years in prison.
He was extradited here Tuesday and appeared in court Friday with a shaven
head. District Judge Donald Mosley appointed the Special Public Defenders'
office to represent him and set an Oct. 29 arraignment date.
Schwartz told the court he would file a motion seeking to force Bennett
to submit to DNA testing to see whether he could be linked to semen found in
the trailer.
Circumstances that prosecutors cited in seeking the death penalty case
are that the slaying was committed during a kidnapping, by a person trying to
avoid prosecution for a crime and for financial gain.