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Police Search Kalona Trailer, Car In Missing Girl Case

Authorities Have Not Yet Identified Body

POSTED: 2:38 pm CST March 25, 2005
UPDATED: 7:15 pm CST March 25, 2005

The Johnson County sheriff said Friday afternoon in a news conference that a body that could be that of a young female was found in a trailer at 4703 Orville Yoder Turnpike Road Southwest in Kalona.

The identification of the body is pending an autopsy. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has its mobile crime lab at the scene and is processing the trailer for evidence.

Police canceled an Amber Alert. They also say a body has been found in Johnson County, but authorities have not linked that discovery to the missing child.

A statewide Amber Alert was issued late Thursday night after the girl, Jetseta Marrie Gage, disappeared from her home at about 8:15 p.m. Authorities say the man suspected of abducting her, 37-year-old Roger Bentley of Brandon, was taken into custody at about 7 a.m. Friday by police in Johnson County.

Authorities searched the yard and the trailer. Deputies said they didn't believe anyone lived in the trailer.

Bentley is described as a family friend. The girl's mother, Trena Gage, was at college when her daughter disappeared Thursday night. Gage said that her daughter trusts people too easily and has a lot of problems.

She said Bentley was working on her van's transmission, and her mother was watching her children. Trena Gage told KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids that her mom gave Jetseta her medicine and sent her to bed.

James Bentley
James Bentley

Police say Bentley took the child and left in a pickup truck.

Bentley is a registered sex offender. According to state's Sex Offender Registry, he was convicted in 1994 in Benton County of lascivious acts with a child.

Roger Bentley's brother James Bentley was charged with second-degree sexual abuse last year, according to court documents.

A subpoena was filed March 16 for Trena Gage in the case against James Bentley, court documents show. A minor was also subpoenaed.

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