wfn.org | Camp rape suspect found dead in jail cell

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 26, 2001 News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{492}

By United Methodist News Service

A man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl at a Tennessee Annual
Conference-owned church camp was found hanged to death in his jail cell Oct.
25.

Carl Steven Bentrup, 21, was found hanged shortly after 6 a.m., according to
Hickman County Sheriff Ray Atkinson in Centerville, Tenn.

The death was a suicide, "not any question about it," Atkinson told United
Methodist News Service. The body was found hanging off the bars of the top
bunk, where the inmate slept. 

Bentrup, of Nashville, was scheduled to be in court for a hearing Oct. 30,
the sheriff said.

The rape occurred July 19 at Camp Cedar Crest near Centerville, southwest of
Nashville. The victim was going to the restroom in the middle of the night,
when Bentrup, a camp counselor, spotted her and indicated a need to speak
with her, the sheriff's department said after the arrest. Bentrup allegedly
handcuffed and gagged her, took her inside a bathhouse and raped her. Police
found her bound to a sink.

Bentrup was arrested after calling police and telling the dispatcher that he
had raped the girl. He was charged with child rape, aggravated kidnapping,
aggravated sexual battery and sexual battery by an authority figure. 

Camp Cedar Crest is owned by the United Methodist Church's Tennessee Annual
(regional) Conference. In a prepared statement, the conference expressed
sadness at Bentrup's death.

"The shock of Carl Bentrup's death saddens all of us," the conference said.
"We express our deepest sympathy to Carl's mother and family. The tragic
events of the past three months have been difficult for many persons, and we
continue to work and pray for healing and wholeness for those who have been
affected." 

Amid the unanswered questions and anguish, "we claim the love of God," the
statement said.

Bentrup's last hours were spent playing chess with his cellmate and watching
TV, Atkinson said. The men retired for the night at about 1 a.m. Both men
got along well, and Bentrup gave no indication to the cellmate that anything
was wrong, the sheriff said.

"Every time I've talked to him or anything he seemed in good spirits,"
Atkinson said. The hanging came as a surprise, he said. "We didn't think
anything about him doing something like that."
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United Methodist News Service
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