An alert Yavapai County Sheriff’s deputy caught kidnapping suspect, 49-year old Carlie Bentley, from Kentucky, on Sunday.
At approx. 7:15 p.m., on Sunday, January 13, 2019, a Yavapai County Sheriff’s (YCSO) deputy positioned himself on the median of I-17 at milepost 252 to assist the Department of Public Safety in locating a vehicle involved in an apparent kidnapping by Bentley.
According to YCSO, the deputy when the deputy used a spotlight to illuminate the license plates of passing vehicles, he caught a Kentucky plated silver passenger vehicle on north I-17. Although the vehicle did not match the descriptions of vehicles announced in the police radio broadcast, the deputy noted it was unusual to see a Kentucky plated car at that time of night on north I-17.
The deputy ran the plate and it came back to a rental car out of Kentucky. The deputy only saw a single occupant, the driver, in the vehicle. He allowed the vehicle to continue travelling on I-17.
A short time later, the deputy heard an update as to a possible location for the suspect based on cell phone information, and realized the Kentucky plated car he had just seen was likely in the updated target area. The deputy immediately notified deputies and troopers regarding this information and last known direction of the vehicle, now north of his position.
Based on the update, DPS troopers spotted the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop. Bentley was arrested by DPS troopers. The teen victim, a passenger in the car, was taken into protective custody.
Bentley is being held without bond in the Camp Verde Detention Center.