Vt. Police Say Missing 12-Year-Old's Body Found





Brooke Bennett




RANDOLPH, Vt. — A missing Vermont girl's uncle brought her home to initiate her into a sex ring, federal officials claim in court papers.

In an affidavit, officials contend a teenage girl admitted helping Michael Jacques, Brooke Bennett's uncle, drop off the 12-year-old at a store on June 25, then pick her up and take her to his Randolph home for initiation into a child sex ring. Brooke has not been seen since.

The 14-year-old, reportedly related to Jacques, told agents she, herself, had been having sex with Jacques, 42, since she was 9 as part of a sex ring called Breckinridge, according to the U.S. District Court affidavit. She said she was told Brooke was going to be brought into the ring that day.

The teenager said she understood that as part of the initiation, Brooke "would have sex with adult males," according to the affidavit in U.S. District Court.

She and Brooke watched television for a while before Jacques told her to leave and took Brooke upstairs, the teen said. The girl left the house with her boyfriend and did not see Brooke again, she said.

Brooke's former stepfather was expected in court Wednesday to face federal charges that he destroyed evidence in connection with the search for Brooke.
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Ray Gagnon, 40, was to appear in U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vt., to answer an obstruction of justice charge. If convicted, the San Antonio, Texas, man could be sentenced to life in prison.



Investigators searching for the girl arrested Gagnon and Jacques, a registered sex offender, this week on sexual assault charges. Brooke is not among the victims, according to police.

Jacques pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Earlier reports said Gagnon allegedly had traveled to the state from his Texas home to help search for Brooke, of Braintree, Vt. Authorities also analyzed surveillance video from the shop at which the girl last was seen.

In it, Jacques and the girl are seen leaving the store together and then Brooke going left out the door while Jacques goes right.



Gagnon was married to Brooke's mother for about five years; Brooke lived with them in Alabama. The mother, Cassandra Gagnon, told the San Antonio Express-News that Gagnon came to Vermont to try to lend a hand after her disappearance made national news last week.

"We're not doing very good ... not very good at all," the child's weeping stepmother, Janet Bennett, told FOX News on Wednesday.

Janet Bennett is married to Brooke's father, James Bennett, and said the family is frustrated over the lack of information they're getting on the case. She discounted the possibility that Brooke might have left on her own.

"She's not the type of girl who would run away," she said.

Gagnon was arrested Tuesday on federal child molestation charges in connection with a sexual assault investigation involving Brooke's uncle.

Gagnon was in federal custody Tuesday on a charge of aggravated sexual assault on a minor, according to Vermont State Police.

The arrest is related to the case against Jacques, who was charged on Monday with sexually assaulting a young girl over a five-year period. The girl told police she had been enrolled in what police called a program for sex.

According to court papers, she told police that Jacques was to be her trainer in a "program for sex" and that she had met three men affiliated with the program.

Girls in the program were warned that "the first [girl] who does it lives and the second gets her throat cut," according to an affidavit filed Monday at Vermont District Court for Orange County.

Col. James Baker, head of the state police, said authorities were considering all possibilities, including that the sex ring was a ruse Jacques created to intimidate the girl into having sex with him.

State police say Jacques is a "person of interest" in Brooke's disappearance.

Brooke had told family she was to meet a friend to visit the friend's hospitalized relative. Police now believe that was a lie and Brooke intended to meet someone she'd met on the Internet.

Police have described their investigation into Brooke's disappearance as involving social networking Web sites.

A vigil for Brooke was scheduled for 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday.

RIP - Brooke !

that's just terrible! i think they ought to mainstream those men in prison for about a year (if they last that long) then ship them down to Texas & let Texas justice take care of what's left of 'em!

Nah, We Should Bring Back the Brazin Bull or the Iron Maiden for Sick F*cks Like This. Hangin, the Chair is Too Easy for these Assholes.

I read this earlier. It's so sad. My heart goes out to the parents not only for their child missing, but now knowing what she has most likely been through. How in the world do people get away with this crap?

Bcause unfortunately child rape isn't considered a capitol offense. And most phediphiles are housed in PC (Protective Custody) in prison cause the system knows exactly what would happen to them if they were put in with GP (General Population) They'd never get out alive. Personally I'm all for capitol punishment when it comes to phediphiles cause there is no "curin" them.

This is very sad .
I just can not understand how anyone can do such a thing .

9 times outta 10 the pedophile was he/she himself/herself abused in someway as a child. It's a vicious cycle. For the 1 outta 10, I think they just ain't right in the head and should just be put out their victims and possible future victims misery.

This sickness is caused by our rejection of "GOD"

These sick f**ks should be branded, castrated and sent to prison where they'd be raped on a daily basis.

HOW ABOUT A TASTE OF YOUR OWN F**KIN' MEDICINE?!!

we should Poke a Hole in there Belly,pull out there Intestine Nail it to a tree and make them walk around the tree! thats the Pagen Way!

That would suffice.

this is so sad

Poor Brooke

There needs to be stricter laws and punishment for this.

Not death, though, that's too humane...they need torture, Bastards!

When your culture persecutes the Children of
"GOD" and puts war, sex, and money as its god then this is what happens.

Kinda strange that you find that funny

I wonder why anyone would laugh about a childs death

You seem to have a lot of hostility towards children

that was for the Rapist/Murderer!

Prosecutors: Death Penalty Possible In Vt. Kidnap Case
Man Charged With Kidnapping Niece; Girl's Body Found

POSTED: 11:14 am EDT July 3, 2008
UPDATED: 6:18 pm EDT July 3, 2008

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Federal prosecutors on Thursday filed kidnapping charges that carry the death penalty against the Randolph man whose 12-year-old niece was found dead near his home after being missing for a week.

In an affidavit accompanying the charges in U.S. District Court, authorities accused Michael Jacques, 42, of carefully orchestrating events and e-mails to make it appear that Brooke Bennett had gone on June 25 to see someone she had met online.

Citing statements from another underage girl, prosecutors claim that Jacques tricked Bennett into thinking she was going to a party and instead took her to his home to initiate her into a child sex ring.

Michael Desautels, the federal public defender representing Jacques, did not immediately return calls Thursday morning.

E-mails quoted in an affidavit released Thursday accuse Jacques of coercing or enlisting the second girl to participate, including by tying Bennett down if that became necessary.

The girl wrote, "yes. I will help," one e-mail said.

Jacques is charged under a federal law that provides for the death penalty in a kidnapping resulting in a child's death.

Without autopsy results yet, prosecutors said they could not even say that Bennett was murdered. If she was, U.S. Attorney Tom Anderson was asked if he would seek the death penalty.

"That determination would be made after the investigation is completed, after the case is presented to a grand jury and, ultimately, that decision is made by the attorney general of the United States of America," Anderson said.

Meantime, state charges that Jacques sexually assaulted a different girl over a five-year period were dropped, but could be refiled.

Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell said there is plenty of work ahead "both in terms of investigation and prosecution."

In the affidavits, authorities accused Jacques of making a MySpace posting, purportedly from Bennett, indicating that she planned a rendezvous on June 25 with someone she had met online.

He also is charged with planting evidence, including some of Bennett's clothing and a plastic bag containing semen, in Brookfield to make it appear someone else had abducted the girl.