Chase

Benedict Chase's sister talks about his life, disappearance

BY BILL FREEHLING

Date published: 3/10/2007

BY BILL FREEHLING

Benedict "Benny" Chase moved to Spotsylvania County about 2001, three years before he disappeared and six years before skeletal remains believed to be his were found.

He came to be with a woman he'd dated growing up in St. Mary's County, Md. He disappeared mysteriously in March 2004.

This week, Spotsylvania sheriff's detectives found remains they think are his near the Spotsylvania Quarry.

All that was left was clothes and bones--a skull without a lower jaw, both arms and a pelvis.

But one of Chase's eight siblings, Linda L. Chase of Waldorf, Md., is sure it's her brother.

Linda Chase has followed the investigation closely the past three years. She's talked to detectives and the woman her brother was living with to piece it together. And she wants people to know who Benny Chase was.

Chase was the seventh of nine children. His sister says Chase was somewhat of a problem child. He had three children out of wedlock--one is a teenager and two are in their early 20s--and spent time in jail for not paying child support.

But Linda Chase said her brother "had a heart of gold." She said he had been in the Army Reserve and always kept in contact with his large family, which remains in Maryland.

In Spotsylvania, Benny Chase lived with his girlfriend in the Stoneybrook subdivision.

For a time he worked in construction. About a week before he disappeared on March 8, 2004, he took a job as a server at a McDonald's in the Four-Mile Fork area.

Benny Chase walked out of the McDonald's that day wearing his uniform, his sister said. He and co-workers had a minor spat. He called his girlfriend from a pay phone about 9:30 p.m. in the Lee's Hill area. He was drunk and asked her to pick him up. She declined.

Linda Chase said her brother used to walk home through the woods where the remains were found. It's unclear what happened, but it was a cold night--about 29 degrees at 7 the next morning, according to the National Weather Service.

The bones have been sent to the Virginia medical examiner's office in Richmond. DNA tests will conclusively identify them, and forensic scientists will look for evidence of foul play. For now, authorities say there's no evidence of that.

Read more stories about Spotsylvania
Date published: 3/10/2007

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