Bennett pleads not guilty in fatal truck-camper blast

Jerry Fink and Ed Koch

Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 | 11:11 a.m.

Arthur Bennett, the man suspected of murdering someone to fake his own death in a 1994 truck-camper explosion at Lake Mead, pleaded not guilty today to seven felony counts.

Wearing prison blues and shackles, Bennett showed no emotion as he entered the pleas to murder and arson charges in Clark County District Court.

District Judge Donald Mosley set a June 7 trial date for the 45-year-old former Marine staff sergeant.

Bennett also pleaded not guilty to first-degree kidnapping, felony theft, two counts of sexually assaulting a victim under the age of 14 and filing a false insurance claim that reportedly netted him $200,000.

Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens has said the state will seek the death penalty for Bennett, who was extradited from Utah where he had pleaded guilty in April to sexually abusing several minors, including his own daughters. He received a 45-year prison sentence for those crimes.

The state has requested hair and tissue samples to do DNA testing regarding the sexual-assault charges. Bennett, however, had shaved his head for his initial Las Vegas court appearance on Oct. 8. At today's hearing, his head was covered with brown stubble.

Public defender Lee Elizabeth McMahon represented Bennett at today's hearing.

Prosecutors contend that on Feb. 3, 1994, Bennett staged his own death in a trailer explosion and fire. Bennett, in the Marines at the time, was facing a court-martial on child-molestation charges related to incidents at two bases.

A body burned beyond recognition was found in the charred trailer in a remote area near Gypsum Wash. It later was identified by U.S. Marine Corps investigators as Bennett. Just who that actually was remains a mystery.

Life insurance benefits totaling about $200,000 were paid to Bennett's family.

Bennett, calling himself Joe Benson, started a new life with his ex-wife and three daughters 150 miles northeast of Las Vegas in Hurricane, Utah, where he was arrested in 1996 on the molestation charges for which he was convicted.

The connection to the Lake Mead fire was made after his arrest, when Utah authorities ran his fingerprints through a national database.