Bennett siblings say they will handle funeral

Cheryl Miller

Monday, July 19, 1999 | 11:35 a.m.

Two siblings of Arthur Bennett, the former Marine who killed himself last week rather than face charges related to his faked death in 1994, say they will take charge of their brother's burial, according to a Henderson funeral home.

Ron Given, son of the owner of Hites Funeral Home owner Jean Hites, said Bennett's brother and sister, both California residents, "stepped in and said they were going to take care of the body."

No funeral or burial arrangements have been announced, Given said.

Bennett, 45, hanged himself in a Clark County Jail cell July 12. Bennett was facing a court-martial that day and a murder trial in February. Bennett was accused of staging his own death in a fiery travel-trailer explosion at Lake Mead on Feb. 3, 1994.

The charred body found in the trailer was buried by the Marines at the Veterans Cemetery in Boulder City. A military dentist confirmed Bennett's death based on his memory of Bennett's dental records. The actual records had disappeared.

At the time of his supposed death, Bennett was facing military charges of sexual misconduct involving girls in Yuma, Ariz., and Okinawa, Japan, and other sexual misconduct and spousal abuse charges involving his wife at the time in Yuma. Bennett and his family later surfaced in Utah, where he was arrested on sexual assault charges involving three girls, including two of his daughters.

Bennett was later charged with the murder of the yet unidentified person found dead in the burned trailer.

In a suicide note, Bennett denied all the allegations against him.

After Bennett hanged himself, it was unclear what would happen to the body. Bennett's immediate family did not claim it and the Marine Corps said it had no intention of providing him with another military funeral.

Given the "heinous nature" of the accusations against Bennett, "it would be the Marine Corps' desire not to provide (burial) benefits unless we were required by law to do so," Marine Corps spokesman Maj. David Lapan said this morning.

Marine lawyers are reviewing the law and hope to decide in the next day or so whether the Corps must provide any services to Bennett or his children, Lapan said.

Federal authorities are pursuing charges against four of Bennett's family members, alleging that they accepted more than $200,000 in military life insurance another $100,000 in military and Social Security benefits.