Justice for Tori Bethel

On October 7, 2022 our family was notified of the death of my youngest child Tori Bethel. However we weren’t notified in the typical way, by law enforcement. On that day my son, Dillon, received two different phone calls from individuals informing him of Tori’s death. He then hung up and called me immediately. (It would be several more hours before my husband and myself were contacted by the El Dorado KS Police Department.) As soon as my son got off the phone with me, he immediately called the Eldorado PD and spoke with Detective Scott Roberts, who we were told was in charge of the investigation. At that time, Dillon told Detective Roberts to treat it as a homicide. Dillon and Tori were extremely close and he was privy to conversations with Tori that led him to believe she was indeed the victim of murder.

Multiple friends of Tori’s have come forward telling us Tori said she was “trying to get away from this guy but that it wasn’t going to end well.”

According to the detective, Tori’s body was found in her living room earlier that day after a wellness check had been called in when she didn’t show up to student teach for the second day in a row. Tori was a very responsible student. She would never just not show up for her student teaching. I had attempted to call Tori earlier in the week but had not yet become alarmed as she was very busy with work, school and student teaching. We typically spoke on Friday evening’s when she would fill me in on her week. What was extremely odd, was when law enforcement knocked on Tori’s apartment door, the door came open. In August of 2020 Tori was the victim of sexual assault. She would NEVER leave her door unlocked for even a minute. When she entered her apartment the door was locked immediately.

We were never allowed to see Tori’s body to identify her. Detective Roberts said they “positively identified her body using her driver’s license.” When her body was removed from the scene, it went directly to the Forensic Science Center for autopsy.

Her autopsy was never treated as a homicide. The standard protocol is to treat every unwitnessed death as a homicide. However it was discovered that the El Dorado PD informed the staff at the Forensic Science Center that Tori had Covid. Therefore the science center went down a path of illness and never treated the autopsy as a homicide. There was no rape kit performed, no fingernail scrapings were obtained, no other testing done (that I’m aware of) that could have proved her death was a homicide. Tori was a healthy girl that had just turned 21 in August.

Tori worked as a CNA for a medical staffing agency while attending college full time as well as student teaching that semester. She worked the day before we believe Tori was killed. In order to work that day, she had to be swabbed for Covid. She was negative for Covid at that time. According to Tori’s supervisor, before leaving work that night Tori told him “I sure hope I get to see you again.” With the exception of Tori working her shift, she spent the entire weekend with her siblings in Eureka. They all say there were zero signs of illness. On October 3rd, her brother saw her sleeping in his guest room at 6a.m. She wasn’t coughing or exhibiting any signs of sickness.

Tori’s brother Dillon was with her on Saturday, October 1st when she told the man we believe was involved in her death that she wanted nothing more to do with him. In her text messages, this man responds with “I’ll love you til the death of you”? A more normal statement would’ve been I’ll love you til the day I die. To me that sounds very threatening. She also received an email that night from the individual that introduced her to this man that stated “Are you alive? Unblock me.” We believe that Tori was actually killed less than forty-eight hours later, on Monday, October 3rd, as all data on her phone stopped around 5:30 that afternoon. What 21 year-old kid ever stops using data if they are actually alive?

The day we were notified of Tori’s death I had her siblings retrieve her car from the apartment complex. I found it odd that during the course of the investigation her car wasn’t worked for evidence or taken to impound. She was so proud of that car and I didn’t want it to get vandalized when people realized she wasn’t there. When my other daughter contacted the police department about getting Tori’s car keys, she was told the apartment was unlocked and they could just go on in. When her brother and sister arrived at our house, they mentioned there was a strange sheet crumpled up in the passenger seat when they got in the car. I went to look and indeed the sheet in her car did not belong to her. I know this because I picked out and bought her sheets. At that time I put on latex gloves, retrieved and stored the sheet in a large tupperware container. The following morning we took another look at her car and found a moderate amount of sand in the storage compartment of the front passenger side door. Tori was keeping her new car immaculate. She had just purchased her car ten days prior. So this was definitely not expected.

On Monday, October 10th, my husband and I, as well as her siblings, drove to El Dorado to meet with the police department. We met with Detective Brandon Buck at that time. We discussed the fact that we believe Tori was murdered and that the one of the individuals we felt was responsible had bragged to others that they “could make people disappear and that they had the police department in their back pocket.” We had called the KBI prior to going to El Dorado and we were told they would not get involved unless El Dorado PD called them in. Detective Buck assured us that wasn’t the case. After the last year spent dealing with the El Dorado PD, we now 100% wholeheartedly believe it is indeed the case. We gave the sheet to detective Buck and provided numerous text messages and screenshots, immediately proving those we believed to be involved clearly notified us before law enforcement. We also provided the sheet as evidence. At the end of that meeting, as no fewer than six family members watched, Detective Buck took a sample of the sand from her door.

When I picked up Tori’s belongings from the police department, her clothes and the soil sample had just magically disappeared. We had also requested locks of Tori’s hair as well as photo’s of all her tattoos. We were told these items had all disappeared as well. The next week the funeral home “located” some blonde hair.

We waited for nearly nine months for autopsy results. When the autopsy came back, they tried to convince us that our healthy 21 year old daughter had succumbed to the common cold. According to the autopsy, Tori was fully clothed, even wearing a bra. I don’t know anyone who would lay down at home fully clothed without at least taking their bra off if they were sick. There were other oddities in Tori's autopsy. For example, they claim she had emphysema. At 21? Her personal physician she had started seeing a decade prior emphatically denies this possibility. It is his opinion that there is absolutely no way Tori died of natural causes. There was also blunt force trauma noted to her back but no inference as to how old or new the trauma was.

I have asked to see Tori’s police file. The El Dorado PD refuses. They were served a subpoena. They still refuse to provide the information. If my daughter really did die of the common cold, why not set a grieving mother’s mind at ease and allow access? What are they trying to hide/cover up?? They say producing the information could jeopardize other cases. I feel like the only way that would even be possible is if the man we believe killed her was an informant. Using a murderer as an informant could really mess some cases up I’m sure.

I tried to believe the Eldorado PD was doing their job. After months and months of stalling and listening to outright lies, nothing could be further from the truth. At a bare minimum they are incompetent. (I can assure you my family provided most of the investigative evidence.) All unattended deaths are supposed to be worked as a homicide. They did nothing of the sort. With other factors now in play, it is my belief that they were criminally negligent in her case. I find it a little odd that they would pull one of the individuals I believe killed Tori in on other charges. The first time they paid a $7,500 bond. The other three times, they was released after four or five hours having posted zero bail. Last time I checked if someone is out on bail and gets rearrested, they sit in jail until they go to court. Not this person though. Sounds to me like a perfect way to try to hide getting information from your informant. Then send him right out into the general population to commit more crimes and potentially kill someone else.

When exiting our last meeting with Detective Roberts, he told my son and daughter in law in the lobby, (mind you we had not brought up the possibility that he was an informant.) “We would never use an informant like him.” Really? Who said you did???

Unfortunately Tori’s death is far from the first suspicious death in Butler County. However it does need to be the last. There should never be another victim allowed no justice due to the corruption that has run rampant in Butler County over the last 20+ years.

Every officer, detective, city council member, county commissioner, attorney and judge involved are disgraces to the positions they hold. Most took an oath to protect and serve, but some were elected by constituents that I’m sure have no idea they allow such matters to happen once, let alone over and over again.

As Tori’s family we are now tasked with getting her some semblance of justice. The investigation that should have been undergone, on her behalf as a tax paying citizen of Butler County, is now left to us. Private Investigators are very expensive. In addition to their fees, we have to pay an attorney to fight on her behalf and for every single expense the PI tasks us with. Our electronics expert alone is $200/hour. We have already spent thousands upon thousands of dollars. Those financial demands aren’t going away anytime soon. We have thrown everything we have at this investigation. We are not rich. We are an average blue collar family.

We will not give up and quietly go away. That will never happen. We are starting a Go Fund Me on Tori’s behalf. We will attach a link below. If you can help in any way, please do so. If you can’t, we would appreciate all the prayers for strength and justice we can get!!