Shawn Bentler- The Greedy Man Who Killed His Family For Money

Shawn Bentler is from Bonaparte, Iowa, and he was found guilty of mass murder. On October 14, 2006, Bentler, who was 22 years old, killed his parents and three sisters.

Shawn was the oldest of Michael and Sandra Bentler's four kids. He was born and raised in Bonaparte, Iowa. Sheena, Shelby, and Shayne, his three sisters, made up the rest of the family.

Michael had a successful lumber yard and a grain elevator, which helped him give his wife and kids a good life.

His parents gave him everything he needed to live a happy life, but he wanted more without having to work for it. He had his eyes fixed on his parents' money and made plans to get it.

Shawn went to a community college after high school, but he quit before the end of his first semester. He worked at Home Depot and Lowe's. Both ended because he never showed up. He once told one of his bosses that his father had a heart attack and died, an excuse he gave to avoid going to work.

He had two children with two different women during this time. So that he could help his son, the boy's father let him work for him building houses. After that was over, he went into selling cars.

Shawn liked to brag about how much money he made, but he never had enough to pay his bills. When his roommates asked him to pay his share of the bills, he would drive the hour or more to his parents' house and come back with jewelry.

He was very dependent on Michael and Sandra, but he also stole from them. His parents often brought him food because they couldn't give up on him. But his laziness was getting old for them, and Shawn knew that.

He told the mom of one of his daughters that his parents were about to give him a lot of money. Then he wouldn't have to worry about anything. But because he didn't have his parents' work ethic, he decided he would have to take it by force.

On October 14, 2006, early in the morning, Shawn borrowed his roommate's car and drove an hour and a half to his parents' house. He went into the house, got a gun, and went quietly to the basement.

He closed the door behind him so that no one else in the house would wake up. Sheena was the oldest of the three girls. Shawn pointed the gun at her and shot her, killing her.

As he went back upstairs to where the rest of his family slept on the top floor, his mother woke up. Shawn shot her, but she was still alive and was able to wake up her husband.

Michael went up to his son, and the two of them got into a fight over the gun. Shawn got the upper hand and killed his father by hitting him over the head with the barrel of the gun. Sandra tried to run away, yelling at the girls to call the police. At 3:38 a.m., Shayne was able to talk to an operator.

Sandra’s screams can be heard through the phone. She repeatedly screamed, “Please Shawn don’t!” Then gunshots rang out and her life ended.

Shawn finds Shayne hiding in her closet while she is on the phone with the 911 operator a few minutes later. She begs, "please Shawn don't!" Then the line goes out after Shawn shoots her and kills her.

Shelby calls 911 a minute later, but by the time someone answers, it's too late. Shawn kills her to finish off his family. He left quickly because he knew the police would be there soon, but he forgot to grab his cell phone.

He took a side road, threw the gun in a ditch, and drove as fast as he could back to his place.

It didn't take the police long to figure out who was behind the crime. On the 911 call, his mother and sister call out for him by name. Nothing was taken or set up to make it look like the house had been broken into. And he forgot his cell phone.

Shawn Bentler was found guilty of five counts of first-degree murder in May 2007.