Michael Stephen Jacques, 42, faces federal murder charges in connection with the death of his niece, 12-year-old Brooke Bennett. Her case triggered the first Amber Alert in Vermont history.
(Stefan Hard, Times Argus/AP Photo)
E-mails Reveal Suspect's Perverted Plot
Uncle of Missing Vermont Girl Found Dead Allegedly Enlisted Teen Lover as Accomplice
The man suspected in the death of Brooke Bennett and his teenage lover plotted together for weeks to abduct the 12-year-old Vermont girl so that she could be initiated into an organized sex ring, according to shocking federal court documents released today.
Court papers also suggest that Michael Jacques, Bennett's 42-year-old uncle who is charged with her kidnapping, may have been preparing for the likelihood that the girl would never return home.
Jacques allegedly took steps before Bennett's abduction to lure police into thinking that she had gone to meet someone she had been corresponding with online. And before Bennett's disappearance, Jacques instructed his 14-year-old female accomplice to collect semen from her boyfriend, which was later planted near Bennett's torn underwear.
The revelations, outlined in a federal criminal complaint, came a day after Vermont State Police discovered Bennett's body in a shallow grave near Jacques' Vermont home. Her disappearance had triggered the state's first Amber Alert.
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Federal prosecutors allege that Jacques used a pair of online identities to manipulate his young accomplice into thinking she was working with several men who were planning to initiate Bennett into a secret sex training program called "Breckenridge."
The unnamed girl, who is a minor, repeatedly expressed her willingness to help lure Bennett into Jacques' clutches and to help subdue Bennett if necessary, according to a stream of e-mails released by investigators.
Early E-mail lanning
The planning into Bennett's abduction began as early as May 28, according to e-mails recovered by authorities from a pair of computers belonging to Jacques.
Federal prosecutors for now have stopped short of charging Jacques with murdering the girl, whose body will undergo an autopsy today. Authorities have not yet identified a cause of death.
Jacques' attorney, Michael Desautels, the federal public defender in Vermont, did not immediately return a call from ABC News.
The e-mails also describe a sexual "training program" called "Breckenridge" that the girl, identified only as Juvenile 1, was already a part of and that Bennett was going to be initiated into. Juvenile 1 writes about a "farming season" in which her "teasing" results in sex with multiple partners.
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