YAVAPAI COUNTY, Ariz. — Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes named the man he believes killed Cathy Sposito on a trail in Prescott in 1987.
The case had been open and active for decades until DNA technology allowed detectives to link Bryan Scott Bennett to Sposito's murder and three other cases with the "highest degree of likelihood." Bennett would be 53 now. He died by suicide in 1994 in Kentucky, Rhodes said at a news conference on Friday.
Sposito was brutally murdered on June 13, 1987, on Thumb Butte Trail in Prescott. Rhodes said people heard her screaming before she was beaten, stabbed and shot in the eye.
Bennett, according to YCSO, was a high school student at Prescott High and nearing his 17th birthday at the time of the murder. He went by Scott at the time.
Rhodes said through the investigation they found three more victims connected to Bennett.
- Victim 1: Cathy Sposito
- Victim 2: Unidentified. In 1990 the woman was attacked and sexually assaulted at nearly the same location, same trail at the same time of day
- Victim 3: Unidentified. She told authorities Bennett sexually assaulted her at a party in Chino Valley where underage drinking was happening. He was arrested, tried and acquitted based on discrepancies in eyewitness testimony
- Victim 4: In 1993 Renee Sandoval was approached at a Miller Valley post office when she was taken at knife point and sexually assaulted multiple times. A Prescott police officer pulled them over, Bennett was arrested but let go after discrepancies in stories. Sandoval was at the news conference where she thanked authorities for bringing an end to the case.
Deputies said Friday they hope any other victims will come forward. The have closed Sposito's case.
If anyone has information related to the Sposito murder or Bryan Scott Bennett they are asked contact the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office at 928-771-3260 or Yavapai Silent Witness at 800-932-3232.
The day before her death, Sposito went out with her friends for dinner. The New York native was in Yavapai County for school, studying at Prescott College. She told her friends she planned to go hiking in the morning but they didn't realize they'd never see her again.
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