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Shawn Bentler's Trial Scheduled for February

By Becky Ogann

Story Created: Nov 3, 2006 at 3:03 PM CST

Story Updated: Nov 3, 2006 at 4:15 PM CST

AP - Trial has been scheduled for a man charged with killing his parents and three younger sisters.

Shawn Bentler, 22, of Quincy, Illinois, waived his right to a speedy trial and will face five counts of first-degree murder when his trial begins on February 20th.

He is accused of fatally shooting his father Michael, his mother Sandra, and his teenage sisters Sheena, Shelby and Shayne, on October 14th. Their bodies were found early in the morning in the family's home outside Bonaparte in southeast Iowa.

Bentler was arrested later that day near his home in Illinois.

He remains in the Van Buren County jail on a $2.5 million bond.

Investigators have offered no motive for the slayings. It was one of the worst mass killings in Iowa history.

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