Deputies investigate death of Amber Bently

Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the death of a San Francisco businesswoman, jewelry designer and socialite whose body was found in a Gardnerville apartment.

Authorities said Wednesday that the body of 34-year-old Amber Marie Bently was discovered Friday by a process server who went to deliver an eviction notice at an apartment on High School Street.

Douglas County Sgt. Pat Brooks said it appeared she had been dead for several weeks. No one had reported her missing.

“There was no evidence of criminal activity or foul play,” Brooks said. He added that an autopsy did not pinpoint a cause of death and toxicology reports are pending, a process that could take six to eight weeks.

Bently was married to Minden businessman Christopher Bently, CEO of Bently Holdings, a property-management company with offices in Minden and San Francisco. Bently is also head of several other companies founded by his late father, Donald Bently, an engineer, philanthropist and businessman who died in October at 87.

A man who answered the phone at Bently Holdings said the company would have no comment. Deputies described Amber Bently as Christopher Bently’s estranged wife and said she lived alone in the apartment, although it’s unknown whether the couple was divorced.

The two were active in the San Francisco social scene and enthusiasts of the annual Burning Man festival, held annually in the Black Rock Desert. Christopher Bently serves on the advisory board of the Black Rock Arts Foundation as well as the Burning Man Project.

They restored the former Federal Reserve Bank in downtown San Francisco and renamed it the Bently Reserve. They also owned a spa, called Kamalaspa, in Union Square. The business has reportedly closed.

The couple was married for at least 10 years, according to published reports. About four years ago they were featured as the “new kids on the block” on the San Francisco Social Diary website when they threw a pajama party at their Nob Hill penthouse.

In 2009, a collection of her jewelry designs was exhibited at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.