These Siblings Vanished From A Small Cabin In Alaska Back In 1978
In 1978, siblings Scott and Amy Fandel lived in Sterling, Alaska, with their mother, Margaret.
Scott, who was 13-years-old at the time, is remembered as a prankster who was intelligent and had a love of motorcycles and the great outdoors. His 8-year-old sister Amy was known as a sweet girl who was kind to others and cared about animals.
Together, Scott, Amy, and Margaret resided in a small cabin located on Scout Lake Loop Road. Yet, on September 4, 1978, the brother-sister duo mysteriously went missing from their home.
The Disappearance Of The Fandel Siblings
Leading up to the night Scott and Amy vanished, Margaret had been going through a bitter divorce with her husband, Roger Fandel, who was Amy’s father. He was reportedly unfaithful and, following their split, relocated to Arizona by himself.
Once Margaret became a single parent, Scott and Amy were reportedly left unsupervised on a regular basis. Still, given the fact that Scott was a teenager, he was viewed as an adequate babysitter for Amy.
In September 1978, Margaret’s sister, Cathy, also came to live with them in Sterling, and the siblings were thrilled to have their aunt around. Tragically, Scott and Amy disappeared not long afterward.
It all began on September 4, 1978. That Monday evening, Margaret and Cathy took Scott and Amy to a local bar and restaurant known as Good Time Charlie’s. While the kids played arcade games, the women drank some beers.
Later, Margaret dropped her children off at home at about 10:00 p.m. She then decided to go with Cathy to other bars.
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While their mother was out, Scott and Amy reportedly visited the home of the Lupton family, their nearest neighbors and close friends. The pair played at the Lupton’s for a while until they were eventually sent home for being too loud.
Margaret and Cathy returned home sometime between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., at which point they found all the lights had been turned off in the cabin.
Additionally, they discovered an open can of tomatoes, a package of macaroni on the counter, and a pot of boiling water on the stove.
Margaret knew that Scott liked to have macaroni as a snack, but why he stopped in the middle of cooking remains unknown.
It’s also unclear whether she checked on her children before heading to bed that night, which has been a large point of debate online.
The following morning, when she woke up, Margaret realized the children weren’t home and supposedly thought they’d already gone to school.
However, Amy and Scott never returned home, and later that day, the Lupton kids came looking for them to play.
Margaret became panicked and ultimately contacted the Alaska State Troopers at 5:14 p.m. on September 5, 1978, and reported her children missing.
The Search For Scott And Amy
Authorities used search dogs from Anchorage to execute an extensive search of the surrounding wooded area, but the effort yielded no clues.
Additionally, they scoured ferries and told Canadian Mounties to keep an eye out for anyone trying to cross the border with the siblings.
Margaret contacted her ex-husband, Roger, who confirmed he didn’t have the children. He reportedly flew in from Arizona to assist in the search.
One potential theory involved two carnival workers from the Alaska State Fair whose black sedan had been seen speeding away from the cabin on the night Scott and Amy vanished. According to the men, though, they’d gone back to Sterling to pick up their paychecks.
They also claimed that they were only passing by the Fandel’s cabin after the kids had already gone missing. The men supposedly considered stopping by to visit, as they’d known the Fandels, but decided not to.
Another theory suggested that perhaps someone at Good Time Charlie’s had overheard that Scott and Amy would be at home alone that evening. This sparked speculation that the kids had been abducted. Still, it hasn’t been proven.
Finally, bullet casings were located outside of the Fandel’s cabin, yet it was unable to be determined if they were new or in any way related to the siblings’ disappearance.
In the end, authorities followed up on hundreds of leads, and they got no closer to solving the case.
Margaret Is Chased Out Of Town
Investigators looked into Margaret, tapping her phone to see if she’d say anything incriminating, but she didn’t. Regardless, some residents in the community believed she was responsible for her children going missing, and she no longer felt welcome in Sterling.
Her dependence on alcohol, which began while going through her divorce, worsened, and in 1980, she moved to Illinois. There, she quit drinking, got remarried, and in 1988, she expressed her hope that Scott and Amy were still alive.
Roger, on the other hand, thought Scott would’ve gotten in touch if he were able. Authorities concluded Roger wasn’t involved in the disappearance, either.
Many Unanswered Questions Still Linger
Despite the fact that Scott and Amy vanished over 46 years ago, their cold case continues to capture the attention of true crime buffs online, who have taken to internet threads to both propose and discuss theories.
One such forum of conversation is a Facebook page entitled “Scott and Amy Fandel – Missing,” which states it was created “in the hope that someone would come forward to help solve this disappearance.”
Nonetheless, to this day, investigators have been unable to determine exactly what happened to Scott and Amy on the evening they disappeared. Their case goes unsolved, and no suspects have ever been named.
Scott was four foot eleven, weighed 74 pounds, and had brown hair and blue eyes. Amy was four feet tall, weighed 52 pounds, and had blonde hair and brown eyes. Today, Scott would be 59-years-old, and Amy would be 54-years-old.
Anyone with information related to their case is urged to contact the Alaska State Troopers at (907) 262-4453.
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