The Unexplained Vanishing of Scott and Amy Fandel

In September 1978, an incident took place in a quiet Alaskan town that made headlines across the United States.

It was every parent’s worst fear.

A young brother and sister, Scott and Amy Fandel, inexplicably vanished from the family cabin and seemingly evaporated into thin air.

The youngsters had grown up in the serene town of Sterling, where crime rates are low, and everybody seemingly knows everybody.

When their mother came home to find their beds unslept in and the cabin suspiciously dark—both children were fearful of the dark—panic set in.

Thirteen-year-old Scott and 8-year-old Amy were nowhere to be seen.

Scott had made some attempt to make supper, but that was as much information as was available about the children’s movements that night.

Over 40 years later, the case still baffles law enforcement. Still, someone, somewhere, knows the answer to the question: What happened to Scott and Amy Fandel?

The Night They Vanished

On the evening of September 5, 1978, Scott and Amy headed to town with their mother, Margaret, and their aunt, Cathy, who was visiting Sterling.

Since it was a special occasion and the family was welcoming a guest, they headed to Good Time Charlie’s, a bar popular with the local residents.

The children ordered whatever they liked off the menu and ate as their mother and aunt caught up with one another.

The Fandel siblings got restless after eating, as children often do in adult-focused social settings.

The adults were busy drinking and chattering away, and while other patrons were happy to talk to the youngsters, they wanted to visit their friend’s house to play.

So, Margaret and Cathy dropped the kids off at the cabin at around 10 p.m. and returned to the bar.

While this may seem strange, it’s important to remember that it was a different era in a close-knit community. Nobody locked their doors, and everybody looked out for one another.

Or, so Margaret thought.

Once back at the cabin, the Fandel siblings went to their neighbor’s home and played with their children for a short while.

**Age progression photos of Amy and Scott Fandel.**

It was getting late, and the pair eventually decided to call it a night at some point before 11:45 p.m. This was when a neighbor saw the Fandels’ cabin light on, signifying the kids had gotten home.

The area was quiet and rural, but the inhabitants all made sure to look after one another. Perhaps this gave Margaret peace of mind and the feeling that her children were safe.

She and her sister arrived home sometime between 2 and 3 a.m. When she approached the cabin, she found it unusual that the property was in darkness. Her children didn’t like the dark, so the lights were always kept on.

When she entered the property, she could see Scott had tried making something to eat.

A pan of water, a packet of macaroni, and tinned tomatoes cluttered the kitchen workbench, though the meal hadn’t been assembled. It was as if it had been abandoned partway through. The water in the pan was still hot.

It’s been suggested that Margaret peeked into the children’s rooms and found their beds unmade. At this point, she wasn’t overly concerned, assuming her kids had stayed over at the neighbor’s house.

Another version of events is that Margaret didn’t check in on her children at all; nobody knows which one is accurate, though the outcome remains the same.

The community was like an extended family; kids often stayed over at their friend’s house and vice versa, and the houses were only a short walking distance from one another. For Margaret to assume Scott and Amy had slept over at their friends wasn’t unimaginable.

The next morning, Margaret headed to work as usual. She presumed her kids had gone to school and went about her day.

However, the neighbor’s children came to the cabin later that afternoon to ask where Scott and Amy were. Cathy answered the door, shocked to discover her niece and nephew weren’t with them.

It was clear now that the children didn’t sleep over at their friends, nor did they show up for school. Cathy called Margaret at work, who quickly called the police.

The investigation had little to go off. Nobody heard or saw anything untoward, and there was no physical evidence available.

The Case Goes Cold

The disappearance of the youngsters triggered an immediate response from the panicked Sterling community. Alongside law enforcement, they combed the Alaskan woods, searching for the siblings.

It seemed unlikely they’d wandered off, or that something had happened in the forest, since the youngsters had grown up in the wilds and knew the dangers and pitfalls.

Still, the community and police banded together and, along with sniffer dogs, trawled the nearby areas.

The Fandel cabin was a crime scene that bore little to no evidence of an actual crime. There were no signs of a struggle, nothing to suggest one of the children was hurt, yet no suggestion that the children had left the cabin of their own accord, either.

After all, their shoes and coats remained inside, and neither child would have left the home without them.

Their beds hadn’t been touched, and the supper they were making was left partially made on the counter.

Each little detail provided little in the way of answers, only more questions. The case, just about as soon as it was opened, turned cold.

With no evidence to follow and no witnesses coming forward, theories began making waves in the local community and beyond.

Many believe something sinister took place that night. The community was tight-knit, and knew one another. Could this have worked against the Fandel siblings that night?

Had someone at Good Time Charlie’s overheard that Scott and Amy were going to be home alone for a few hours? If they were planning something sinister, this would have given them the opportunity they needed to carry out their nefarious act.

The fact that the food Scott was preparing was abandoned mid-way through suggests he was abruptly interrupted.

The fact that there were no signs of struggle may suggest that the children knew whoever may have come into the cabin and taken them away.

This theory led to the suggestion that the children’s father, Roger Fandel, may have taken the siblings. He and Margaret had been through a tumultuous divorce, and he’d moved to Arizona afterward.

Roger did fly to Alaska to help look for his children, and he has never been charged with their disappearance.

However, he did flag up not only the police’s radar, but Margaret’s brother reportedly believed Roger was entirely responsible for the children’s kidnapping.

Peculiarly, years after the disappearances, a woman who had been Roger’s girlfriend in 1978 went to one of his family members with an offer: for $5,000, she’d tell him what had truly happened to Scott and Amy. Nothing came of this, however.

Margaret’s brother believes that Amy is still alive and living in either Alaska or California and has expressed his belief that Scott was murdered shortly after the kids were abducted. However, this is just a theory with no evidence to support these claims.

Then there’s the theory that the children took off into the wilderness on a late-night adventure, though this one seems least likely, as no evidence was found to corroborate this idea.

If a wild animal had somehow attacked both of them, there would have been physical evidence to show this. There was no blood, clothing, or footprints to suggest the kids had ventured into the forest.

As the years went by, the case became colder, and all that remained were the multiple theories about what may have happened to Scott and Amy.

Search efforts eventually ground to a halt, and the case found itself at the bottom of the news pile. After a while, it was almost forgotten.

The Persistent Mystery

The tragic disappearance of Scott and Amy, even 40 years after the fact, remains one of Alaska’s biggest mysteries.

In those four decades, nobody has come forward with evidence or clues. The community is as perplexed now as it was then, and the lack of evidence has left investigators baffled.

With the case being so devoid of evidence, when internet sleuths became interested in the case, some of the theories became extreme. One of them was that the children had been taken by a UFO.

No matter how many times the case has been examined, revisited, or covered in a new book or documentary, no new evidence has been found.

Tragically, the case of Scott and Amy Fandel may be one that never gets a conclusion.

Whoever knows the fate of the children may no longer be alive; even if they are, they are perhaps choosing not to incriminate themselves by keeping quiet.