Scott Fandel Missing Person Case

Apr 15, 2010

Mar 13, 2024

Scott

Fandel

60

13

59 inches

74 lbs

White / Caucasian

Male

In the late summer of 1978, in the small, wooded community of Sterling, Alaska, 13-year-old Scott Fandel and his 8-year-old sister, Amy, were living in a cabin with their mother, Margaret, and their maternal aunt, Cathy Schonfelder. On the evening of September 4, 1978, the children accompanied their mother and aunt to a local restaurant and bar called Good Time Charlie's. At around 10:00 p.m., Margaret and Cathy drove the children back to their cabin, which was situated in a rural area off Scout Lake Road. After dropping them off, the two women returned to the bar. Following their return, Scott and Amy went to visit their neighbors, the Luptons, whose children they often played with. It is unclear what time they returned to their own home, but a neighbor reported seeing lights on in the Fandel cabin at approximately 11:45 p.m. Scott, a boy with brown hair and blue eyes, was last seen wearing a striped t-shirt and jeans. When Margaret and Cathy returned to the cabin between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. on September 5th, they were met with an unsettling scene. All the lights in the cabin were off, which was unusual as the children were afraid of the dark. Inside, they discovered a pot of water boiling on the stove, alongside a package of macaroni and an open can of tomatoes on the counter, suggesting Scott had been in the middle of preparing a late-night snack. Assuming the children had decided to spend the night at the Lupton's house, the women went to bed. It wasn't until the following afternoon, when the Lupton children came over after school and it was confirmed that neither Scott nor Amy had been to school that day, that the alarm was raised. Margaret was notified at work and immediately contacted the Alaska State Troopers. The subsequent investigation into the disappearance of Scott and Amy Fandel has spanned decades, yet has yielded no definitive answers. An intensive search of the wooded area surrounding the cabin by law enforcement and search dogs from Anchorage turned up no trace of the children. Investigators explored numerous leads over the years. Bullet casings were found outside the cabin, though it could not be determined if they were related to the disappearances. The children's father, Roger Fandel, who had recently gone through a difficult divorce with their mother and moved to Arizona, was considered a person of interest for many years. However, he had an alibi for the night the children vanished and no evidence was ever found to link him to the case. Another lead involved two carnival workers who had been seen in the area and were acquainted with the family, but they denied any involvement. The case grew cold, marked by a lack of evidence and a host of unanswered questions, leaving the fate of Scott and Amy a painful mystery for their family and the community.

Sep 05, 1978

Sterling

Alaska

Kenai Peninsula Borough

No

26541

Alaska State Troopers

Anchorage

Alaska

Anchorage Borough

99507

Malia Miller

Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager

5700 East Tudor Road, Alaska

9072695511

State

Law Enforcement

D783303

1978-09-06

Alaska State Troopers

Brown

Blue

Blue

No

07/16/2026