AK AK - Scott, 13, & Amy Fandel, 8, Sterling, 5 Sept 1978

[HelpingHeart]

This is so sad. I feel like that maybe that it was more than one person involved, since it was two kids, and the older one was already a teenager. It seems like it would be hard to kidnap two kids, age 13 & 8 at the same time.

Or they went willingly, trusting the person, someone they knew. Or someone pretending they had to leave with them in an emergency, maybe regarding their mom & aunt.

 

[jeninbrooklyn]

I speculate that the abductor was local and may have been waiting for an opportunity to do this. When the aunt came to town to move in and help out with the kids, this person/people knew there'd be another adult in the household to look after them and it would make it harder to complete the abduction. Guessing the bodies are buried on the perpetrator's property. If it were a crime of opportunity, their bodies would've probably been flung alongside the road and easily found A local person would be sure to hide the evidence. Being that these poor two kids vanished into thin air without a trace, I think they're definitely well-hidden. It's so sad. My heart breaks for them and their families.

 

[bearfossils]

Bumping for Amy and Scott. I think a lot of the more recent comments on here are correct in assuming the children were probably victims of an opportunistic predator who either found out they were alone that night or was trolling for victims and came upon them by chance. Sadly, I think the delay in reporting their disappearance made it hard to collect evidence or figure out what happened. I don’t see a point in being critical of their mother; I’m sure she beat herself up over what happened that night more than anyone. The only person who should feel guilt is the monster who stole these children from their home.

 

[Tabech29]

43 years today

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Bumping up for Scott and Amy.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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www.namus.gov

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[KT Can]

Long time member, visiting some old cases from my past history that have always stuck with me. I first posted about Scott and Amy in 2004, it's heartbreaking that there are no more answers today than there were back then. Reflecting back on it I lean towards an opportunistic abductor as well. I still pray that one day something will be revealed.

 

[Alaskan<3Madison<3]

Hello,
I moved to Alaska almost 20 years ago. The Fandel case I came across after living here for 6 months. It really peaked my interest. I started searching for everything I could find on this case. I am a Pvt Investigator so you know how nosey we can be. I even went as far as to reach out with a FOIA request from the State Troopers over this case to see about getting a copy of their file. I even went as far as contacted the FBI with the same request. I began writing a true crime novel on the missing here in Alaska and wanted this case in there. I told troopers & FBI this was my reason for my request. I was turned down flat by both. Troopers said no because it's an ongoing Investigation.
I am curious to see if the mother and aunt were given a lie detector test as the father was given. Were they ever looked at closely as suspects as the father was. People back in those times I guess just couldn't fathom a mother ever hurting her children. Let's not forget Susan Smith people. If you don't remember that name, it's the mother who strapped both her toddler sons in their car seat in her car then sent her car to the bottom of the lake as she watched. She stood there hearing them little boys screaming for her and did nothing let them drown.
I have never seen anyone even point to the mother in this case. I find it very funny that her sister arrived in town the very night they went missing. It was stated they dropped off the kids went back to the bar. I talked to the bar owner he remembers them coming in wasn't much of a crowd that night being it was on a weekday. He remembered very well they didn't come back to his bar at all that night.
We have to keep in mind the mother was a drinker she was left alone in a place with no family to help her. She was barely making it. She so wanted to return to her home in Illinois but was hard doing this with 2 kids. This is why her sister came to Alaska to work. They were going to save money and get them all back to Illinois. Now don't you think when Rodger left Maragret moved out of Alaska this would make her bitter towards him? What would be the one thing you could do to get even with the father and torture him the rest of his life? Take away his children. We have all heard stories of this very scenario playing out over the years. Who is to say when Margret returned home from drinking something happens with the kids that could have been an accident and both ladies got too scared to call the law. I have come across a couple of her statements she gave in interviews over the years and her story changes. Not by much but still discrepancies.
Another thing that always struck me as odd is why would she call Amy's school to talk to her to ask why they weren't home before going to school? Wouldn't you want to ask the oldest child who was in charge?
I have never read anywhere there was blood found in the home. Bullet casing was found outside around the home, but this is Alaska people shoot their guns off on their own property. They said they weren't even sure these casings had anything to do with this disappearance. I wanted the troopers report to see if they even dusted for fingerprints.
I can't go with the stranger abduction reason being is everyone here in Alaska can and do own firearms so how would a stranger know who was in that house at the time? They wouldn't have known if there weren't adults in the house.
As for the Lupton's they to divorced not long after this happened Mrs. Lupton moved out of Alaska Mr. Lupton still lives in the same place or he did back in 2017 when I researched them. Now I will say there could have been someone visiting them that night that seen the kids going home knew mother wasn't there and snatched them. I think the Lupton's would have noticed someone leaving behind the kids. We know they didn't travel out of Alaska by train, plane or automobile because you can't enter or exit out of Alaska without it being documented. They put the borders on alert. You just can't hop on a plane and fly out of here on a minute's notice.
Also, the Amy Fandel Johnson everyone is thinking is Amy Fandel from Alaska are not the same person. The Amy Fandel from Alaska had brown eyes Amy Johnson has big blue eyes. She was hounded so bad she went into hiding.
I did come across Margret Pearson Facebook page back in 2017 and there was nothing on her page or no pictures of her kids. The only reason I knew it was her was few years back she made a comment about being sad on the anniversary of the kid's disappearance date.
I did an interview with Margrets brother Terry back in 2018 for my book. He did tell me that he had set it up for him to go onto one of those daytime talk shows to bring light to this case maybe generate more leads. He was told the only way they could do this was Margret had to agree to go on with him. He was told by his sister NO. So, the show idea never went anywhere. Terry also thought maybe the union that Rodger belonged to had something to do with this. I told him I seriously doubted that because I had never heard of any union dispute where they come in and kidnap children. Rodger and his uncle were part of the same union and that's where their hostility between each other stems from. One accused the other which in turn the other accused right back. I strongly feel like Rodger had nothing to do with this. Tho he was looked at as a suspect for many years. I also wonder why that ex-girlfriend that offered to tell everything if given $5,000 wasn't thoroughly Investigated and why she was saying what she was?
Margret stated that she couldn't leave work her boss would have fired her. She was allowed though to make several phone calls as to their whereabouts with the school and to her sister. I just can't believe a boss would fire you over leaving work to go find your children. Why didn't she just say the hell with that job and leave anyway? Lord knows I would have.
Too many discrepancies.

 

[PGHJW]

I think the whole family knows exactly what happened but they’re all afraid to squeal. They all seem to have been involved in less than kosher dealings. I think it’s one big family secret.

 

[mst]

im totally new to this case but man are a lot of the links non existent on here!

 

[Beekarina]

This is so sad. I feel like that maybe that it was more than one person involved, since it was two kids, and the older one was already a teenager. It seems like it would be hard to kidnap two kids, age 13 & 8 at the same time.

Or they went willingly, trusting the person, someone they knew. Or someone pretending they had to leave with them in an emergency, maybe regarding their mom & aunt.

Not necessarily. If you're the 13 year-old, and someone grabs your little sister, then what?

Just a thought. You would be in a pretty horrible situation, and easily manipulated. I have no idea what happened, as reading all of the different theories I can find myself thinking many of them have some merit, however I personally feel one adult could easily take two kids. One adult could take two adults, if they were able to manipulate the emotional connection between the two--i.e. "Don't hurt my ___. I will do whatever you ask."

JMO.