WY WY - Amy Wroe Bechtel, 24, Fremont County, 24 Jul 1997

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McLeod (McLoud, Macleod, Macloud) is a Scottish surname. At least so says the McLeod I know, who is no relation to this dude, however his name is spelled. But that's a good point -- it's a name that could easily be misspelled in many places whether he intended it as an alias or not.

If the content of fiction writing is evidence of interest in committing a crime, then I'm in serious trouble, as are all writers of crime and mystery fiction!
 
I heard that law enforcement were going to take a fresh look at the case? Any updates?
 
Amy Bechtel

A runner disappears in the Wyoming wilderness and police suspect foul play.

Amy Wroe Bechtel
Missing:
Gender: Female
DOB: 8/4/72
Height: 5’5” to 5’6
Weight: 110 to 115 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Defining Characteristics: Scars on both legs, shin, and knee, checker shaped scar on lower back, and a half inch by 2 inch scar on cheek (noticable only when she is cold)
Remarks: Last seen 7/24/97


Source:

Unsolved Mysteries
 
on the Disappeared episode tonite, they said that Steve Bechtel had resumed being cooperative with authorities.
 
Any other interesting info? Didn't see it.

Glad to hear the husband is being more cooperative. Frankly, his initial behavior is something I would classify as "smart" if he is innocent though I totally understand everyone's frustration.

I live in a small town in Illinois, there is a murder case in the next town over of a kid my husband knew when the kid went missing (kid as in, 16). The LE is the definition of "bumbling". Totally clueless and ruined evidence that would have made the conviction a slam dunk (they cleaned up blood!! Who does that.). This was because they just didn't know better sadly, bad training. We have heard of a number of LE throughout the US that are just so because they have never being exposed to crime other than pulling over cars - I am sorry if this sounds a bit mean but we do need to be a bit realistic. I don't think it is unreasonable to assume that the LE in Lander, WY is small town LE that is years behind the LE I'm used to from Chicago.

What I'm getting at is that it is not unreasonable to think that the husband was being truthful in that LE was accusing him right off the bat. It could have been really ugly and frankly, really scary. I do think his lawyer advised him to keep his mouth shut. We have a number of visitors here so I'll explain a bit, I used to think this behavior was automatic indication of guilt, however being accused of a crime you did not commit is scary as hell. Lie detector tests are not considered reliable and cannot be entered as evidence (if this is incorrect, lawyers please speak up) because they could be unreliable. It would be a shame if the test gave incorrect information and the public opinion was that he was guilty. If he was not, the real killer would be running around but once the public hones in on their "murderer" it's really hard to get an easy cut and dry case. Think of the many high profile cases you have heard of in the past. Some of them fall into this category.

That he is now cooperating is good news. Hopefully he is innocent.
 
The circumstances of the day make it extremely unlikely her husband had anything to do with it, unless he can, like, fly or something, or had an accomplice. Spouse is a runner and was following the case for a long time because she was a well-known runner; I couldn't believe how they started in on her husband without even looking for anybody else.
 
One interesting fact mentioned on the show: Investigators obtained satellite photos of the Loop road from the space station Mir taken on the day Amy went missing, but the cloud cover rendered them useless.

More importantly, perhaps, the sheriff's office admitted to having tunnel vision with regard to Steven Bechtel, and it seems investigators now consider Eaton (kudos to the poster who made that connection so early on) a more viable suspect. It's unfortunate that there is zero incentive for him to talk, and while I understand that Lander has a small police force, they did have assistance from other agencies. Surely someone could have made the connection earlier, but they chose to focus all their time and resources on the most obvious suspect -- a guy with a good alibi and the good sense to get a lawyer. I would too, under the circumstances. I'm a big fan of LE, but I really think they dropped the ball on this one. :(
 
Nanda Devi said:
One interesting fact mentioned on the show: Investigators obtained satellite photos of the Loop road from the space station Mir taken on the day Amy went missing, but the cloud cover rendered them useless.
Click to expand...

RSBM

I was shocked to hear this, too! It's a shame they weren't useful. :(
 
neverletgo said:
RSBM

I was shocked to hear this, too! It's a shame they weren't useful. :(
Click to expand...

I'm sure LE has looked into Google Earth, but it was useful in establishing a timeline for New Mexico's Mesa Murders, so it might be worth checking out. Microsoft's Virtual Earth (I think it's called something else now; I haven't used it in a while since my current computer isn't up to the job of running it) actually has superior images, but I'm not sure if it allows users to "go back in time" and look at previous satellite maps, as GE does.
 
Well it appears that the brother of convicted killer Dale Wayne Eaton has been in contact with authorities and said that his brother did often camp in that exact area where Amy disappeared. Her disappearance was just months before Eaton attempted to abduct a young family. Eaton was convicted in 2004 for the infamous "lil miss" murder and currently sits on Wyoming's death row. Many believe he is possibly connected to the disappearnce and/or murder of many women in the Great Basin region.
 
:bump: for Amy. :heartbeat:

qO9gyqt.png
 
Her neice, apparently, has a post up on reddit about it here: Whoops! Guess that's a no-no link... I will quote some without the link...guess that is okay?



"TL;DR My Aunt disappeared when I was 9 and we still don't know what happened. I actually have more good memories from that time than bad and I feel that it shaped my life.
When I was 9 my aunt disappeared.
Her name is/was Amy Wroe Becthel

...By this point Amy had become a professional long distance runner. She was featured on the covers of several running magizines(this is before the internet got big) and was even helping plot courses for new races.
That last part is what lead to tragedy.
It was about 4 in the morning when my parents woke me up. My mother had obviously been crying and my father was clearly concerned as well when they sat down on the edge of my bed. I can't recall which of them it was that told me that Amy had not come home last night and that no one was sure where she was.
We packed in a rush, just bare essentials and nothing else and got in the car for the drive across the state. Throughout the ride my mom alternated between crying and trying to comfort us kids who were more confused and worried about our crying mother than anything else.
When we arrived in Lander the story unfolded in front of us; she had been running the day before in the mountains nearby to plot a course for a local race she was helping to set up and she simply never arrived home. By the time night had fallen her husband had called the police and the family was informed. We arrived that following morning to a scene of chaos as friends, family, and the community turned out in assistance.
At this point no one really knew what had happened. It was thought that she still might be up on the trails somewhere because her car was still in the lot, still locked, and her pouch she ran with was still missing. Everyone thought it was possible that she had fallen and been hurt or had perhaps been attacked by a mountain lion.

....One of the wierdest things about it was how there was absolutely no sign of struggle anywhere along any of the paths she should have been on. This was an extremely fit woman who could scale an inverted face of a cliff for fun and who had a rock wall gym thing in her garage that she was on daily.
This lead to a lot of people assuming that the culprit was actually her husband. The lack of struggle plus his unwillingness to cooperate and some VERY creepy journals made him one of the prime suspects for a long time.
Unfortunately, we found absolutely nothing concrete. Now, 16 years later, we still don't know what actually happened to her. There is a guy on death row already for commiting a few other murders that they think may be responsible but he isn't willing to tell if he did it or not.

....In closing I do ask that if ANYONE knows anything they please let me know. After all these years we have come to terms with never finding the truth but we can still hope."
 
I saw this case on "Disappeared" the other night. Did anyone notice the husband shake his head "yes" as he verbally answered "no" to the question asking if he had anything to do with his wife's disappearance (or something along those lines)? I, unfortunately, cannot locate a link to the video online. I believe it was an interview he did for a television news station... And now wish I hadn't deleted the episode from my DVR. Was I seeing things?
 
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