Shortly before midnight on the evening of September 4, 1978, 8 year old Amy Fandel and her older brother, 13 year old Scott Fandel, were last seen leaving their neighbor's home in Sterling, AK. According to a witness, lights were on inside the Fandel home at 11:45 pm, leading officials to believe that Scott and Amy had made it home from their neighbor's house that evening. According to the children's aunt and their mother, when they returned to the home between 2:00 and 3:00 am, the lights were turned off in the home. According to their mother, Scott and Amy were afraid of the dark, so it was somewhat odd that the lights were all turned off. The following afternoon, Scott and Amy were reported missing by their mother when she realized that they hadn't gone to school that day.