Thinking of Stephanie Crane today. What happened to this little girl?
I think about her often, too. She is the reason I came to WS. I used to live near there and would backpack, hike and camp a lot. There are so many places to hide a child's body (sorry) where it would never be found. If she was killed, I would hope LE was looking into locals and seasonal crews stationed for forest fires, etc.
Locals...not just Challis, but, Ketchum, Hailey, Stanley, etc. There is a pass that is unpaved, but frequently used, called trail creek that goes from Sun Valley to the highway Challis is on. It doesn't show on google maps, but, there are many roads linking various towns in the area. It has to be someone familiar with the area mainly because, they would have to know where to drive without running into private property, dead ends, washed out roads, etc.
I also know hunting season begins in October, this year it is October 10th for Regular Deer. I am not sure what the dates were in 1993, but, I would hope LE would have searched those with tags and registered at campsites with the park system in Challis and surrounding areas as well. Here is topo map of ther area by Idaho Fish and Game...this is helpful to understand the region.
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner/mapcenter/
I guess, I always felt it was someone very familiar with the area. I was not fully convinced it was MH because the ages of the girls were very different. Any ideas?