ID ID - Stephanie Crane, 9, Challis, 11 Oct 1993

It is that time of year again. Wondering where you are. Wondering if the wrong leads were chased. My guess has always been, it was someone local. As in Custer or Blaine Counties. Blaine County perp could have go through Trail Creek, far off the main roads where search could have taken place. You are not forgotten.Screen Shot 2022-10-13 at 10.36.36 PM.png

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Saw the SC case featured on Disappeared. What an incredibly sad & horrible crime. Missing children cases like this are IMHO worse than those involving adults, because these kids had their whole lives ahead of them. Given all of the coverage this got ATT, I'm surprised I never heard of this before.

It's obvious that SC was abducted by a sicko/sickos at some point after she left the bowling alley & possibly around her school - given that she told a friend she was going back to the school to get her back-pack. Since it was hunting season & there were a lot of strangers in town ATT, IMHO it's very possible/probable the perp. was just passing through the area. Though, I don't necessarily think he was a hunter.

Just to be thorough here & mention another possibility: I know that the area around the bowling alley & surrounding areas (the nearby creek, etc.) were searched thoroughly, just in case SC had some sort of accident and was injured/etc. However, they found no trace of her - and I definitely believe they would have if she had been there. The creek didn't seem that deep & the area(s) around where she was last seen didn't seem to include dense, wooded areas where someone could easily be missed, etc. (as in other cases).

It's possible that SC is still alive somewhere. I.e., people have been abducted as children & been found years later. I don't think it's that likely - but, still possible.

This case is especially unfortunate, given that SC's family never recovered from this tragedy. Unfortunately, her parents are both now deceased.
 
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Article from 1997 that I found interesting

[Ben] Crane, 31, no longer is married to Stephanie's mother, Sandi, who moved to Battle Mountain, Nev., about six months ago. They were divorced in July 1994, but tried living together again later that year. It didn't last long.

Stephanie's disappearance and the stress it brought was a factor in the divorce, but Crane said there were other reasons. He admits, because of continuing questions from investigators, that he is bothered by doubts he has about his wife and what, if anything, she knows.

"I still wonder about that," he said. "It pretty much bothers me that they want to look at her again."

Sandi Crane couldn't be reached in Nevada. She told the Post Register last November that she was asked to undergo lie-detector tests, but she said she had no idea who was behind her child's disappearance.


"They have just about accused me of killing my own daughter," she said last year. "I can't see any mother doing it . . . I just can't believe that a mother can kill her own kids."

At the time, she was talking about herself and Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman convicted of killing her sons. That was before Smith was tried and convicted.

Crane said investigators want to talk to his ex-wife again. Last year, he was angry about the focus on the family as possible suspects. This year, while upset with the slow progress of the investigation, he says he wonders about his wife.

But Crane has no idea who took Stephanie. He has no reason to suspect his wife other than the continued focus on her by investigators.

--
Stephanie's mom died in 1997 from "an illness"
 
It has been 30 years. What is known:

10 facts about the disappearance of Stephanie Crane​

  • Stephanie has not been seen or heard from since the evening of Oct. 11, 1993.
  • Stephanie was described as a “cautious tomboy” who was afraid of the dark.
  • There is no evidence or witnesses as to what happened.
  • A suspicious yellow pick up with the red pin stripes that was seen near the high school (across from the bowling alley) was not located and no one could provide a license plate.
  • Several psychics have volunteered their efforts but no leads have panned out.
  • In November 1993, local television stations aired a public service message featuring actor William Devane. The message urged viewers to call authorities if they had any information Stephanies disappearance.
  • In February 1994, Sandi Crane, along with other parents of missing children, appeared on “The Jerry Springer Show” (before his talk show was sensational). The episode was entitled “They’re Stealing Our Children” but it was not available on local cable channels in Challis.
  • That same month, a very thorough search of an overlooked cistern was conducted. This cistern had been abandoned for twelve years and was in a weed-covered field about 50 feet from the path Stephanie usually took. Four days were spent digging out this cistern. Stephanie was not in there.
  • In 2002, Keith Hescock kidnapped and raped a 14-year-old girl in Idaho Falls. She managed to escape and authorities were alerted. Hescock took his own life after a high-speed chase with law enforcement. He had been in the Challis area on Oct. 11, 1993 and shot and killed a big horn sheep in Morgan Creek.
  • The Custer County Sheriff’s Office attempted to interview a “drifter” mentioned in the 2018 episode of “Disappeared” entitled “Into the Mist” that aired on Investigative Discovery. When it was brought to his attention that the Custer County Sheriff’s Office received information from other individuals that he may have something to do with Stephanie’s disappearance, he called them all liars and walked out.


 
It says abducted by stranger, but there is nothing to indicate this. Although this is the likely scenario, is it possible she had an accident or experienced some misfortune? Or is that too far fetched of a possibility?
I think the area was extremely well searched. Unless she got hit by a car and someone panicked. It could be a local person, like in the counties around.
 
It says abducted by stranger, but there is nothing to indicate this. Although this is the likely scenario, is it possible she had an accident or experienced some misfortune? Or is that too far fetched of a possibility?
The suspicious yellow pickup truck with red pin stripes they never found might be part of the reason.
 
Stephanie was 9 when she went missing. No evidence of her disappearance was discovered and no witnesses ever reported seeing anything, Dubiel said. The girl had left the Challis bowling alley sometime between 5 and 6 p.m. that day, headed to her nearby home. When she hadn’t arrived by 8:15 p.m., her mother called the Sheriff’s Office.

“Until the whereabouts of Stephanie are determined we will continue to thoroughly investigate every lead. No information is unimportant to our investigation,” Dubiel told the Messenger a couple of years ago.
 

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