September 28, 1984; Stephanie Lyn Crane was welcomed into this world by her parents; Ben and Sandi Crane. Stephanie Crane was a typical freckled face, brown hair, blue eyed girl who grew up in the beautiful town of Challis, Idaho. She would spend her days playing with friends, hunting with her father, and bowling for her local bowling league. Stephanie was the eldest of three and was often described as being a bit of a tomboy, as she loved those hunting trips with her father and playing sports at her school.

Amber Shawnell Hoopes was a beautiful 20 something girl with thick brown hair and deep brown eyes. She was a lover of culinary arts and was planning her future around attending a prestigious Culinary School where she could dive into her creativity with food and baking. Amber never missed a Sunday at her local church in the sleepy little town of Idaho Falls. She enjoyed singing, creative writing, photography, and playing the piano. Amber loved living with her grandparents; Noris and Kathleen Burgener. Amber was described as a quiet and peaceful 20 year old and would spend her evenings chatting with her sister until well past 10pm.

These two amazing girls do not have much in common besides both living in small towns located in Idaho. However, they would both forever be joined after two tragedies take place, years apart.

On October 11, 1993 Stephanie Lyn Crane, or Stephie as her friends and family would call her, was having an average evening in Challis, Idaho. After school Stephanie and her friends went across the street to their local bowling alley for a fun afternoon with her friends…. At around 5pm that evening Stephanie walked out of the bowling alley to begin her journey home. The mother of her friend offered Stephanie a ride home but she declined the offer because she had left her backpack at the high school. Stephanie’s school was located directly across from the bowling alley and her home was just 500 yards away from both. In 1993, it would not be unheard of for a 9 year old boy or girl to be walking home from an event, especially in a small town such as Challis, Idaho.

Challis, Idaho’s population in 1993 was approximately 991 people. Challis is located in a somewhat mountainous region and near the Salmon River. It is a beautiful town and its popularity peaks during elk and deer hunting season, which is normally in the fall to winter months.

Stephanie’s mother, Sandi began to increasingly worry about the whereabouts of her 9 year old daughter when the skies began to darken. Knowing Stephanie was afraid of the dark, she began looking for her daughter. When she was unable to locate Stephanie, Sandi Crane made the call that no parent wishes to make, Sandi Crane called the local police department to report her daughter missing at 8:15pm on October 11, 1993.

On a similar fall evening, several years in the future, and roughly 147 miles away from Challis Idaho, Amber Shawnell Hoopes was having a typical evening in her bedroom at her Grandparents house in Idaho Falls. It was September 14, 2001, around 10pm when her grandparents walked past her bedroom to say goodnight. Amber was on the phone with her sister. Everyone said their goodnights, Amber hung up the phone, put on her pajamas, and that was that. Noris and Kathleen went to bed around 10:30pm after a normal bedtime routine. However, on this particular night Amber’s grandmother, Kathleen was startled awake at 1am, she noticed that Amber’s bedroom light and television were still turned on. As Kathleen went to check on her granddaughter, she found the room to be empty. Kathleen quickly did a sweep of the house and found the backdoor to be unlocked. Amber’s grandparents owned an Auto Body shop that was located adjacent to their residence and oftentimes Amber could be found using the computer located in the shop office. However, this time Kathleen found the computer screen on but Amber was nowhere to be found. Kathleen immediately alerted Amber’s grandfather, Noris... and the two called the local police department.

Much like Challis, Idaho, it wasn’t unusual for people to possess a false sense of security. Idaho Falls is a somewhat rural town with a population in 2001 of 51,000 people. Although larger than Challis, it is still considered a sleepy town where many know their neighbors and leave their doors unlocked.

The search for Stephanie Crane begins the night she is reported missing by her mother and would continue for several days. The only reports made by the witnesses interviewed would contain information about a suspicious yellow pickup with blue pinstripes and a 37 year old, caucasian man roughly 5’10” and 175 pounds. The search for this individual did not prevail. The search over the next 10 days for Stephanie Crane would span 7,000 square miles over two counties and 300 searchers including the FBI, two planes, police dogs, local police, State police, Idaho Fish and Game, and a boat crew checking the Salmon river from Challis to Salmon. Sadly the Amber Alert system that we are all familiar with now in 2020, did not exist at the time of Stephanie’s abduction. The FBI did rule out any involvement from family members or anyone in the local community, unfortunately Stephanie’s abduction corresponded with the elk and deer hunting season, thus meaning several people were in and out of town during this time. After 10 days of searching, authorities also conducted a door to door search in hopes of finding young Stephanie. Unfortunately, no new evidence was uncovered and Stephanie’s abductor or body have never been located.

Upon reporting their granddaughter missing, Noris and Kathleen Burgener noticed that a pickup truck from their auto body shop parking lot was missing. Investigators found the vehicle with the keys in the ignition, in an abandoned parking lot a few miles away. Unfortunately there was no physical evidence of Amber Hoopes or a potential suspect found in the vehicle. It was quickly ruled out that Amber was a potential runaway due to her active involvement in the community and the fact that she left all of her personal belongings in her room along with her paycheck. A thorough search was done but no evidence or body has ever been found belonging to Amber Hoopes.

When hearing the stories of these two amazing young ladies, it is hard to see how the two correlate- besides being located in Idaho and both abducted from small towns in the fall. However, one person would bring these two victims together and his name is Keith Glenn “Mark” Hescock. Now I should preface this by stating, it has never been confirmed that Mark Hescock abducted and/or murdered Stephanie Crane or Amber Hoopes. However, he is an active suspect in both cases. I am not going to bother giving information on Hescock because he isn’t worth the time. But I will tell you that this man is not only a suspect in these two cases, but was also suspected of kidnapping a 14 year old girl on June 5, 2002. She will remain nameless, but she is one badass chick. THIS 14 yr old girl managed to escape this psycho’s clutches! She waited for Hescock to leave for work, then found a fire extinguisher and used it to bash the lock off of the door and then ran! Good for you girl!

However, before he could be arrested, he led authorities on a 40 mile, high speed chase! Hescock tried to make a run for it but took a wrong turn in the mountains trying to evade capture and was trapped on a dead end road. Hescock then murdered a police dog, and wounded a police officer. When the negotiation was going nowhere, Hescock turned the gun on himself and ended his life.

Hescock was already a suspect in Stephanie Crane’s case in 1997 but had an alibi, however, after his death it was found that the family who had provided the alibi for Hescock, had lied. Investigators believed it was highly likely that Hescock was involved in the disappearances of Stephanie Crane AND Amber Hoopes. After his death, local police continued investigating Hescock’s involvement in these disappearances and interviewed Hescock’s neighbor who informed them that Hescock WAS hunting in Challis the weekend of Stephanie Crane’s disappearance. AND it was confirmed that Hescock owned a yellow pickup in 1993 that matched the description of the yellow pickup seen in Challis at the time of Stephanie’s disappearance. But the coincidences don’t stop there… Hescock also worked for Amber Hoopes’s grandparents at their body shop and had abruptly quit before Amber’s disappearance. I will let you listeners draw your own conclusions on whether or not Hescock could have committed one or both of these crimes…. But either way any new evidence or information died with Hescock.

And… Unfortunately, the bodies of Stephanie Crane and Amber Hoopes have never been recovered and any evidence of either one still being alive remains to be found.

These are two deeply tragic stories with little to no closure for the families. However, there is one theory that is still being explored in regards to the Stephanie Crane disappearance. In 2000, an inmate at the Nampa county jail reported that he may know something about the cold case on Stephanie Crane. Detectives immediately interviewed this inmate. In his story, he claims that a female friend of his, back in 1993, rented a room from a man who police refer to as the “Drifter”. She claimed to hear sounds coming from the Drifter’s basement that sounded like a little girl screaming and crying. When she confronted the man about the sounds, the Drifter claimed it was simply his daughter, he was punishing her for running away again. Upon further investigation, the female later discovered the girl's underwear in the Drifter’s closet. This caused great panic, the female friend took her own daughter and immediately moved out. Unfortunately she never reported her findings to the authorities. When told this new information, the investigators postulated as to whether or not the girl in the basement could have been Stephanie Crane. The timing was right and Nampa is roughly 206 miles from Challis, which is about a 4 hour drive. The investigator’s quickly found the Drifter and it was uncovered that he had a criminal background- which included sexual abuse in the third degree. When brought in for questioning, he was given a polygraph and failed. A search warrant was then executed and a thorough search was done of the house and the basement. Unfortunately, the blood and fibers that were found were degraded- given the fact that 7+ years had passed since the time of Stephanie Crane’s abduction. It was found that the bloodstains were either human or animal, but the hair fibers were human. However, dna was not able to be obtained. Sadly this does not end with justice for Stephanie Crane, but the reason the authorities will not release the “Drifter’s” name is because he is still an active suspect in this case. So listener’s have hope that one day one or both of these brave girls will have justice.

For Stephanie Crane, the family still hopes for information leading to what happened to this sweet girl 27 years ago. Sadly Stephanie’s parents; Sandi and Ben Crane have both since passed away. Sandi passed in 1997 and Ben Crane passed in 2012, tragically never knowing what happened to their sweet, freckle faced girl. Stephanie’s grandmother; Hazel still lives and resides in Challis, Idaho; hoping one day her granddaughter will return home. In 2018 Hazel gave a statement to the Post Register stating, “It’s more like a slice with a razor than a tearing hurt. It’s a loss we’re not going to get over. After 25 years, you think it’s probably not going to be solved. For a long time every hunting season I thought, ‘Well, maybe this year maybe someone will find something.’ Do I think she is out there, I don’t know, I must subconsciously. Maybe not knowing about Stephanie’s fate is God’s best answer for the family.” As of today Stephanie Lyn Crane would be just a few weeks away from her 36th birthday.

For Amber Hoopes, no further evidence has been found leading to her abductor or whereabouts. Her family still hopes and prays for her safe return or any information regarding her disappearance. In light of her disappearance, Idaho Falls officially designated September 14th as “Missing Persons” day in remembrance of Amber. As of today, Amber Hoopes would be just shy of her 39th birthday.

There is a reward of $50,000 for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of any persons involved in Stephanie Crane’s abduction. If you have any information please call the Custer County Sheriff’s office at 208-879-2232.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Amber Hoopes please contact Bonneville County Sheriff’s office at 208-529-1200.

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