'Vanished on Loop Road': Amy Wroe Bechtel's disappearance remains a mystery nearly 30 years later
New evidence may lead to answers in the Wyoming woman's 1997 disappearance.
On July 25, 1997, Amy Wroe Bechtel left for her usual early afternoon run near Lander, Wyoming, and never returned.
The 24-year-old's disappearance in Shoshone National Forest has left her family desperate for answers for nearly three decades.
Host Kara Robinson Chamberlain, a true crime influencer, kidnapping survivor and former law enforcement officer, went to Wyoming to uncover more about Amy's disappearance by investigating new evidence.
The seventh episode of "Somebody Knows Something," "Vanished on Loop Road," premieres Monday, Sept. 14, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Freeform, and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
Chamberlain went to Powell, Wyoming, Amy's hometown, to meet with her mother and tight-knit siblings to learn more about the day she vanished.
The family learned of her disappearance after a call from Steve Bechtel, Amy's husband, to inquire about her whereabouts around 10 p.m. that day.
Casey Lee, Amy's sister, recalled that "within 30 minutes, in the middle of the night, we were all on the road."
When they arrived in Lander, law enforcement was already on the case.
"At night, there aren't any lights out there. It's just pitch black. There are a lot of dangers in the Shoshone National Forest. But, two deputies, and her husband Steve and his friends were searching the area," Detective Sarah Lowe told Chamberlain.
When a friend of Steve located Amy's car off the Loop Road in Sinks Canyon with seemingly everything in place, law enforcement thought they were looking for an injured runner.
"But as time went on, there were growing concerns," Detective Wesley Barry told Chamberlain.
Within days, law enforcement turned the search for Amy into a criminal investigation. They also located journal entries from Steve when searching their home.
"I've read them, and they were very, very specifically about my sister, and were extremely disturbing. And misogynistic, hateful, violent writings," Nels Wroe, Amy's brother, told Chamberlain.
Detective Barry agreed that the family was "justified to be concerned" about the journals. He noted that "it's hard to say this is exactly what this person meant."
They family also recalled seeing what looked like finger mark bruises on Amy's arm, which they believed were caused by Steve.
"I trust that they saw a mark on her arm. But there's no known domestic violence history," Detective Anthony Armstrong told Chamberlain.
When a reporter asked Steve about Amy's disappearance, he denied any involvement
"No, of course not," he said. "There's nothing that can be worse than wondering if I'll ever see her again."
Detective Armstrong told Chamberlain that authorities don't consider Steve a suspect.
"But he's still a person of interest until we get evidence to take him completely off," he said. "I don't want to get tunnel-visioned. We have to make sure that we're staying focused."
Police and the family were also concerned about several men that were known for hanging around Amy.
Casey Lee, Amy's sister, told Chamberlain that Amy "definitely had a following of young men who may have wanted relationships that Amy didn't want."
Chamberlain took a trip to Amy and Steve's house in Lander to meet with Detective Armstrong to learn more about one man in particular that raised massive concerns with law enforcement.
"There was a gentleman that had come from Laramie and moved to the area, actually moved to the end of the block here," Detective Armstrong said. "He was a little too interested in Amy."
Nels Wroe said that the man "radically misrepresented his relationship" with him by telling the police that the two of them were best friends, which her brother says wasn't true.
Detective Barry told Chamberlain this raised many red flags for the investigative team.
"If he's willing to lie about this, is he willing to lie about his involvement with Amy?" he said.
Detective Barry also mentioned recovering "some items" after searching the man's house, but couldn't make any further comment due to the active investigation on this person of interest.
That's when Chamberlain was hit with a bombshell -- a new lead that may link Amy's disappearance to convicted killer Dale Wayne Eaton, whom some believe to be responsible for some of the Great Basin Murders -- a series of killings of women committed between 1983 and 1997 in Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and Idaho.
Eaton was convicted in 2004 of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, aggravated kidnapping. aggravated robbery and first degree sexual assault in the 1988 death of Lisa Marie Kimmell. He was Wyoming's only person on death row until federal appeals court ruled in 2014 that Eaton hadn't received appropriate representation. After he filed a federal habeas corpus petition, his death sentence was thrown out.
Eaton was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole or commutation on the count of first-degree premeditated murder, followed by sentences of 40 to 50 years for three counts of felony murder to be served consecutively. He received 20 to 25 years on counts of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and first-degree sexual assault to be served concurrently.
Chamberlain went to Waltman Ranch, where Eaton had been staying at the time of Amy's disappearance, to meet with Tracy Sve and her family and learn more about their allegations.
Discussing Eaton in an exclusive interview, Sve told Chamberlain that "in the years that he lived here, there would have been a lot of potential victims. And we think Dale buried the bodies."
This suspicion prompted Sve to search Eaton's vehicle in 2012. There, she found a pair of his boots.
"In the toe of the boot, he had a receipt for gas near Lander, close to where Amy was jogging," she told Chamberlain.
Another discovery led Sve to believe Eaton was linked to the other killings.
"And he had four little newspaper articles, tore out on the corner so you could see the date. And I took those dates and just searched the Great Basin Killer ... And they were very close to dates that other women went missing." she added.
Sve said she was able to recover bones that were buried under his vehicle, and she handed them over to the FBI.
"I hope that they find her, and I hope that she's returned to her family," she told Chamberlain.
FBI wouldn't comment about the identity of the bones or plans to search Sve's property
The Wroe family has endured nearly three decades without knowing what really happened to Amy, but they're still determined to find answers.
"Amy wouldn't give up on me ever. I'm not giving up on her," Nels Wroe told Chamberlain.
For additional reporting and discussion about the cases, join us live on the "Somebody Knows Something" YouTube Channel.
Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the Fremont County Sheriff's Office at 307-332-5611.
Related Topics
Popular Reads
ABC News Live