The Haunting Disappearance of Stephanie Crane

The 9-year-old vanished from a small Idaho town while walking home from a bowling alley in 1993.

Jenn Baxter
16 min readJul 19, 2022

--

Stephanie Crane (Photo credit: charleyproject.org)

When the dismissal bell rang at Challis Elementary School on the afternoon of Monday, October 11, 1993, 9-year-old Stephanie Crane and some of her classmates walked down the street to Challis Lanes, where they participated in a weekly bowling league. Her mother, Sandi Crane, met her there around 4:00 pm and gave her money to buy a snack; Stephanie promised she would go straight home once she was done bowling. She and her friends spent the next hour or so bowling a few games and ordering food from the snack bar. By 4:45 pm, all of the children had finished bowling and started to go their separate ways.

The mother of one of Stephanie’s classmates saw her walking through the parking lot and asked if she needed a ride, but Stephanie told her she was fine. The 9-year-old was used to walking; her home was just 500 yards away from the bowling alley. She had to cross a small creek to get there, and when her friend’s mother last saw her, Stephanie was headed towards the small footbridge that led over Garden Creek.

Stephanie’s best friend, Brandi Bennetts, had been picked up at the bowling alley by her mother. As they pulled out of the parking lot, they noticed…

--

--

Jenn Baxter

Jenn is a lawyer-turned-author and true crime writer. She writes about missing persons, unsolved murders, and human rights. Her books are available on Amazon.