A girl, 18, made some
mistakes. She got wrapped up in the wrong crowd. Court documents in a
former boyfriend's case implicated her in a robbery. Later, she was
charged and convicted in a case related to car theft.
In order to turn her
life around, she would have to make some big changes. Amanda Vanscyoc
was this girl. She signed up to be a narcotics informant for the police.
She got a job at Schnuck's, according to her stepfather. Her mother
said that she was really trying.
On November 9, 2001,
Amanda's mother, Linda Warner, said that she was leaving for work and
decided to make sure that Amanda was up and moving. That day Amanda was
expected to appear for her second interview at the local Walmart. This
is the last time that Amanda was seen alive.
A few hours after Linda
had left for work, she decided to call home to make sure that Amanda had
left for her interview. There was no answer, so she assumed her
daughter had made the interview. This unanswered phone call raises some
questions, which I will address later.
That evening, Amanda
never came home. Linda Warner confessed her fears to her husband, John
Warner, who was Amanda's stepfather. They decided to not report her
disappearance to police because her not returning home would be a
violation of her probation.
On November 13, 2001,
earlier in the day police were called to an area located near the Ohio
River. The area was known for drug activity. The officers that arrived
completed their activities in the area and nothing looked suspicious.
The location in question is located somewhere in the highlighted area.
Later that same day,
police receive a phone call of a body found by deer hunters in the same
area. Officers returned to the location and the body of a Caucasian
female was found covered with a rug. The body was confirmed to be that
of Amanda Lee Vanscyoc. She was nude. Her clothing and her purse would
later be found at home, where she lived with her mother and stepfather.
The area in which her body was found would later be called "the rat's
nest" due to Amanda's status as an informant.
Investigation revealed
at the body had been moved to the location where it had been found and
that she had been dead for at least three days before she was found.
Upon examination,
investigators found DNA on her remains. The DNA was semen, which would
later be confirmed to be that of John Warner, Amanda's stepfather. In
order for the DNA to be found in the way that it had been meant that it
had come into contact with Amanda's body shortly before her death and
had not been wiped off.
Amanda's stepfather
initially denied having any knowledge of how the DNA ended up on
Amanda's remains. His wife, Amanda's own mother, continued to stand by
him. Later, he admitted to having a sexual relationship with the
stepdaughter.
When asked about it,
Linda Warner said "I have no question that that is a possibility, but
why does that make him a killer?" This is odd to me considering that
both of Amanda's parents claim that they were told by police that the
stepfather failed a polygraph that was taken in regards to Amanda's
murder. Linda Warner's support of her husband under such circumstances
seems questionable to me.
Brad Vanscyoc, Amanda's
father, believes that the stepfather was guilty of the murder. He and
Linda Warner fight like cats and dogs about the murder of their daughter
and death threats have been made multiple times during these arguments.
While investigating,
police quickly began to look at the stepfather as a suspect. H e would
later die in a car accident, but the mother would take his side over and
over again. On the day of the murder, he allegedly had been home all
day with no witnesses. If he had been home, why hadn't he answered the
phone when Linda Warner had called after being at work for a few hours?
Investigators don't
believe that Amanda's status as an informant had anything to do with her
death for two reasons. Firstly, she openly told people she was an
informant and as a result nobody would talk to her. Secondly, Amanda
never gave the police any information. She really didn't have any
information that anyone else didn't already have.
In 2002, Warrick County
Sheriff Bruce Hargrave requested the federal satellite footage of the
region from November 9, 2001. He was hoping that the imagery would be
able to see whether or not the suspect's vehicle had left his home on
the day in question. The home in question is approximately 75 miles from
a military base, so it is more likely that something might have been
caught. A satellite expert said that it was far fetched. Hargrave said
that he didn't believe he would actually get the images that he
requested, but he didn't want to leave any possibility unchecked.
No new information has
been made available in this case. Anyone with any information that can
account for the days between Amanda's remains being found and her
disappearance, is asked to use the following information to contact
police.
Indiana State Police
District Investigative Commander
19411 Highway 41 North
Evansville, IN 47725
1-812-867-2079 or 1-800-852-3970
District Investigative Commander
19411 Highway 41 North
Evansville, IN 47725
1-812-867-2079 or 1-800-852-3970
________________________Source_______________________
"Murdered Teen had
Agreed to Work as a Police Informant." Associated Press. November 16,
2001. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/148659887/
"The Future of
Satellites and Forensics." Amanda Onion. ABC News. February 26, 2002.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98076&page=1
"Unsolved Murder: Amanda Vanscyoc." 14 News WFIE. http://www.14news.com/story/8256644/unsolved-murder-amanda-vanscyoc
"Warrick Officials Say
Slain Teen Had Signed On as a Drug Informant." Evansville Courier.
November 16, 2001.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1923/a07.html?7861
"5 Evansville Area Cold
Cases You Could Help to Solve." Ryan O'Bryan. 106.1 KISS FM. 2017.
http://1061evansville.com/5-evansville-area-cold-cases-you-could-help-solve/
Maps created using Google Maps.
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