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Thirty years ago to the day, Amy and Scott Fandel went missing from their home in Sterling.

Amy was a blond-haired, brown-eyed 8-year-old and Scott, who was 13, had brown hair and blue eyes at the time of their disappearance. The two were last seen at their trailer home on Sept. 5, 1978.

That case remains unsolved, and while abductions on the peninsula are rare, there are a few things people should know in the event a child goes missing.

"Children will more often than not, if they walk away or ride their bike away from their house, it will be to somewhere that attracts them," said Kenai Police Lt. Kim Wannamaker. "Be it a friend, a berry patch, a hiding place, somewhere to play, or something that draws their attention."

Parents or guardians should first conduct a search of the immediate area once they discover their child is missing, Wannamaker said. If unsuccessful, the police should be notified.

The closest patrol officer is sent first to the scene to assess the situation. The child's description is documented and the distance the child could have traveled is estimated based on their last known location and time of disappearance. "Normally if they do a real quick sweep of the house and they can't come up with the child, everybody goes," Wannamaker said.

"If we do a search of an area and we're coming up empty-handed, pretty quickly in the process we'll notify other law enforcement agencies," he said. Neighbors, too, can be asked to assist with the search.

"When we notify other law enforcement or public safety agencies, then we'll coordinate an area and make specific assignments for who is covering what. All the reasonable areas or all the areas that are close by the last known location are searched," he said. "Nobody is assuming that somebody else has searched there or looked there, then we expand from there."

During the summer months, Wannamaker said the KPD receives many calls for missing children. With school out of session, kids are out socializing with friends and fail to check in with their parents. Unaccounted for children and teenage runaways make up the majority of missing-children cases, he said.

In his 19 years with the KPD, Wannamaker said he's never been involved in a child abduction case.

"It's a small enough community and tight enough community that everybody knows everybody and everybody usually knows where children are supposed to be, whose children belong where and to who.

"There's good community involvement, good neighborhood involvement, and just everybody looking out for everybody else," he said.

If a child does wander away and discovers they can't find their way back, the child should continue in one direction until they run into a road or trail, Wannamaker said. The child should also try yelling to determine whether someone is within earshot.

"A lot of it just falls on the responsibility of the parents to know where your kids are, where they're supposed to be, know who their friends are," he said.

Mike Nesper can be reached at mike.nesper@peninsulaclarion.com.