Olympic marathon hopeful Amy Wroe Bechtel vanished 20 years ago and her case is still unsolved

Amy Wroe Bechtel was a 24-year-old Olympic Marathon hopeful when she went for a jog in 1997 — never to be seen again.

A graduate of the University of Wyoming — where she met her husband, rock climber Steve Bechtel — Amy had anticipated trying out for the US team for the 2000 Summer Olympics.

But on July 24, 1997, after apparently going for a run in the forest just outside Lander, Wyoming, she vanished.

Her husband reported her disappearance to police at 10pm that night, and a huge search got underway hours later. It was initially thought Amy — whose case features on new Investigation Discovery documentary Missing in the Mountains — may have been attacked by a bear or mountain lion. However police later started looking into her husband as a suspect.

He had an alibi for where he was at the time of his disappearance, with friends confirming he was rock climbing with them, but he refused to take a polygraph test.

He was quizzed by police not long after Amy’s disappearance after they found his journals included passages describing violence against women. But Steve later said these were song lyrics he had penned for his band.

Convicted murderer Dale Wayne Eaton has also been cited as a suspect, but no action was ever taken against him and the case remains unsolved. Steve declared Amy dead in absentia in 2004.

Missing in the Mountains airs tonight, Saturday December 2, at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.