Overview

Date Last Seen: September 29, 1996 (some official records list September 26, 1996 due to longstanding discrepancies in reporting)
Last Seen Location: Bethel, Alaska

Main Circumstances

• Seventeen-year-old Stella Anastasia Evon was unable to get into her grandmother’s home after returning from a night out.
• A Bethel police officer attempted to wake her grandmother, then drove Stella to her sister’s apartment around 4:30 a.m.
• Stella left her sister’s apartment on foot between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. to walk home.
• She has never been seen again.
• Investigators believe her disappearance is suspicious, and the case remains unsolved.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Stella Anastasia Evon Disappearance (1996): Case Summary, Timeline, and Latest Investigation Information

Brief Summary

Date Last Seen: September 29, 1996 (some official records list September 26, 1996 due to longstanding discrepancies in reporting)
Last Seen Location: Bethel, Alaska

Main Circumstances

• Seventeen-year-old Stella Anastasia Evon was unable to get into her grandmother’s home after returning from a night out.
• A Bethel police officer attempted to wake her grandmother, then drove Stella to her sister’s apartment around 4:30 a.m.
• Stella left her sister’s apartment on foot between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. to walk home.
• She has never been seen again.
• Investigators believe her disappearance is suspicious, and the case remains unsolved.

Stella Anastasia Evon Disappearance: What Happened to the Alaska Teen Who Vanished After a Police Officer Dropped Her Off?

On a cold early autumn morning in 1996, 17-year-old Stella Anastasia Evon disappeared while walking home through Bethel, Alaska. Nearly three decades later, investigators still do not know what happened to the Yup’ik teenager, whose case has become one of Alaska’s most well-known missing Indigenous persons investigations.

Stella was born on February 11, 1979, and lived in Bethel with her family. Friends and relatives described her as caring, outgoing, and deeply connected to her family.

The Night Stella Disappeared

During the evening of September 28, 1996, Stella spent time with friends in Bethel.

In the early morning hours, she returned to her grandmother’s home but discovered the door was locked. Unable to wake her grandmother, Stella crossed the street to the nearby Bethel Police Department for assistance.

An officer attempted to wake her grandmother without success. Rather than leave Stella outside, the officer drove her approximately 2.5 miles to her older sister’s apartment, arriving around 4:30 a.m.

According to investigators, Stella stayed only a short time before deciding to walk back home after believing her grandmother would now be awake.

Her sister watched Stella leave between approximately 5:00 and 6:00 a.m.

That was the last confirmed sighting of Stella Anastasia Evon.

Investigation

Authorities quickly determined Stella was missing under suspicious circumstances rather than a runaway.

Despite searches and investigative efforts, no physical evidence explaining her disappearance has ever been publicly disclosed.

Over the years, investigators have suggested she may have remained somewhere within the Bethel area or possibly traveled to Anchorage, but no verified sightings have ever been confirmed.

Like many long-term missing Indigenous persons cases in Alaska, the investigation has faced significant challenges due to limited evidence, the passage of time, and the absence of witnesses willing or able to provide information.

Latest Investigation Information

Stella’s disappearance remains an active missing person investigation.

Her case continues to be listed by:

• NamUs
• The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
• Alaska law enforcement
• Multiple national missing persons organizations

No arrests have been announced, and no suspect has been publicly identified.

Investigators continue to encourage anyone with information—even details that may have seemed insignificant in 1996—to contact law enforcement. Stella’s case has received renewed public attention in recent years through Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) awareness efforts, helping keep the investigation in the public eye.