Family Still Desperate For Answers 43 Years After Young Wyoming Mother Vanished

Amber Elizabeth Scholz was 19 when she loaded up her car and infant son and headed from Ohio to Wyoming in 1979. 

Her parents stood by helplessly as their daughter set off on the roughly 1,450-mile drive to parts unknown with only a paper map to guide her. 

Despite their pleas and concerns, Scholz was determined to follow the man she loved, John Burkhardt, who had recently moved to Rock Springs. They warned her that things might fall apart, leaving the young mother to fend on her own in a strange city.

Turned out, they were right. 

Once in their new Wyoming home, the relationship quickly unraveled as Scholz moved out and the couple became mired in a bitter custody fight for their son, Lance.  

Then, Scholz mysteriously vanished.

Less than two years after moving to Wyoming, Scholz, then 21, disappeared from her apartment in the early morning hours of Nov. 8, 1981, after spending the evening at a party with friends. 

The friends had escorted Scholz home around 3:30 a.m., which was the last time she was seen.  

Inside her home at the Plaza Court Apartments on Dewar Drive, there were no signs of struggle. All of her essential belongings — coat, purse, eyeglasses, wallet and an uncashed paycheck — were left in the kitchen where she appeared to have been preparing a monthly budget when she abruptly left.

The couple’s son, Lance, had been with Burkhardt that night, according to Scholz’s younger sister, Roberta “Bobbie” Lenhof. 

Foul play is suspected, said Cmdr. Amanda Salazar of the Rock Spring Police Department, and Burkhardt remains a primary person of interest 43 years later.

Salazar was the detective on her case prior to Det. Jennifer Saloga taking it over.

Along with renewed efforts to find Scholz, Saloga is also taking a fresh look at the unsolved murder of Davida Peterson, who was shot and later died while working at a propane store and gas station in Rock Springs in 1999. 

Renewed Efforts

Lenhof is under no delusion that her sister is still alive, she told Cowboy State Daily from her home in Ohio on Friday. But she’s never stopped thinking about her and wants to bring her home. 

Both of their parents have since died after years of anguish over their missing daughter, Lenhof said, and she and their oldest sister, Diane, have done everything they can to attempt to get answers.

The Rock Springs Police have likewise worked hard on Scholz’s case, Salazar said, as Saloga prepares to take a fresh look at the several binders’ worth of witness statements and other information. 

The last significant effort on the case was in 2012, when Salazar and another detective flew to Ohio to interview the Scholz family, and Burkhardt and Lance, who had since returned there. 

The detectives took DNA swabs from Scholz’s mother and sisters and attempted to interview Burkhardt. He gave “good indicators” to support being a suspect before getting an attorney, Salazar said, thus shutting the interview down.

They also tracked down and interviewed Lance, who was also eager for answers, she said.

At the time of Scholz’s disappearance, the couple were in a court battle for custodial arrangements of Lance, then 2, that Lenhof said was contentious.

Prior to Scholz moving out of Burkhardt’s home, there were indicators of domestic violence, according to conversations she had with her sister, Lenhof said. No official charges were ever documented. 

Cowboy State Daily was unable to reach Burkhardt or Lance for comment.  

Other Leads

At the time she disappeared, Scholz was working for a cleaning company, and was described by friends and her employer as hard-working, responsible and a doting mother to her son, Salazar said. 

Along with witness interviews, some items in Scholz’s apartment were tested for fingerprints but nothing came back of interest, according to Salazar.

There was one promising lead about some suspicious interactions of a former boss of Scholz, but again Salazar said it was a false lead that went nowhere.

With little to go on, Saloga plans to review the file and begin reinterviewing witnesses to see if any new tips or clues emerge all these years later.

“We haven’t by any means closed this case,” Salazar said. “And we will continue trying to get answers for this family.”

Without a body or crime scene, however, police hope that some new lead or person comes forward.  

Back In Ohio

Lenhof can’t remember how her older sister met Burkhardt, but only remembers Scholz bringing him over to the family home. 

Lenhof described him as a “big, huge guy” who looked intimidating but also seemed charming and kind at first when you met him, she said.

“He didn’t seem to be an overbearing person,” she said, though she later heard others describe him as “a bully.”

Over the years, Burkhardt sent annual photos of Lance to the family, showing him at meals or opening presents they’d sent, but that was their only interaction until Burkhardt and Lance returned to Ohio when Lance was in his early teens. 

Burkhardt had moved home to live with his mother in a small town near Lenhof’s home. She was able to track the boy down at Burkhardt’s mother’s house, which led to the two meeting in person.

“The first thing out of his mouth was, ‘Where is my mom,’” Lenhof said. “I told him, ‘Sweetheart, I would love to answer that question for you, but I really can’t.’”

She thinks his mom is with Jesus, Lenhof ultimately told the teen. 

The one thing she’s sure of, she further told him, is that his mother would never have left him on purpose.

“She lived for that boy,” Lenhof said. “I told him his mother loved him greatly and would do anything for him and was doing everything in her power to make her life better.”

This included a new well-paying job and her own apartment, Lenhof said, and leaving Burkhardt.

Ironically, years later Burkhardt lost custody of Lance, who ended up moved in with Lenhof, who took over custody. Lance lived with her and her sons until he moved out at age 18.

He’s doing well today, she said of her nephew, and is married with a good job and lives about two hours away from her in Ohio. 

She’s had no contact with Burkhardt.

What Next?

Now 43 years removed from when her sister vanished, Lenhof still gets emotional talking about the veil of grief her sister’s disappearance had on the family.

A retired ER nurse who is now on disability, Lenhof said she still gets emotional when she thinks of her sister and what might have happened to her.

The night she went missing, Lenhof said she woke up from a nightmare and immediately thought something was wrong with her sister. She begged her mom to let her call her long-distance, but her mother talked her down and said Scholz was fine and that they’d wait for her weekly phone call.

A few days later, the family received a concerned call from Scholz’s employer because she hadn’t turned up for work. They tried calling Scholz, but she didn’t answer and her father reported her missing.

The loss devastated the family, Lenhof said, but her father had to keep going to work to support the family. 

Over the years, she has reached out to multiple missing person search groups for help and has kept in contact with police detectives. She even saw a psychic at a friend’s urging who told her that Scholz is at the bottom of an abandoned mine somewhere off a desolate road near an old barn.

Though it’s not much to go on, it brought to mind a photograph Lenhof said her sister sent from Wyoming when she and Burkhardt had gone skiing. In the photo, her sister had taken a fall and lay on her back in the snow with her hands and legs up in the air.

This is how she pictures her sister in death, and it’s a hard image to shake, she said.

Lenhof said she’s not sure if she’ll ever know what happened or if justice will be served, but she’s not going to stop searching for her sister.

“I would never stop,” she said. “I would never give up. I just don’t know who you reach out to anymore.” 

She described her sister as fiercely protective and kind, a loving and loyal sister, and an amazing mom.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Rock Springs Police Department at: 307-352-1581.

Others Still Missing

Amber Scholz remains the only missing person for the Rock Springs Police Department, but others are still missing within the county. 

Along with Scholz, there are seven other missing people dating back to 1980 and as recent as last month, according to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s missing person database. 

Most recently, 17-year-old Mischa Averle Johannessen disappeared Nov. 6 and has been missing for more than a month. No information was given as to the circumstances under which she went missing.

Also missing is Terry Meador, whose empty vehicle was discovered in the Sage Creek hunting area in 2018, as well as Kimberly Kay Novak, who disappeared in 1992. 

Others are Clifford Haux, David Fantin, David Vernon Lovely and David Williams, who was last seen in Sweetwater County in November 1980. 

Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.