Thirteen-year-old Amy Sue Pagnac disappeared from her stepfather's car outside a Holiday gas station in Osseo on August 5, 1989 — a vanishing that reached its 37th anniversary today. Amy and her stepfather, Marshall Midden, had spent the afternoon working at the family's organic farm in Isanti County before the car stopped in Osseo, just across the border from Maple Grove. She was never seen again, and Maple Grove Police marked the anniversary with a fresh public appeal for information.
In a Facebook post published today, the Maple Grove Police Department said it believes someone may still have information about what happened to Amy, and it is asking anyone who knew her — particularly those who have never spoken with investigators before — to come forward. The department said it remains committed to pursuing every lead in hopes of finally bringing resolution to Amy's family. Tips can be directed to Detective Missy Parker at 763-494-6206 or by email at [email protected].
No Witnesses, No Preserved Evidence
Police have long acknowledged a fundamental gap in the case: no independent witness ever confirmed seeing Amy at the Osseo gas station that day, and much of the early physical evidence from the scene was never preserved, according to KARE 11. Investigators relied heavily on Midden's account of that afternoon in the absence of corroborating witnesses or surveillance footage.
Amy suffered from a medical condition that caused seizures and could leave her disoriented, which initially led officers to consider whether she had wandered off or run away, per FOX 9. Police later formally ruled out the runaway scenario. Amy required daily medication for allergies and other medical conditions, a detail investigators have continued to weigh as they consider what might have happened that afternoon.
Investigators Dug Up Two Family Properties in 2014
The case's most visible break came nearly 25 years after Amy vanished, when investigators returned to the family's properties with shovels and sealed search warrants. In May 2014, Maple Grove Police, the FBI, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension executed a weeklong search of Amy's childhood home in Maple Grove, excavating the backyard with roughly 40 officers involved, according to CBS News. No charges or arrests resulted from that search.
The following month, the search widened to the family's rural organic farm in Stanchfield, in Isanti County, where crews excavated the property around the clock for days under another sealed warrant, MPR News reported. The property was owned by Amy's mother and stepfather. Neither dig produced a public breakthrough, though the scale of the excavation showed investigators viewed both family properties as potential crime scenes.
A Mother's Decades-Long Vigil
Amy's mother, Susan Pagnac, has maintained throughout the decades that her daughter was abducted and is still alive somewhere. She has chosen to remain in the same Maple Grove home with the same phone number in case Amy ever calls, and she has advocated alongside other missing-children organizations, according to FOX 9.
Amy's disappearance occurred just two months before the October 1989 abduction of 12-year-old Jacob Wetterling in St. Joseph, a case that reshaped state and national missing-children advocacy, as Bring Me The News has reported. The Wetterling case was resolved in 2016. Amy's case remains unsolved.
Cold Case Kept Active by Forensic Reviews
Maple Grove Police commanders said in August 2025 that Amy's case remains actively assigned to a detective who periodically re-evaluates evidence against emerging forensic technology and investigates incoming leads, according to CCX Media. Detectives also continue to re-interview people who had contact with Amy or her family in the years surrounding her disappearance. The department has used similar public appeals in other long-unsolved local cases, including a $15K reward hike in a decades-old hit-and-run that killed a local mother.
Minnesota law requires local police departments to immediately accept missing person reports regardless of jurisdiction and to coordinate with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for specialized cold-case support and statewide alerts, per the University of Minnesota Department of Public Safety. That framework, spelled out in Minn. Stat. § 299C.53, has underpinned the multi-agency cooperation seen throughout Amy's case for nearly four decades.
Amy's Description and How to Report Information
Official records from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System describe Amy as 5-foot to 5-foot-6 and 100 to 130 pounds, with brown shoulder-length hair, blue eyes, and distinct scars near her left eye, nose, and left knee, according to NamUs. Age-progression portraits are updated periodically by national centers, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which maintains a case page for Amy.
Anyone who wishes to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers of Minnesota at 1-800-222-8477 or submit a tip online through Crime Stoppers of Minnesota, which accepts anonymous information about Amy's disappearance. Maple Grove Police say every tip will be reviewed as they continue working to bring answers to Amy's family.
