Amber Lynn Wilde

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Green Bay Police Department (WI)

Missing From:

Green Bay, WI

Summary:

Amber Wilde was 19 years old and six months pregnant when she was last seen in Green Bay, Wisconsin on September 23, 1998. She last spoke to her family after getting into a minor car accident, and the other person involved in the crash called her apartment that evening to work out damages. More than a week after her disappearance, her car, a dark gray 1988 Subaru GL, was discovered unlocked and abandoned in the parking lot of a sports bar near Lambeau Field with 900 unexplained miles on the odometer. No one has been charged in her disappearance, but her case is being investigated as a homicide.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On September 23, 1998, Amber Wilde called her father about a minor car accident that morning where she hit her head on the windshield and had a headache afterwards. The other person involved in the crash called Wilde's apartment in the 2000 block of August Street that evening to work out damages. Wilde had class at 1:00 p.m. the next day. Her father, who lived in Mayville, Wisconsin, called his daughter to wake her up for her class but received no answer. She also missed a scheduled eye doctor's appointment and other obligations, which is uncharacteristic of her. Her father drove to Green Bay and found Wilde's apartment locked. He then reported her missing. More than a week after Wilde's disappearance, her car, a dark gray four-door 1988 Subaru GL with license plate number X5725T, was discovered unlocked and abandoned in the parking lot of a sports bar in Green Bay near Lambeau Field. Her purse and cellular phone were locked inside the trunk of the Subaru, and the car keys were in the ignition. The driver's seat was pushed all the way back, indicating someone taller than Wilde was the last person to drive the vehicle.

Additional Details:

Wilde had told her aunt and godmother that Schneider, whom she met at a party in May 1998, had denied paternity. He was engaged to marry another woman at the time Wilde's baby was conceived and he didn't want his fiancée to find out about her pregnancy. About a month before her disappearance, Wilde told Schneider's fiancée and his mother that she was pregnant with his child. According to entries in Wilde's diary, Schneider was furious after he found out she spoke to his fiancée, and he had pressured her to have an abortion, but she refused. He later told police he barely knew her and that they had never had sex, but his phone records showed they had had about sixty phone conversations back and forth, and Wilde's family said they saw each other for approximately four months. Police stated Schneider showed no apparent concern for Wilde's welfare after her disappearance. In 2016, authorities named Matthew John Schneider, the father of her unborn child, as a suspect in her case. Graf and Kingston believe more than one person is responsible for Amber's disappearance. The Wilde family began running frequent missing-person ads in local newspapers and established the Find Amber Lynn Wilde Fund to raise additional resources for her ongoing search. When one month passed, Amber's family hired a private investigator to aid police. Penny Bell, a Milwaukee detective, brought her trail-seeking bloodhound, Hoover, to Green Bay to look for clues near Amber's apartment and the tavern where her car was located. In both areas, Hoover found no scent or trail leading to evidence. Despite multiple searches, including a search of a 30-acre site in Portage County in November 2014 and multiple searches in the Shawano area, police have never found a trace of her. In 2017, the FBI's behavioral analysis unit got involved in Wilde's case. But 25 years later, it remains unsolved. Green Bay police say the investigation is still active. Anyone with information can call the department at (920) 448-3200.

Case Last Updated:

May 31, 2026