BELLINGHAM — In the three decades since Amanda “Mandy” Stavik vanished while jogging near her Acme home in 1989, her murder has devastated those who knew her, gripped the public’s attention and frustrated law-enforcement officers as they searched for answers.
With the announcement earlier this month that an Everson man was arrested in connection with her rape and murder, those who knew Stavik or were connected to the case said they felt a surge of memories and emotions. Members of her immediate family have asked for privacy in the days following the arrest of Timothy Forrest Bass, 50, who at the time of Stavik’s slaying lived about a mile away on the same rural road off Highway 9.
“I knew that someday it would emerge who the perpetrator was,” said Jeff Margolis, owner of Everybody’s Store in nearby Van Zandt. His gas station, deli and general store is a gathering place for those in the close-knit South Fork Valley.
“It’s bittersweet,” he said. “And it’s not over yet. He has to be tried.”
A 1989 graduate of Mount Baker High, the 18-year-old Stavik was home on Thanksgiving break from her freshman year at Central Washington University. She went for a run on the Friday after the holiday and never returned.
Following an intense search, her unclothed body was found three days later along the south fork of the Nooksack River. She drowned, and she may have been alive when she was dumped into the south fork’s frigid water.
Described as a vivacious and gregarious young woman, Stavik played saxophone in band and was an honor student as well as an athlete and cheerleader. She played basketball and softball, and ran cross-country and track. Some 900 people attended her memorial service, and “Mandy’s Song” was recorded to raise money for an endowed scholarship in her name at Mount Baker High.
“I just remember her as a big presence in the band room, a leader,” said her former teacher Doug Sutton, who’s in his 36th year as band director at Mount Baker.
“She was a high achiever,” he said. “She wanted to do well in everything she did. She had it all going for her; she had a bright future ahead of her.”
Many current and former local residents took to social media with references to Stavik when the story of Bass’s arrest broke Dec. 13.
“This has been a small raw spot in my heart for years,” said Amber Dawn, formerly of Acme, on Facebook. “I think that I was in seventh grade at Mount Baker when this happened in my home town. Mandy had just graduated and so I had never met her but this event opened my eyes to the ugliness and evil in the world. Mandy’s mom, Mary, was my bus driver … .”
Vicki Haggen of Bellingham is among the many local residents who have been haunted by the case. Stavik worked for Haggen at the Whatcom Family YMCA.
“A horrible thing,” Haggen said via Facebook Messenger. “This case has personally plagued me for years. The shock and tragedy of it hit us all hard. We see things like this on TV or in the news, but when it’s someone you know, there is a painful hole created that can’t be filled. She was an amazing young woman with a great future that was taken away by a sick, demented animal. I’m grateful to those dedicated to finding her killer, but it will never make sense.”
