Stephanie Ann Claunch was a 13-year-old White girl from the Lawrenceburg area whose body was recovered from the Kentucky River on July 25, 2000, at Lock 5 in the stretch between Anderson and Woodford counties. Public notices initially described her death as an apparent drowning; the circumstances troubled people in the community and raised unresolved questions about how a familiar river and a summer day became fatal.

Investigators at the time linked her name in suspicion to Lawrenceburg resident Rodney Troy Bixler, who was later arrested on November 1, 2000, in connection with a series of brutal crimes. Bixler was never charged in Claunch’s death, and no arrest or courtroom resolution has been recorded tying him directly to her drowning.

Anyone who knew Stephanie, saw her that summer, or has information about the Lock 5 area on or before July 25, 2000, is asked to come forward.