Amber’s murder case was grossly mishandled in the beginning, but that’s only because the end of her life had been mishandled as well. Though Amber had left the youth shelter she had been living for more than 2 weeks prior to the discovery of her body, the shelter didn’t report her missing until 5 weeks later. As a result, Amber’s body was not identified initially and she was buried as Jane Doe in a casket donated by a local man. In an act of kindness, 100 strangers who were locals showed up to her funeral and sheriff’s deputies acted as pallbearers. She wouldn’t be identified until one year later.

More than one year after her body was discovered, Robert Creek was watching TV when he saw that his daughter was featured on America’s Most Wanted. He knew then that his daughter was dead. At the same time, investigators were still sifting through over a thousand missing person files and had begun to hone in on Amber Creek. It was at this time that Amber was reburied under a headstone bearing her real name.