OH OH - Amy Mihaljevic, 10, Bay Village, 27 Oct 1989

[:+:MrTT:+:]

Where Have I seen those glasses before?

If the mother was here one question I would ask her is if Amy had her work number memorized, or if the killer supplied the change and gave her the number or called the number himself and gave her the phone at the bask in Robbins lot? I assumed there was is a payphone at the time in the lot.

He had her call because of this from Bessies link.

Margaret drove to the school to find Amy's bike still leaning in the rack. Then she bolted to the police station. Though Amy had been missing for only a couple of hours, her disappearance was immediately treated as an abduction, her description called in to cruisers and passed along to surrounding communities.

Either he had working knowledge of LEOs response to a missing child or there was a publicized announcement about changes back then concerning missing children. It was enough of a concerned he had her call her Mom at work. To give him that extra one or two hours before the police and public were notified of a possible abduction. The killer knew she was schedule to be home around that time, so notifying the mother and not the father or anyone at home was a priority in his mind.

He got her phone number from the fliers her and her friend put out in the neighborhood about baby setting.

I was under the impression the mother worked as a bar tender or waitress in a bar/restaurant which would have explain how her knew about her other job and or family things. Such as brother, school, the so called promotion. etc etc. But I read she worked for a magazine?

My question for a LEO.
No one in the neighborhood at the time owned the typed of vehicle you were looking for after finding the fiber on Amy clothing??......No one in the area where Amy was found did not own that particular model you were looking for?

And make another composite with and without the glasses but put a bald spot on top of the head. Make it with just a little bit of hair up around the ears.

 

[bessie]

:+:MrTT:+:, her poor mom had a drinking problem, so maybe somehow that's what you remembered. At 10, I'd think Amy knew her mom's work number. And he probably did have her call from the B&R lot, or somewhere nearby. LE only could tell that it was a local call. So the monster won Amy's trust by allowing her to call her mother, but then told her to lie, or just not to say where she was (as part of the surprise), and Mrs. M assumed she was home. Had she only known, the search would have begun much sooner. It's bad enough when a perp snatches a child, but this one used Amy's love for her mom to trick her. What a filthy animal!

 

[PastTense]

BAY VILLAGE, Ohio -- On the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of Amy Mihaljevic, authorities are shifting their focus in hopes of unearthing new details.

Investigators are now asking for friends and acquaintances of the 10-year-old Bay Village girl's late mother Margaret McNulty to come forward, Cleveland FBI spokeswoman Special Agent Vicki Anderson said.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/10/amy_mihaljevic_investigation_s.html

 

[bessie]

LE now says the sketch might be misleading. Imagine if Amy's murder went unsolved all these years because someone got the description wrong. It certainly makes sense that the murder was a family friend, though.

FBI 216-512-1400

Bay Village PD 440-871-1234

 

[SquidFarts]

I have a question for all of you more experienced at this. I ran across this case randomly today and I'm left feeling extremely uneasy because of the reports of odd phone calls made to other girls. In the late 80's I was an early elementary student just a few miles from there. I received multiple creepy phone calls from a man attempting to get info about me so he could tell me stories in which I was the main character (luckily my mom was nearby, heard this happening, and hung up on him). He once called and didn't really say much. When I became uncomfortable and attempted to pass him off to my mom he weirdly insisted I was the one he wanted to speak to. Creeped out, I hung up on him. He called back and became agitated when my mom picked up, yelling, "where did you go?!"

I have no idea if this information is at all relevant or useful, and I don't want to clog up any lines if it isn't, but I'm sitting here just feeling nauseated. That man was so creepy. I always assumed it was a random creeper, but the multiple phone calls sounded very targeted even at the time.

 

[kemo]

This is an interesting case that for whatever reasons,has not received that much W/s attention. A child was abducted an later found murdered. There were a number of POIs identified but none really panned out. Years later a POI was identified that seemed to be a much better suspect but the evidence wasn't sufficient to prosecute. The evidence was certainly enough to raise an eyebrow and justify a through investigation.

The evidence against this guy (I will call him DR) is that he was a dead ringer for the composite; or at least one of the composite drawings and he grew up very close to where the body was found. This is pretty significant. Otherwise the suspect has not been linked to the child.

There are some avenues of investigation that must have been pursued and the results not disclosed. Male DNA was identified on the body. DR is alive and his whereabouts are know. Was DNA obtained? Presumably it did not match if it was. There is a good description of the abductor's vehicle and fibers from a vehicle interior were found on the the body. What vehicle did the suspect drive at the time? There is speculation as to how the suspect might have gotten Amy's name and phone number. A little shoe leather detective work should have been able to establish if this link between suspect and victim was real. Was it done and what were the results?

anyone have any information on this?

i certainly want this case solved and the guilty party prosecuted. I do not want a cloud of suspicion hanging over an innocent party. I think that when information is released that is very suggestive of that persons guilt but no arrest is forthcoming, I think there is a moral imperative to release whatever exonerating evidence is available.

 

[bessie]

This is an interesting case that for whatever reasons,has not received that much W/s attention. A child was abducted an later found murdered. There were a number of POIs identified but none really panned out. Years later a POI was identified that seemed to be a much better suspect but the evidence wasn't sufficient to prosecute. The evidence was certainly enough to raise an eyebrow and justify a through investigation.

The evidence against this guy (I will call him DR) is that he was a dead ringer for the composite; or at least one of the composite drawings and he grew up very close to where the body was found. This is pretty significant. Otherwise the suspect has not been linked to the child.

There are some avenues of investigation that must have been pursued and the results not disclosed. Male DNA was identified on the body. DR is alive and his whereabouts are know. Was DNA obtained? Presumably it did not match if it was. There is a good description of the abductor's vehicle and fibers from a vehicle interior were found on the the body. What vehicle did the suspect drive at the time? There is speculation as to how the suspect might have gotten Amy's name and phone number. A little shoe leather detective work should have been able to establish if this link between suspect and victim was real. Was it done and what were the results?

anyone have any information on this?

i certainly want this case solved and the guilty party prosecuted. I do not want a cloud of suspicion hanging over an innocent party. I think that when information is released that is very suggestive of that persons guilt but no arrest is forthcoming, I think there is a moral imperative to release whatever exonerating evidence is available.

From an article by James Renner in 2009:

Also not in his personnel file were the occasions when DR was caught alone with students in his gold-colored Grand Prix, by both the principal and a policeman, who let him go with a warning.

Gold-colored fibers were found on Amy's body, according to the Ashland County coroner's file on the case.

Runkle sold his gold Grand Prix in 1991. I attempted to locate it in hopes of taking a sample of carpet that could be compared to the gold fibers found on Amy. I tracked it to a junkyard in rural West Virginia, but when I got there in September, I was told it had been scrapped long ago.
http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/person-of-interest/Content?oid=1521263

Regarding DNA, this is from a 2005 article by Renner.

A break may be around the corner. DNA samples can now be compared to those in a national database of convicted felons that's maintained by the FBI. Last month, Spaetzel sent his evidence to be retested with new forensic equipment. He won't discuss specific details of the evidence in question.
http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/the-coldest-case/Content?oid=1491408

Apparently, the results were inconclusive. Regarding DR and DNA, according to Renner, LE has DR's DNA, but no fingerprints.

http://amymihaljevic.blogspot.com/2012/07/police-have-runkles-dna-but-not.html

More about DR at this link and at Renner's blog.

http://amymihaljevic.blogspot.com/s...d-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&max-results=7

 

[kemo]

Bessie,
I've been reading the blogspot and other sources and I can understand the frustration in this case.

In some was this has all the hallmarks of a case that can and will be solved. However, sometimes, the deeper you dig, LE less clear things become.

It is vexing that there are multiple suspects with such strong links to the case but it always seems to go that way in high profile cases. Of all of them, DR seems to be the strongest.

From what I can tell about the DNA, it is what is sometimes called "touch DNA" that was made available with PCR technology that was only developed for forensic uses in the last ten year. All biological samples and all clothing or other evidence recovered with the body would be carefully swabbed and each sample would be subjected to PCR to amplify any available genetic material. Any of this material identified as Amy's or her family's would be eliminated but any other generic material would be used as evidence. Apparently due to decay that occurred over the years, no standard DNA was found; only Mitochondrial DNA. Everyone's Mitochondrial DNA is the same as their mother's, her mother's her mother's etc. it has two big limitations: it is not recorded on any data base so it must be compared with the M-DNA of a known suspect. In addition, a match only means that the suspect or a relative, perhaps a very distant relative is the donned. It is not the smoking gun that a match of traditional DNA would be. Still, it would be significant it it matched along with other significant links to the victim(such as resemblance to the composite, living near the dump site etc). I would expect DR to have been arrested had it been a match, so it probably did not match.

This would not exclude DR as the perpetrator however because there is no way to be certain where the sample came from. Touch DNA might come from a First Responder, a forensic tech or even a playmate at school. Unknown touch DNA might not exonerate a suspect but it can be problematic for a jury.

The same situation seems to exist with the fibers. The fibers recovered from Amy's body were consistent with fibers used in GM cars similar to the one DR owned but the exact model that he drove, according to DMV records of the VIN number, used fibers that were different. Renee makes a case that there could have been a clerical error, but this would be a real problem at a trial.

The issue of the Nature Center as the source of Amy and the other girls who got phone calls is interesting but all speculative. 15 years later some of those girls Thought they has signed the register with their phone numbers and addresses and some folks Thought DR might have volunteered there or had other links but there is nothing solid.

Renner raises there issue of a finger print that may have been found with the body. I find it hard to believe that the FBI did not get a hold of DR's prints. (If they really did not have then, they could simply arrest him on some pretense, print him, and quickly decide to drop all charges and release him. It is SOP. My guess is the print didn't match, but like touch DNA, it might not mean much.

Reiner makes much of the fact that DR left teaching when he became a hot suspect while he could have gotten a full pension had he worked one more year. It is not clear whether or not he got a reduced pension leaving when he did. Lots of teachers do that and it doesn't mean much. Forfeiting any pension would be very unusual and certainly raise suspicion. Does anyone know?

Overall, it sounds like a stalemate situation. I hate see a child killer walk but I don't feel comfortable branding a man a child kill without stronger evidence than this.

 

[CanManEh]

I find it very weird that this guy called 3 girls and tried the same thing on them too..Im no cop but there's how you really find out who this person is , It has to be someone that has acess to all there phone numbers and when you find someone that has acess to all 3 girls then thats your guy..so who has the ability and acess to something with information on these kids .First thing that comes to my mind is a teacher from the girls school ..

 

[kemo]

From what I have gleamed from reading about the case, the original investigation focused on people who may have known Amy and the other girls families or have had access to phone numbers of lots of families in the area. It was considered significant that the perpetrator had lured Amy with the promise of getting her mother a present to celebrate her recent promotion at work and her mother had, in fact, very recently been promoted.

The other girls all lived in North Olmsted which is 3 miles from Bay Village with a different school system. There were no obvious connections to the four girls but it was assumed that the perpetrator had links to those two towns.

It was 't until 2005 that an FBI agent re-contacting the three N Olmsted girls discovered a possible link. All of the girls could remember having gone to the Lake Erie Nature Ctr in Bay Village in the weeks before the abduction and Amy went there multiple times. The girls thought there may have been a "sign in" book where they would provide their address and phone number. This angle had not previously been explored.

A review of the case record yield the name of a science teacher who had been reported by one of his students as resembling the suspect composite. We will call him DR. He did look like the drawing and he was from New London, near where the body was found, but he worked 10 miles away in Amhurst and had no ties to the Bay Village/North Olmsted area. He had been interviewed in 1990 but was considered a low level suspect. The fact that he was a science teacher caught the FBI's attention because of the possible ties to the Nature Center.

Former students remembered that DR had spoken about the Nature Center and one thought DR might have been a volunteer there. DR had left his teaching position in 2003 and moved to Key West Florida. He was located and interviewed again. He denied he ever volunteered at the nature center and claim that while he may have gone there, he did not remember doing so.

No records at the nature center could be found of DR ever having volunteered there nor was there any record of any "sign in" book from 1989. 16 years had passed and no records were available going that far back.

There is a lot of information out there on the case but as of yet, nothing but an intriguing suspect but no smoking gun.

 

[December]

It sounds like maybe the murderer was able to unobtrusively listen in on girls' conversations that they had in public places. Kids don't pay a lot attention to such adults because they don't expect them to be listening. Anyone who might have a legit reason to be around could be a candidate... A teacher, a retail or restaurant worker, someone who worked at an attraction they visited, the parent/relative of another child. Also, he might have found out information about the girls, then focused on tracking down phone numbers. Since a lot of people were just listed in the phone book back then, it wouldn't be that difficult. In the cases where it was, he could just give up and move to the next name.

 

[Owutatangledweb]

This may be way out there, but I posted this this morning on the Lorsin County, Oh remains found recently thread and am bringing it over here. See that thread for it to make more sense:

Sorry about burning up this thread this morning!

Because of what I've read about this Below guy, I said previously I wouldn't rule him out on kids. When I first read local reports on the location of these remains, my mind immediately went to Amy Mihalavec. However, when they announced it was a woman, I discounted Amy's case even though I did not want to due to the location. The current dump site is only 13 minutes drive from Amy's dumpsite. Below lived straight out 224 in Lodi. Now that I have read that he was once caught by his half-sister in a compromising position with a child, and I have read that he is a master manipulator, chronic liar, an imposter, and fluctuated his apprearance between clean-cut and a mountain man, I am ruling him in for consideration in Amy's case. According to the one timeline I've looked at so far, he moved to Lodi in 1990 to be "closer" to his trucking route. That assumes he had already been in this area for his trucking route before he moved to Lodi. Amy disappeared in October 1989 from Avon Lake, Ohio and her body was found 13 minutes from the current dumpsite in February 1990. It is a straight shot up Route 83 from Lodi to Avon Lake (50 minutes). He did not need to be living in the area to have been involved in the Amy case. I have also read that he liked threesomes with his then-girlfriends and/or wives to include a man. It is suspected in the Teague case that it was he and another man that abducted her. Therefore, he may not always work alone. So, in Amy's case, it didn't have to actually be him that took her from the shopping plaza and he could have been staying with someone else in the area before he actually moved here.

I sure would like to know what company he was driving for, when he started, and what his routes were.

IMO there are too many circumstances for this NOT to be looked at. Yes, at this point it's all speculation, but who knows what this guy was into and up to.

 

[Irish_Eyes]

Bumping for Amy...may this be the year that you get justice.

 

[Betty P]

Law Enforcement: New Evidence In Amy Mihaljevic Kidnapping and Murder

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/law-enforcement-new-evidence-in-amy-mihaljevic-kidnappingmurder/252549879

There will be a news conference at 11:00 am tomorrow, Thurs, June 23, 2016

Representatives of the Bay Village Police Department, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI say there are new developments in the Amy Mihaljevic case.

Hope this is a big breakthrough in the case.

OTOH, they could be releasing more details about the case in order to generate more calls and leads.

 

[Irish_Eyes]

Was just coming here to post it Betty. Glad this news is breaking.

 

[JaimeInLA]

I wonder if they finally developed a DNA profile!

 

[gregjrichards]

True crime author and journalist James Renner who has investigated this case extensively has posted this on Twitter @JamesRenner:

"James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 9h9 hours ago

The Bay Village police will ask for help from the public on a very specific new clue in the Amy Mihaljevic case, from what I'm hearing."

It will be interesting to see what the police say later today.

 

[gregjrichards]

Press conference today 23rd June 2016 11am

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 25m25 minutes ago

Chief Spaetzel about to speak. #amymihaljevic

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 26m26 minutes ago

McGinty says this new evidence could solve the case. #amymihaljevic

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 23m23 minutes ago

Reward for info in Amy's case just raised to 50,000. #amymihaljevic

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 22m22 minutes ago

Spaetzel: "this has never been a cold case" #AmyMihaljevic

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 20m20 minutes ago

Spaetzel: "today the suspect would be mid-50s to mid-60s."

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 17m17 minutes ago

Evidence was collected at site where Amy's body was found. #AmyMihaljevic

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 16m16 minutes ago

"This evidence we believe is from where the murder happened." #AmyMihaljevic

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 16m16 minutes ago

FBI agent Phil Torsney is up! #AmyMihaljevic

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 16m16 minutes ago

There was a curtain and a blanket found near Amy's body. #AmyMihaljevic

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 14m14 minutes ago

Blanket and homemade curtain had canine hairs on them. #AmyMihaljevic

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 12m12 minutes ago

Dog hairs were transferred from Amy's dog at home to blankets by way of her body. That's how we know the evidence is linked.#AmyMihaljevic

 

[Irish_Eyes]

Twitter is showing pics of a handmade curtain, avocado green and quilted, and also a matching blanket. The items were found in the ditch where Amy Mihaljevic's body was recovered. Investigators believe they were used to wrap her body. This is based on the fact that hairs confirmed to have come from the Mihaljevic family dog were found on one or both items. The theory seems to be that the hairs transferred, I'd guess from Amy's body or clothing, onto those items.

 

[gregjrichards]

Press conference 23rd June 2016 continued

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 10m10 minutes ago

Here is the curtain found by Amy's body. #AmyMihaljevic



James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 11m11 minutes ago

Police want to know who made this curtain and where is came from. It was Avocado green. #AmyMihaljevic

James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 8m8 minutes ago

Curtain and blanket. Curtain was handmade. Have you seen these items?#AmyMihaljevic



James Renner ‏@JamesRenner 3m3 minutes ago

Torsney: "other hairs and fibers were also found on handmade curtain" #AmyMihaljevic