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

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Whoever killed this little 1o yr old, thirty years ago, must have other victims as well. How do we make those connections? Has the DNA been put into the main data base? I have to assume so...so strange if it had no match. JMO
 
Betty P said:
Bumping with reminder that Amy's case is featured on the Investigation Discovery channel tonight - 9 pm eastern, 8 pm central

Investigation Discovery TV Schedule | Watch Now for FREE!
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Anybody else watching this right now? The music and sound effects are so loud and distracting! Half the time it’s hard to hear what is being said. The voices all sound echo-y as well. I tried other channels just to make sure it wasn’t my TV. So annoying!
 
BethAnn777 said:
Anybody else watching this right now? The music and sound effects are so loud and distracting! Half the time it’s hard to hear what is being said. The voices all sound echo-y as well. I tried other channels just to make sure it wasn’t my TV. So annoying!
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It sounds ok to me. Maybe some sound effects are a little loud. Try rechecking the settings on your tv, perhaps?

There's a lot of good information, many things LE hadn't revealed before about suspects they investigated, tips, etc.
 
Betty P said:
It sounds ok to me. Maybe some sound effects are a little loud. Try rechecking the settings on your tv, perhaps?

There's a lot of good information, many things LE hadn't revealed before about suspects they investigated, tips, etc.
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This case is heartbreaking. It was so sad to see how Amy's mother was so distraught, and in the end died from a broken heart. As a mother, I can't imagine this pain and loss. I'm praying that they find this vile creature and make him pay for all of the torment he has caused this whole family and the town.
 
Hastings21 said:
This case is heartbreaking. It was so sad to see how Amy's mother was so distraught, and in the end died from a broken heart. As a mother, I can't imagine this pain and loss. I'm praying that they find this vile creature and make him pay for all of the torment he has caused this whole family and the town.
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So true whoever killed Amy killed her Mum as well.
 
I fell asleep in the middle of the show. I hope it comes on again because it was good. I was just too tired to keep awake.

Who did Renner suspect? I missed that part?
 
katydid23 said:
I fell asleep in the middle of the show. I hope it comes on again because it was good. I was just too tired to keep awake.

Who did Renner suspect? I missed that part?
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Renner's main suspect is still the former school teacher from Amherst, OH. The suspect suddenly retired early from teaching and moved to Key West, FL. Renner looked him up down there and questioned him. The teacher volunteered at the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center, sent his students there and might have had access to the visitor's registration book that would have had the names and phone numbers of Amy and the other girls who were called.

My only doubt about that suspect is how he knew about Amy's mom's job. Perhaps he stalked her family, did some snooping to find out if her mom worked and where, or it was just a lucky guess on his part. Gaining that kind of information back then was not easy. There wasn't as much personal information on the internet, no social media to speak of.

ETA: I'm going to re-watch the show in the next few days. It's 3 hrs long and contains a lot of information. Renner had speculated or hinted at some information, but LE confirmed a lot of it during this show. They'd never done that before.

JMO, there's a small possibility the killer was someone from the area who was never really on the list of suspects. The only reason that's possible, JMO, is because so many of LE's best suspects were eventually ruled out.

I found it interesting the FBI agent said the perp was very confident. He allowed himself to be seen with Amy in a very public place, it was right across the street from the Bay police station/city hall. He had her call her mother to reassure her an hour after she went missing, etc. These are kind of unusual acts for a stranger abduction/murder of a child.
 
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Betty P said:
Renner's main suspect is still the former school teacher from Amherst, OH. The suspect suddenly retired early from teaching and moved to Key West, FL. Renner looked him up down there and questioned him. The teacher volunteered at the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center, sent his students there and might have had access to the visitor's registration book that would have had the names and phone numbers of Amy and the other girls who were called.

My only doubt about that suspect is how he knew about Amy's mom's job. Perhaps he stalked her family, did some snooping to find out if her mom worked and where, or it was just a lucky guess on his part. Gaining that kind of information back then was not easy. There wasn't as much personal information on the internet, no social media to speak of.

ETA: I'm going to re-watch the show in the next few days. It's 3 hrs long and contains a lot of information. Renner had speculated or hinted at some information, but LE confirmed a lot of it during this show. They'd never done that before.

JMO, there's a small possibility the killer was someone from the area who was never really on the list of suspects. The only reason that's possible, JMO, is because so many of LE's best suspects were eventually ruled out.

I found it interesting the FBI agent said the perp was very confident. He allowed himself to be seen with Amy in a very public place, it was right across the street from the Bay police station/city hall. He had her call her mother to reassure her an hour after she went missing, etc. These are kind of unusual acts for a stranger abduction/murder of a child.
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Good post. Particularly interesting about how the FBI agent picked up on how confident the offender was. My feeling is he was not a local and had committed many crimes before. He enjoyed the 'game' as such and as I mentioned before was very patience when committing the crime.
 
jaejae said:
Good post. Particularly interesting about how the FBI agent picked up on how confident the offender was. My feeling is he was not a local and had committed many crimes before. He enjoyed the 'game' as such and as I mentioned before was very patience when committing the crime.
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Yes, seems likely he wasn't local to BV, though he may have been from a nearby community. Most of the witnesses at the BV shopping center that day would have been other middle or high school kids, maybe a few adults. They would have recognized a local teacher, neighbor, someone's parent, etc. It's possible, though, it was someone from a nearby community. LE thought so, too, as many of their suspects were from close by. I'm assuming the person must have stalked Amy some time prior to know her schedule, which days her mom worked, what hours, etc. So, they would have likely lived somewhat nearby. You also have to wonder about a perp who was ayoung-ish to middle aged male who had free time weekdays mid to late afternoon.

There were a couple of my friends in BV back then who told me they called in solid leads to the toll free number, but never heard back from LE. I still wonder about that. One was a very clear, solid lead with a vehicle description.
 
The School Teacher is a very interesting suspect. He grew up, and was possibly living at the time of the abduction, very close to the spot the body was found. He did look a lot like one of the composites and had a bit of a sketchy past. Runner was pretty su sure he had his man.

What the documentary did not explain was that an FBI agent did go down to Key West and interview this guy. I am not aware that he has been officially cleared but the FBI has continued to pursue other avenues of investigation and does not appear to be particularly interested in him.

I have no idea why he seems to be somewhat written off. Based on a past “ problem” where he displayed inappropriate interest in a male former student, there is reason to suspect he may have been gay. Would that alone be enough to rule him out?

There are apparently three hairs recovered from Amy’s body are believed to have come from her abductor. Because there was no root material, only Mitochondrial DNA could be recovered. It can not be compared against data bases and it is problematic as evidence since it is not unique to one person but it can exclude suspects if there is no match.

I felt the documentary spent too much time on leads that did not pan out and did not introduce much in the way of new information. However, one of the women who had receive a similar “ come-on” as Amy seemed to say that he caller knew the real name of her mother’s boss. This is significant. The abductor did some serious research. Apparently 4 girls reported similar calls. They all lived in same general area. I suspect the perpetrator chose girls near where he lived so he could more easily check out his targets but he felt comfortable that he would not be recognized in the area he met up with Amy.
 
I’ve just checked and the Investigation Discovery show has been put on YouTube in three parts just in case anyone wants to watch it. The videos are called Who Killed Amy Mihaljevic? Part 1, 2 and 3 and posted by Is This One New?

I will watch them when I get a chance very soon I have always been interested in Amy’s case.
 
I just know id be very interested in the origin and content , of those phone calls, i saw somewhere that they came from "unlisted" numbers, another that they were from "unregistered" numbers, which tends to indicate a private residence or even possibly a business

Eventhough a residence had an unlisted/unregistered number back then, though Im not sure 100% , those may still be traceable, though now all these years later im sure its extremely difficult .

Payphone(s) (if these were the source) are more difficult, because they are available to the public , usually exposed to the elements, which will most likely taint physical evidence , however geographical factors can be noted, for ex if these calls came from payphones, are they all from the same phone, or are they coming from different phones in the same relative area to each other etc.

Id also be interested in the verbiage used by the caller in these cases , did he name names , places, times etc?...
 
Owutatangledweb said:
Me too!!! It was on so late. I hope they repeat it. I only saw the stuff I already knew!
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You can watch the 3 episodes online at the Investigation Discovery web site.

Part 1: Missing | The Lake Erie Murders

Better hurry while they're still in the site feed. It would be nice to have more folks here at WS to discuss the case. JMO, it can be solved.
 
Kell1 said:
I just know id be very interested in the origin and content , of those phone calls, i saw somewhere that they came from "unlisted" numbers, another that they were from "unregistered" numbers, which tends to indicate a private residence or even possibly a business

Eventhough a residence had an unlisted/unregistered number back then, though Im not sure 100% , those may still be traceable, though now all these years later im sure its extremely difficult .

Payphone(s) (if these were the source) are more difficult, because they are available to the public , usually exposed to the elements, which will most likely taint physical evidence , however geographical factors can be noted, for ex if these calls came from payphones, are they all from the same phone, or are they coming from different phones in the same relative area to each other etc.

Id also be interested in the verbiage used by the caller in these cases , did he name names , places, times etc?...
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Hi Kell1 - good to see you again!

I would have to go back to view the episodes again to see if there were more details about the phone calls. I'm not sure. JMO, part of the problem tracing them was that some of the reports weren't made to BV police until some time later and the phone calls to those girls were made months before Amy was kidnapped and murdered.

Here's another recent article

Inside the Unsolved Nightmare of the Killing of Amy Mihaljevic

Here's another, older, article that includes some information about the phone calls. Written by James Renner, it covers his investigation of Dean Runkle, the former school teacher who volunteered at the BV Nature & Science Center.

Person Of Interest
 
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Betty P said:
Hi Kell1 - good to see you again!

I would have to go back to view the episodes again to see if there were more details about the phone calls. I'm not sure. JMO, part of the problem tracing them was that some of the reports weren't made to BV police until some time later and the phone calls to those girls were made months before Amy was kidnapped and murdered.

Here's another recent article

Inside the Unsolved Nightmare of the Killing of Amy Mihaljevic

Here's another, older, article that includes some information about the phone calls. Written by James Renner, it covers his investigation of Dean Runkle, the former school teacher who volunteered at the BV Nature & Science Center.

Person Of Interest
Click to expand...

I still stop by from time to time, dont reply as much as I used to (youre aware)

From an investigative standpoint, I would think those would be a real point of interest , id do my damndest to get ahold of those call records, again I was in grade school when this went happened, so it my have been a lot harder to get a hold of and or trace calls back then

But id want to look into, where did they originate? , if I could access that, id want to know if its coming from a residence, a business, a payphone, multiple payphones , where are they located? are they scattered or are they centrally located in a certain proximity to each other.

What exactly was he saying ?, was he giving names?, were these available from the local White pages?, what time were these calls occuring? , were they the same times? Same days? was he the one who was determining times and places, to meet? , (though I highly doubt there were) were there any calls after ?

As you know I usually dont read much investigative journalism, I did however see Mr Renners piece on the ID special, and read his article from the link above, and will say he has done an excellent job, has gone above and beyond to try and solve this crime.

Im always cautious however when naming a suspect publicly, before any formal charges are brought, because as weve seen the court of public opinion is hasty, harsh, and often unforgiving, even if theyre found not to be involved.

But people surrounding suspects will sometimes come forward as they begin to "piece the mosaic" together about someone they were close to, and maybe put things out of mind ...hopefully this will spark new leads.
 
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