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

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Owutatangledweb said:
Keep in mind that the curtains have been in an evidence storage for almost 27 years. That may be why the tabs look a bit frayed. I'll go back and look at the video and see if I can get any screen shots of the bottom.
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Yes, and that could also be why it seems to be stretched out of shape. But even taking that into account, it seems to be a bit rough. Not really sloppy, but not an expert job either.

That's very heavy material. Light wouldn't show through it and it would have a lot of insulating properties.
 
"The Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office confirmed their office has received “many calls and tips” in the Amy Mihaljevic case since last week’s release of new evidence.

Last week, the prosecutor’s office along with the FBI and the Bay Village Police department displayed a homemade curtain that’s believed to have been used in the 1989 kidnapping and murder of 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic.

New technology linked dog hair on the curtain to Amy’s dog, which had possibly rubbed off from Amy’s clothing.

Since the new evidence was released, law enforcement has been working to follow up on all of the tips and calls."

http://www.fox19.com/story/32314772/fbi-receiving-tips-and-calls-about-amy-mihaljevic-murder-case

I'm so pleased tips are coming in I hope they get a breakthrough. Thanks to all of you for trying to help it is appreciated.
 
I listened to the "True Crime Garage podcasts; an hour 15 minutes well spent.

A pretty good summation of the case. Renner seems to think DR is guilty but apparently Chief Spatzel (and apparently the FBI) does not. Apparently male DNA was found under Amy's fingernails. It was partially degraded so that it couldn't be used to check against a data base but it could be compared against that of a suspect. If DR was as strong a suspect as Renner suggests, you would expect the FBI to have gotten a sample from him one way or another and you would not expect them to dismiss him as a suspect so easily if he refused. I wonder if they did get it and it wasn't a match.
There is other information about DR that I question.

Renner claims that that he has seen a photo of Amy's body laying in the field where it was found and there was a blade of grass growing between her legs. He provides that as evidence that her body had been at that spot all along. I quest that there would be much grass growing in Ohio between the end of October and the beginning of February. The body was only 25 feet from the road. There was an unobstructed view, and the body stood out against the stubble. Any time there was no snow, it would have been very visible to anyone driving by. I wonder when the first snow was in 1989 and how recently the snow had melted. I think it in a significant.
 
kemo said:
I listened to the "True Crime Garage podcasts; an hour 15 minutes well spent.

A pretty good summation of the case. Renner seems to think DR is guilty but apparently Chief Spatzel (and apparently the FBI) does not. Apparently male DNA was found under Amy's fingernails. It was partially degraded so that it couldn't be used to check against a data base but it could be compared against that of a suspect. If DR was as strong a suspect as Renner suggests, you would expect the FBI to have gotten a sample from him one way or another and you would not expect them to dismiss him as a suspect so easily if he refused. I wonder if they did get it and it wasn't a match.
There is other information about DR that I question.

Renner claims that that he has seen a photo of Amy's body laying in the field where it was found and there was a blade of grass growing between her legs. He provides that as evidence that her body had been at that spot all along. I quest that there would be much grass growing in Ohio between the end of October and the beginning of February. The body was only 25 feet from the road. There was an unobstructed view, and the body stood out against the stubble. Any time there was no snow, it would have been very visible to anyone driving by. I wonder when the first snow was in 1989 and how recently the snow had melted. I think it in a significant.
Click to expand...

So are you saying she was kept frozen somewhere?
 
I don't have all the facts, but it seems to me that the body was very visible where it was found. Had it been covered with snow, it would probably have not been seem. Between October 27 and the day it was found in February, how many days was that field not covered with snow? Probably quite a few, yet no one saw the body.

I think it is entirely possible that the perp concealed the body effectively near where it was found and simply moved it to where it would be seen. The perpetrator may have done it to get Amy's story back in the papers and TV news. He may just have wanted her to have a Christian burial. Either way, it is counter intuitive since there are many way finding the body can help sovereign the crime and convict the Perp.
 
It looks like the curtain may have originally been shorter, like to cover a basement window, and then lengthened either for aesthetic reasons or to fit an upstairs window. That would explain why the creator didn't have enough original fabric to have the pattern all going one way.

I agree with others who say this looks like heavy material. The curtain was probably used as much for its temperature-insulating properties as to block light.

This item didn't come from a fancy home.


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kemo said:
I don't have all the facts, but it seems to me that the body was very visible where it was found. Had it been covered with snow, it would probably have not been seem. Between October 27 and the day it was found in February, how many days was that field not covered with snow? Probably quite a few, yet no one saw the body.

I think it is entirely possible that the perp concealed the body effectively near where it was found and simply moved it to where it would be seen. The perpetrator may have done it to get Amy's story back in the papers and TV news. He may just have wanted her to have a Christian burial. Either way, it is counter intuitive since there are many way finding the body can help sovereign the crime and convict the Perp.
Click to expand...

I've lived in this region over 20 yrs. and it's unusual to see much snowfall before the first part of December.

Here's a link to Weather Underground for Bay Village in 1989. As of November 27, there was no snow on the ground and only a total of 3.8 inches since Sept. 1 of that year.

https://www.wunderground.com/histor...reqdb.zip=44140&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

There were minor snowfalls up to that point, but only in small amounts.

Link to the same time for Mansfield, OH, just south of Ashland. Very similar, only 2.3 inches of snow since Sept. 1.

https://www.wunderground.com/histor...reqdb.zip=44805&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

IMO, there would have been many days after October 27, when there was no snow on the ground. Considering she was wearing the bright green track suit, you would think someone would have noticed her body had it been there in the first couple of weeks after her death.

November 10, 1989

https://www.wunderground.com/histor...reqdb.zip=44805&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

It seems unlikely she was there in the first couple of weeks after her death.
 
Aleph said:
It looks like the curtain may have originally been shorter, like to cover a basement window, and then lengthened either for aesthetic reasons or to fit an upstairs window. That would explain why the creator didn't have enough original fabric to have the pattern all going one way.

I agree with others who say this looks like heavy material. The curtain was probably used as much for its temperature-insulating properties as to block light.

This item didn't come from a fancy home.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That's what I thought about the length at first, but the extra strip is at the top where the tabs attach. So it wouldn't have been easy to add.

I was wondering if is was used to cover a doorway or closet or something like that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
kemo said:
I listened to the "True Crime Garage podcasts; an hour 15 minutes well spent.

A pretty good summation of the case. Renner seems to think DR is guilty but apparently Chief Spatzel (and apparently the FBI) does not. Apparently male DNA was found under Amy's fingernails. It was partially degraded so that it couldn't be used to check against a data base but it could be compared against that of a suspect. If DR was as strong a suspect as Renner suggests, you would expect the FBI to have gotten a sample from him one way or another and you would not expect them to dismiss him as a suspect so easily if he refused. I wonder if they did get it and it wasn't a match.
There is other information about DR that I question.

Renner claims that that he has seen a photo of Amy's body laying in the field where it was found and there was a blade of grass growing between her legs. He provides that as evidence that her body had been at that spot all along. I quest that there would be much grass growing in Ohio between the end of October and the beginning of February. The body was only 25 feet from the road. There was an unobstructed view, and the body stood out against the stubble. Any time there was no snow, it would have been very visible to anyone driving by. I wonder when the first snow was in 1989 and how recently the snow had melted. I think it in a significant.
Click to expand...

How hard can it be to get DR's DNA? Can they ask a FL detective to follow him for 2-3 days and collect silverware or whatever? Or send down an OH detective? That seems easier than a press conference.

This makes me think it's not DR, even though he sounds like a great suspect.

I think Renner says it's a sapling or a wheat shoot or something along those lines. I've seen saplings of other sorts shoot right up in one or two days. But that's usually later in the spring. I don't know when or how fast wheat grows.
 
Betty P said:
I've lived in this region over 20 yrs. and it's unusual to see much snowfall before the first part of December.

Here's a link to Weather Underground for Bay Village in 1989. As of November 27, there was no snow on the ground and only a total of 3.8 inches since Sept. 1 of that year.

https://www.wunderground.com/histor...reqdb.zip=44140&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

There were minor snowfalls up to that point, but only in small amounts.

Link to the same time for Mansfield, OH, just south of Ashland. Very similar, only 2.3 inches of snow since Sept. 1.

https://www.wunderground.com/histor...reqdb.zip=44805&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

IMO, there would have been many days after October 27, when there was no snow on the ground. Considering she was wearing the bright green track suit, you would think someone would have noticed her body had it been there in the first couple of weeks after her death.

November 10, 1989

https://www.wunderground.com/histor...reqdb.zip=44805&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

It seems unlikely she was there in the first couple of weeks after her death.
Click to expand...

Here's a transcript from that part of the podcast:

Nic: Okay, so she's found in, this is a field?
Renner: Yeah, it's a wheat field.
Nic: Okay, in February. So there's not, this isn't tall wheat in February?
Renner: No, it's been harvested. It's cut down. She was dumped there after the harvest, uh, back in...her body had probably been there within 24 hours of when the abduction occurred.
Nic: Is she right by the road? Is she away from...?
Renner: She's up uh, about, she's probably about 25 feet from the road.
Nic: Okay.
Renner: On a little rise. Uh, it's possible that her body had been covered with a canvas tarp, and then covered with snow. And then the snow had just melted early February. And I think that's why the jogger saw her that day.

Does this sound like a possible scenario? If there wasn't any snow until December, could Amy have laid unnoticed in the field, covered only by a cloth tarp for 1-2 months?

I guess the implication is it snowed, the snow melted, and the tarp was then removed or blown away.
 
Aleph said:
It looks like the curtain may have originally been shorter, like to cover a basement window, and then lengthened either for aesthetic reasons or to fit an upstairs window. That would explain why the creator didn't have enough original fabric to have the pattern all going one way.

I agree with others who say this looks like heavy material. The curtain was probably used as much for its temperature-insulating properties as to block light.

This item didn't come from a fancy home.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Does anyone think that this curtain could have possibly covered a doorway, like between rooms or on a closet. Just wondering how many inches high is a normal door frame? And maybe the bedspread wasn't long enough to go in one direction? Or maybe there wasn't enough fabric to go all the way up because two curtains were made and the other one remained in the perps place? Or maybe pillows or other items were made out of the fabric as well?

I don't know. The curtain says old farmhouse or hunting cabin to me.
 
Sutton said:
Here's a transcript from that part of the podcast:

Nic: Okay, so she's found in, this is a field?
Renner: Yeah, it's a wheat field.
Nic: Okay, in February. So there's not, this isn't tall wheat in February?
Renner: No, it's been harvested. It's cut down. She was dumped there after the harvest, uh, back in...her body had probably been there within 24 hours of when the abduction occurred.
Nic: Is she right by the road? Is she away from...?
Renner: She's up uh, about, she's probably about 25 feet from the road.
Nic: Okay.
Renner: On a little rise. Uh, it's possible that her body had been covered with a canvas tarp, and then covered with snow. And then the snow had just melted early February. And I think that's why the jogger saw her that day.

Does this sound like a possible scenario? If there wasn't any snow until December, could Amy have laid unnoticed in the field, covered only by a cloth tarp for 1-2 months?

I guess the implication is it snowed, the snow melted, and the tarp was then removed or blown away.
Click to expand...

OR was she covered with an avocado green curtain and blanket that got blown off of her? IIRC, these two items were collected from further down away from her and they didn't even know if they had anything to do with Amy until the recent dog hair analysis. AND, if this was a wheat field, are we sure it was harvested? I know Renner says that but I don't know if he's a country boy. Trying to think like my own country spouse, the first question that comes to my mind would be was it a winter wheat field, cuz if so it was green at that time and Maybe even close to an avocado green. I guess I need to go on a hunt for the footage of the site cuz I don't know that I ever looked at it that close. I might need the spouse's help on this one.
 
Owutatangledweb said:
Does anyone think that this curtain could have possibly covered a doorway, like between rooms or on a closet. Just wondering how many inches high is a normal door frame? And maybe the bedspread wasn't long enough to go in one direction? Or maybe there wasn't enough fabric to go all the way up because two curtains were made and the other one remained in the perps place? Or maybe pillows or other items were made out of the fabric as well?

I don't know. The curtain says old farmhouse or hunting cabin to me.
Click to expand...

Or small college apartment, something along those lines. It does not scream middle-class prosperity to me.

I agree, it could have been a doorway covering. A doorframe is usually taller than that but doorway curtains commonly stop a foot or more above the ground. Closet doors can be any size.

It could be a 63" window curtain, part of a pair. If the measurement of 68" includes the 4-5" for the tabs, that would leave the 63". Two panels of 27" would be 54". A 63" by 54" set would be very standard.

I need to get out my measuring stuff and see how I'd go about cutting those from a standard twin bedspread.
 
A closeup of the bottom of the curtain and one of the blanket that was with it, also with dog hairs on it. I have struck out at looking for vintage bedclothes that match the pattern in the spread. Our only hope is to get these pictures out there And hope someone recognizes these items. Amy deserves justice.

image.png. image.png
 
Just a theory. But the curtain could have been a two piece set. It looks like the kind you hold the rod in one hand and then slide the 5 tabs at the top onto the pole then hang it up . It may have been two piece. For a total of 10 tabs and you separated it in the middle. Slide them apart left to right and enter leave through the center.

Being green reminded me of military colors..............But it really reminded me of one of those hunting boxes hunters make to hide when there hunting. Such as deer or what not. To help camouflage there location.

ADD ON. The curtain has a square cut out of it. If not done by the LEOs it could be an eye opening to peak out and or to stick a rifle out while hunting.

Any locals tell us if it was hunting season at the time she disappeared?
 
:+:MrTT:+: said:
Just a theory. But the curtain could have been a two piece set. It looks like the kind you hold the rod in one hand and then slide the 5 tabs at the top onto the pole then hang it up . It may have been two piece. For a total of 10 tabs and you separated it in the middle. Slide them apart left to right and enter leave through the center.

Being green reminded me of military colors..............But it really reminded me of one of those hunting boxes hunters make to hide when there hunting. Such as deer or what not. To help camouflage there location.

ADD ON. The curtain has a square cut out of it. If not done by the LEOs it could be an eye opening to peak out and or to stick a rifle out while hunting.

Any locals tell us if it was hunting season at the time she disappeared?
Click to expand...

A hunting blind, you mean? Good thought. That heavy material would muffle sound and scent to help hide a hunter.

I think you're right about the curtains probably being a pair. Even if they were on a window, that would be the most common kind, so you can open in the middle to let light/air in.
 
Most of the rural roadways that I have driven in Ohio usually have a V-shaped drainage ditch right next to the roadway. A lot of times when a rural roadway in Ohio is next to a V-shaped ditch, depending on how deep the ditch is, you usually can't see anything in a V-shaped ditch from your vehicle as you drive by.

Was there any V-shaped ditch next to the rural roadway near where the body was found?
 
Just a thought on the curtains: Using such a heavy, dark material for bedroom curtains is common for people who work third shift and need a dark bedroom while they are sleeping during the day. Did any of the suspects have a job where they worked during the night or else worked "swing" or rotating shifts?

JMO.
 
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