5. The FBI, currently offering an up to $25,000 reward for any information, has never let this case go cold. In the fall of 1989, Runkle applied for a teaching position at Nord Junior High in Amherst and was hired on the glowing recommendations of former administrators from Vermilion. One of them spots the girl spinning around the pole, seemingly without a care in the world. This theory is based on the fact that Amys body was found re-dressed and her underwear was put back on inside out. 4.5 stars This book is about a young reporter's unceasing quest to find out what happened to Amy Mihaljevic. Serial killers who get away with murders early on their sprees are known for getting more and more negligent with covering up their crimes as they progress. The details surrounding her disappearance and subsequent murder are a parent's worst nightmare. Most of these killers have what psychologists deem a thrill-seeking personality.. And it seems that there's finally some break in the case. "He would stare at me in class," says Kim Raeburn. However, a few minutes after she hung up from Jason, Margaret received a call from Amy herself. Neighbors had seen the man talking to Amy briefly days before her disappearance, and he also resembled the composite sketch. Weeks and months went by, but no news of Amy. Very close. Investigators would later figure out that Amy was not the only girl who had received such phone calls around the same time. She says he "probably" gave some to the Lake Erie Nature Center. Police say that a man identified by his ex-girlfriend as a possible suspect in the death of Amy Mihaljevic told investigators he may have called the 10-year-old girl prior to her abduction . Clearly the killer attempted to lure several other girls into the same trap before Amy, and who knows how many other victims they succeeded in killing prior to Amys murder. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. The report of a missing child from their own neighborhood frightened every soul in Bay Village. "He used to tell us about the science center he volunteered at. Im not sure how he explained to Amy that he knew that her mother had gotten a promotion on October 27th on that fateful phone call. The killer also must have been local at the time, having known about the corn field on the remote county road for disposal of Amys body. "Man, me and Dean are friends. Keeping all this in mind, only a handful of strong suspects remain. His hair, thick and bushy, fell on his forehead, just above his eyes, and he was probably in his mid-to-late 30s at the time. "I didn't leave Ohio because of Amy," he says. Gold-colored fibers were found on Amy's body, according to the Ashland County coroner's file on the case. The story of her unsolved kidnapping and murder were presented by John Walsh on the television show America's Most . Right now, there is a theory going around about the possibility of Amys case having multiple assailants, with a connection to a pedophile ring in Michigan. He often filmed his students in class, cutting together the film later at home. Dean Runkle himself denies any involvement in the murder of Amy Mihaljevic and the FBI has never officially declared him a suspect. Almost 30 years later, Amys killer is still at large. For their part, Bay Village police detectives do not consider Runkle as the only suspect in the case and continue to work all leads. Both witness accounts corroborated each other. Your email address will not be published. He asked each of them if they remembered visiting the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village. She said she was going with a friend to the Bay Square Shopping Center. The sketch was released to the public, and soon the tips started pouring in. Everyone standing in line at the Flagler soup kitchen wants to help. Amy Mihaljevic disappeared on October 27, 1989. Investigators believe the suspect has ties to Bay Village and Ashland County. Many of these men have no alibis for the afternoon of October 27, 1989. The owners let the man live on the property in exchange for cleaning out the stables. By Nichole Vrsansky. Subscribe now to get the latest news delivered right to your inbox. But with each attempt the killer refined his pitch, until, finally, he called Amy and she agreed to meet. He didn't say anything, just walked past me. I quickly began to see why this man was on the FBI's list of priorities. Amy Mihaljevic DR was a teacher at a middle school, which let out later than Amys school did. Some killers do this accidentally, but some do it purposely. Hes also a person of authority whom Amy wouldve known and trusted. On that Top 25 list, he would be the man at the top. This means they have killed before, and theyve gotten away with it. He got a job teaching seventh-grade science at Sailorway Middle School in Vermilion in 1967. Just got a phone call from an investigator working on it. He didnt seem to even know where he was. and our At the time of the crime, he was wearing a beige windbreaker with plaid lining, front-pressed khakis, and a button-up shirt. 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. Submissions. It wouldnt have been unusual for Amy to go there alone or with friends. Amy Mihaljevic was born in Little Rock. A female student from his 1989 class says she noticed the similarities between Runkle and the composite sketch of Amy's abductor. "His eyes popped out of his head. Eventually, their method of killing starts to bore them, and the killer needs more drama, risk and excitement with each new victim. Fox 8 reported there was a red spot on her underwear, it was blood, most likly Amy's. This can be found on James site May 9th 2007 Autopsy. Hes a suspect who looks good from a standpoint of circumstantial evidence, but when we need concrete evidence it all falls apart. But only a handful crossed paths with each of the girls the abductor attempted to seduce over the phone before successfully luring Amy to the shopping center that day - the clue upon which the entire case hinges, the one way in which the killer was careless. According to reporter James Renner, Dean Runkle is a possible prime suspect in the FBI investigation. The center had been one of Amy's favorite places. And, because he was in the suburban Ohio area in 1989, authorities think that he can be behind Amys death. "Le FBI a enfin un suspect de premier plan dans le meurtre d'Amy Mihaljevic. He was an accomplished ragtime piano player and played in the Red Garter Saloon at Cedar Point during the summers. Interestingly, Marks new step son, Ryan Ruiz, was walking to school one day when he was approached slowly by a car. As seen on the Oxygen mini-series The Disappearance of Maura MurrayWhen an eleven year old James Renner fell in love with Amy Mihaljevic, the missing girl seen on posters all over his neighborhood, it was the beginning of a lifelong obsession with true crime. I'm still going on the fact that Mr. Case knew everyone from that small town and he did not say that Dean Runkle was the man that was with the unknown child . As per our current Database, Amy Mihaljevic died on Oct 27, 1989 (age 10). Someone stitched this together inside their home and hung on their tall, narrow window. This further confirms the theory that this curtain was used to conceal Amys body as she was driven from the crime scene to corn field, because the dog hairs wouldve been transferred onto Amys clothing. Shockingly, another girl a few years older than Amy came forward to police that she had received a similar call months earlier. He kept a cot in a side room and sometimes slept there overnight. Her body was found in Ashland County - about 50 miles away - a few months later. . If youre interested in learning more about Amys case, please check out James Renners book about this case Amy: My Search for Her Killer now available on Audible. A Catastrophic Cyber Event in the Next 2-Years; Youth Pastor and Foster Dad in Florida Accused of Human Trafficking; Downtown Denver Dying? . Material that was collected at the scene may contain the killers DNA. Again, no one remembered the name. He also photographed his students regularly, developing the negatives himself. Runkle resigned abruptly, explaining he had to leave for "health reasons." Under interrogation, the suspect began softly muttering random words in no particular order. Edit: Press conference just ended. Tue Aug 17, 06:49:00 PM . After having a snack at the shopping center, Amys friends went home, but Amy stayed behind to wait for someone. But when Renner questioned other teachers and students, they all confirmed that this teacher, Dean Runkle, did in fact frequent the nature center. Most Popular #109790. Other students of Runkle have since testified that Runkle engaged in sexual misconduct with them in the form of inappropriate touching and rides in his car to and from his apartment. He was like a son. BAY VILLAGE, Ohio (WOIO) - Nearly 32 years after her murder, there's a new clue in the Amy Mihaljevic case. In early 1990 her body was found. By 1982, he had collected a 9-foot-long boa constrictor, a prairie dog named Susie, a tank of piranhas, a ferret, and countless hamsters, gerbils and mice. As word spread around the neighborhood, friends and family started coming over to the Mihaljevic house to make flyers and search for Amy. In 2002, during a Sunday Mass at St. Angela Merici Catholic Church on Lorain Road in Fairview Park, he announced that he was the one responsible for what happened to Amy. Cleveland newspaper reporter James Renner investigated Mihaljevic's murder case and concluded that a teacher named Dean Runkle should be viewed as a prime suspect. "I would definitely tell them to investigate this guy.". Meanwhile, Mark and Jason moved on with their lives as best they could. He looked after me when we lived at the shelter together a couple years ago. On October 27, 1989, Amy Mihaljevic was kidnapped from the Bay Square Shopping Center in Bay Village, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. None had ever talked to a reporter, until they found me in 2006. Dean Runkle is still the prime suspect in the case, according to one FBI agent, but the case against him is still circumstantial. Through Renners research and his own private investigation, Renner has produced what is by far the most valuable lead in Amys case so far. Today, in his late 70s, he remains free and resides in Key West, Florida, where he works as a restaurant shift manager. "Mr. Amy Renee Mihaljevic (i)mhlvk (December 11, 1978 October 27, 1989) was a tenyearold American elementary school student who was kidnapped and murdered in the U.S. state of Ohio in 1989. . Amy Renee Mihaljevic (December 11, 1978 - October 27, 1989) was a ten-year-old American elementary school student who was kidnapped and murdered in the U.S. state of Ohio in 1989. The fact that Amys body was left in an open area with the blanket her body was carried in leads me to believe that this killer was getting confident, and that they were familiar with this territory. It's hard to tell what might be ailing Runkle, though, because, at 65, he could easily pass for 45. At 2:10 p.m., on October . But Lanning can extrapolate some ideas about the man who killed Amy. Amy told her friends about the call, and that she had agreed to wait for the man at the shopping center to pick her up. That obsession leads James to a successful career as an investigative journalist. News of the other suspicious phone calls in the area spread around, and suddenly, no children went anywhere alone. Visitors had to enter their name, address and phone numbers in the book. "Statistical probabilities are always trumped by case specifics." Her dirty-blonde hair hangs, a little disheveled, over her earrings - turquoise horse heads, mounted on gold studs. INTERVIEW FOLLOW-UP The evidence is highly circumstantial toward Dean Runkle. Amy Mihaljevic was born on the 11th of December, 1978. She didnt recognize the mans voice. The girl had been sexually assaulted years earlier, and thankfully did not fall into the mans trap. In 1971, he quit teaching for two years to play ragtime at Disneyland. In March, I learned that the FBI was planning to re-interview an intriguing suspect whom they'd been looking at since 2002 and had interviewed in '05. Multiple witnesses say that he matches the man they saw . Cleveland newspaper reporter James Renner investigated Mihaljevic's murder case and concluded that a teacher named Dean Runkle should be viewed as a prime suspect. Sgt. Last weekend, I paid him a visit. Call the Bay Village Police Department at 440-871-1234. Renner, your stuff is interesting, but ad hominem attacks . The store bred pet mice, but when the mice population exploded, Runkle began giving the mice away to local nature centers, says the store's former owner, Oneta McCarthy. Further evidence that supports the fact that Amy was not this killers first victim is the phone call they allowed Amy to make to her mother at work around 3:30pm on the day she disappeared. Dan says their relationship was never physical. "I'm meeting a friend.". But he sees the death of Runkle's twin sister at such a young age as a traumatic event that may have had an impact on the rest of his life. She said she was going with a friend to the Bay Square Shopping Center. Another key person of interest in Amy Mihaljevic's disappearance and murder case is Richard Holbert, who, like a few others, has confessed to slaying Amy. Mr. Runkle wouldve had access to the log book which listed Amys address and phone number, as well as the unlisted phone numbers of the other girls who received the suspicious phone calls. No mention of that investigation was contained in his personnel file. As time went on, the Mihaljevics marriage disintegrated. Read More: Where Is Amy Mihaljevics Father Now? For more info about Amy's case, you can read through the blog I've devoted to it since 2006. In the weeks leading up to Amy's abduction, a man called them at home, after school, and pretended to be a co-worker of either their mother's or father's. I shake his hand and introduce myself. Multiple witnesses say that he matches the man they saw with Amy the day she vanished. Over time the letters became sexual in nature. Today, Dan is living in a rundown apartment complex in Vermilion. What is your response to some of your former students in regards to. The shopping center was located directly across the street from the school. Dean, a former teacher in Ohio, has always maintained his innocence, but as per the last records, when the local police department started collecting DNA samples, he obtained legal council. They also start taking trophies. They had a safe place to take her to incapacitate her, sexually assault her and murder her, all without detection. The other students assumed the man was a friend or relative, and that Amy knew him, so they thought nothing of it. As of 2014, her homicide remained unsolved. "NEW" EVIDENCE? in 1989where Runkle frequently volunteered (Renner, 2008). Ten-year-old Amy was lured from her Bay Village home on Oct. 27, 1989, to a shopping center at Dover Center . At the time of Amy's . James Renner chased Runkle down to the Key West, FL area and attempted to interview him. 10-year-old Amy grew up in Bay Village, OH, an altogether peaceful town on the shores of Lake Erie. First, it's very important to note that they are not saying the curtain and blanket came from the Mihaljevic residence. Amy Mihaljevic Popularity . Amy Mihaljevic has been died on Oct 27, 1989 ( age 10). Our theory is that they were used to wrap her in before she was dumped where she was found.. Jason became concerned quickly and called his mother Margaret at work to ask where Amy was. Unfortunately, what looked like a slam dunk case ended up fizzling out. . According to reporter James Renner, Dean Runkle is a possible prime suspect in the FBI investigation. He gave them the name of a suspect and asked if it sounded familiar. A pair of sisters had also received a call from a man who claimed to be a friend of their mothers. "He made comments about girls' outfits. In the weeks preceding Amys disappearance on October 27, she had received several phone calls from an unknown man who knew almost everything about her life. Amy Renee Mihaljevic (December 11, 1978 - October 27, 1989) was an elementary schoolgirl who was kidnapped and murdered in the U.S. state of Ohio in 1989. By Dateline NBC. Facebook Amy Mihaljevic and the suspect sketches. Ohio Gov. Revealed to have close relationships with some students, In 2005, investigators reveal that other girls from the area had, received similar calls to Amy trying to lure them to a public place. He said that hed take Amy to the nearby shopping center after school one day to buy her mother a present, and possibly even insinuated that hed buy her one as well, just for her help. She was stabbed twice in the neck and struck with a blunt object on the back of her head. These items were found a ways down the road from her body and until now they were not sure that they were linked to the crime. Amy Mihaljevic was 10 years old when she disappeared from Bay Village, Ohio, on October 27, 1989, launching a massive, high-profile investigation. On the 31st anniversary of finding Amy's body, a woman (who remains unnamed), called the police to tell them that her ex-boyfriend, Dean Runkle, was a potential and most likely suspect of Amy . I asked him if he thought it was possible that a student of his could have showed me a picture of him volunteering at the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center. For more than 31 years, her killer has remained a mystery. Recently, she saw a suspect's photo on the blog I've maintained since publishing a book about the unsolved case. . This can suggest a couple of things about the behavioral profile of the killer. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. What history do I have of inappropriate behavior with kids? New DNA results reveal Amys hair was on both items. Friends said she never recovered from Amys death and the lack of solid leads in solving the case. She was never seen again. Residents of Bay Village lived on edge for years after Amys disappearance and murder. And then Maddie sees the man. The Handmade Curtain. How much time would that give DR to rush out after work, find a pay phone or some other way of calling, then make the call? Her murder case received national attention. What happened to the car you were driving in the Fall of 1989? But when that approach doesn't work, they may resort to violence, "because they can't figure out another way to get the child to have sex with them. But don't tell her what we're doing. Birth Sign Sagittarius. "I don't have anything to say." Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Amy: My Search for Her Killer: Secrets and Suspects in the Unsolved Murder of Amy Mihaljevic at Amazon.com. Someone missed this curtain when it was gone - or at least noticed it was missing. Her body was found four months later, in a field in rural Ashland County. One of Amys friends, who saw this man lead her away, has been shown hundreds of pictures of possible suspects. As I'm considering how to enter the compound, a man walks across the street in front of me. Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 4:00 am. As police struggled to connect viable suspects to the case, they compared the girls who received the suspicious phone calls. There have been hundreds of suspects in this case - men, mostly, with shady pasts and weak alibis, vague connections to Bay Village or New London, histories of sexual misadventures. We may never find answers to these questions, but Amys family deserves to know what happened to her. No one went out after dark. The girl told police that the man called her house claiming to be a friend of her mothers. Scne de . We have proof that this killer attempted to lure many other little girls into the same fate as Amy with phone calls to households with unlisted phone numbers. Renner pressed him for any information about Amys murder, but Runkle walked away. She was popular, funny, kind and energetic. Where? Both of Amys parents worked full time. Amy Mihaljevic disappeared in 1989 when she was ten years old. Apparently, in 1987, Dean even set up a few thousand dollars in a trust fund for his favorite student, but then, in the fall of 1989, they just stopped communicating. Required fields are marked *. New DNA evidence could help solve the decades old mystery. Nothing is that simple, I told myself. But I answered the FBI's questions, I took their lie detector test and they haven't done anything to me. How did Amy's life cross paths with the lives of three girls from North Olmsted she had never met? In late October 1989, Amy Mihaljevic was lured to a suburban Ohio shopping center by an unknown male who had befriended her via conversations on the phone, and she was never seen alive again. At one point in the last year before Amy disappeared, all the victims had visited a local nature center in Bay Village at least once, either on their own time or during school field trips. Three and a half months later, Amy's body was found near New London, Ohio. In fact, he's probably at work right now.". "That was a difficult time in my life," he says. This three-decade-old mystery and the nationwide hunt for the perpetrator, involving hundreds of suspects, is still ongoing. Police found signs of sexual assault, and her cause of death was declared as multiple stab wounds to the neck area. The Lake Erie area had never seen such a gruesome murder of a child. Why do you think Amys body was recovered where it was? Another girl, Maddie, sees this and thinks the boy might be picking on Amy, so she keeps an eye on both of them to make sure nothing happens. This would be a very risky move to pull off, so thats another no for DR. The killers hope that their victims remains will decompose by the time their bodies are found and prevent any extraction of forensic evidence such as hairs or fibers. And that's when the old man with a Frisbee shows up. Dean lived a tumultuous early life, dealing with an abusive father and the tragic death of his 6-year-old twin sister in 1950. From conversations with the nature center's staff (I had donated some of the book's profits to the organization, in memory of Amy, and so had reason to talk to them occasionally), I learned that Bay Village Det. According to reporter James Renner, Dean Runkle is a possible prime suspect in the FBI investigation.Multiple witnesses say that he matches the man they saw with Amy the day she vanished. He said knowing where the curtain came from and who it belonged to is so important right now. Ryan was terrified, said no thank you to the man and quickly ran away to school. on Elish believes anyone who can identify those items, the curtain especially, will help solve this case. Dean Runkle is still the prime suspect in the case, according to one FBI agent, but the case against him is still circumstantial. Even with todays advanced science and technology, forensic scientists cant test trace evidence that doesnt exist, or was never collected. But be careful not to try to fit a square peg in a round hole, he warns. He leans down to whisper something in her ear. They thrive off the increased risk of being caught, so they start leaving bodies out in the open and leaving behind trace evidence. When reached at home, he admits to being Runkle's "favorite" for a while. "When you're dealing with human behavior," warns Lanning, "you're not dealing in absolutes. See pictures of the handmade curtain and blanket here. For more info about Amy's case, you can read through the blog I've devoted to it since 2006. Last Friday, I flew to Miami, then drove to Key West, where Dean Runkle has been living since his abrupt departure from Ohio in 2003, which occurred as investigators began to question his relatives and co-workers. But something happened in 1987. In lab, he would stand behind me and push his chest against me. He talked about the blow-up dolls he kept at home and the way the dashboard of his Grand Prix looked like breasts. DR is a teacher, and if its one thing that kids will remember its seeing a teacher or former teacher in public. Many of them are simply just look-alikes who otherwise have no connection to the crime. We know where she was found. Case []. "This is where I'm at," says Amy, and walks alone across the nearly empty parking lot toward Baskin-Robbins. He then corroborated what each witness said with what they told police back in 1989 immediately after the disappearance. Amys body was only ever found because her killer wanted it that way. What a stupid idea - thinking I would walk into a random fast-food joint and find him. He's doing OK. When re-interviewed in 2009, two witnesses picked Runkle out a lineup of nearly 30 men as the most similar to the man they remember seeing (Lewis, 2009). The latest update in the case is forensic testing of the one piece of evidence found with Amys bodya blanket that had been sewn into a curtain panel, found a few feet away from the body. Two years later, he earned a Young Educator of the Year award for starting a science fair at the school. Some of them have been suspects for years and decades.. He had a few girls he was extra close to, like the girl who sat in front of me. The curtain is homemade, and was originally Avocado green. He knew her number, her address, the area where she lived, where her mother worked, and even the fact that the latter had recently earned a promotion. Renner says on the podcast he believes Lamborgine can be connected to other top suspects . Runkle was a twin, but his sister died in 1950, when they were 6. Oct 15. Who Killed Amy Renee Mihaljevic. . At the height of the stranger-danger era, 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic from Bay Village, OH, was abducted from the Bay Square Shopping Center on October 27, 1989. "When I went to school, there was this wall - student on this side, teacher over here," he said in an interview that ran in the Lorain Morning Journal that year. Whether it came out of that persons house, whether it came out of the location where Amy was killed. It's the big unsolved mystery of the area. According to Jason, for months and years after Amys disappearance, Margaret would do nothing but go to work, and then come home and barricade herself inside Amys room. 1949). ", And though most victims of child abuse know their attackers, when a child is killed, often it's at the hands of a stranger who has gone outside his safe zone. Searchers discovered Amy's body on February 9, 1990. This "list os suspects" is so completely bogus. Amy ignores him. It's a day investigators have pored over for decades: October 27, 1989 -- when 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic disappeared from Bay Village, Ohio. Thousands of tips have come in throughout the years, but no one has ever been arrested. On Oct. 27, 1989, Amy was lured to Bay Square shopping plaza by a man who had previously called Amy at her home. Most child molesters don't abduct and kill their victims, he notes. All four girls, who received suspicious phone calls (with Amy being the last one), have visited it in the weeks before the abduction and may have written their names and phone numbers in a logbook by the front doors. This is a huge reason why I dont like DR as a suspect. Since Runkle is exceptionally well liked as a teacher by many former students, Renner became the subject of strong criticism, unlike anything he had faced from naming previous suspects, when he named Runkle. Men with mostly shady pasts and weak alibis, vague connections to the suburban area, or those who have a history of sexual offenses are the ones who are included in the suspect list. Remember back to 1989. According to reporter James Renner, Dean Runkle is a possible prime suspect in the FBI investigation. That night and much of the next day I show Runkle's photo around town. Amy Mihaljevics abduction and murder, unsolved, is still ongoing, and it seems as if the authorities will not stop until they bring the 10-year-old girl some justice by arresting and convicting her perpetrator/s. [2 . I suspect they preyed on school-age girls by attempting to lure them out shopping under the guise of getting gift for their mothers. [emailprotected] Anyone with any information, call the FBI at 216.522.1400 or the Bay Village Police Department at 440.871.0773. Earlier that day, Amy and Olivia had sat together at a school assembly and listened to a rookie policeman named Mark Spaetzel give a "meet your friendly local officer" presentation. It was dinnertime when I got there, and I quickly surveyed the room. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Although Renner describes Runkle as an eccentric teacher, no hard evidence supports this view. Even today, they are working on it to find the necessary answers and to bring some justice to the young girl who unwittingly lost her life. He was an eccentric teacher from the beginning. A large volunteer search party with dogs and flashlights found nothing. In 1990 when the body was found, forensic testing for DNA as we know it now and other trace evidence was not yet available. The only thing that all these girls had in common was that they had visited the local Lake Erie Nature and Science Center, which kept a visitors logbook by the front door. Privacy Policy. "If you do become a violent guy, you better be victimizing strangers," explains Lanning. Sure enough, all the employees there recognize Runkle's picture - he's a manager, but he's not working today. BAY VILLAGE, Ohio (WOIO) - Nearly 32 years after her murder, theres a new clue in the Amy Mihaljevic case.
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