Criminology - Amy Mihaljevic

Episode Date: January 14, 2024

In 1989, Amy Mihaljevic failed to return home from school to her Bay Village, Ohio, home. Amy's mother, Margaret, had started to worry after Amy's brother said she wasn't home. Margaret received a call from Amy and felt she was safe, but her concern returned when she arrived home to find out Amy wasn't there. Jon Mike and Morf as they discuss the disappearance and murder of Amy Mihaljevic. The community came out in support and to help search for Amy. But sadly, her body was found in a farmer's field over three months after she disappeared. Police discovered during the investigation that Amy had been contacted by a man who said he would help Amy get a present for her mother to celebrate a promotion.  An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 290 of the criminology podcast. This is Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mike Morford. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing good.

How you doing? I'm doing pretty good. We were talking kind of off air before we started the episode that, you know, I was doing some little chores around the house and stuff and hurt my back. And that just seems to be the way it is for me lately. Things that I used to be able to do when I was younger, I just can't do anymore without hurting myself. Yeah, that's the bad part about getting older. And, you know, like I was telling you,

if you can bring somebody in to help leave me some of that, that's what you got to do. You need a helping hand sometimes. Yeah, no doubt where you can. It does make some sense. I hate to be down on my back for like a whole week. But let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. we had Camilla Hernandez, Yolanda, Rebecca Gardner, Melanie Smith, Victoria Rapaport,

and Rebecca Street Tucker. So that's a lot of great new support more if we really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you so much for that support. It really helps out the show. And for anyone else that would like to support criminology, just head over to patreon.com slash criminology and you can sign up. All right. Let's go ahead and jump into this week's case. And we're talking about a really bizarre and infamous case, the abduction and murder of Amy Mahalovic. Amy's case is one that is popular for discussion forums on sites like Reddit and web slews, but it's also a very frustrating case because there are clues that may one day help solve this case, but so far that hasn't happened. In more than 34 years after Amy was kidnapped and murdered, there have been

no arrest despite they're being a good suspect. who was the subject of a tip to authorities, one who refused to let investigators search his storage unit. Amy's case is a tragic tale of a child's love, of her mother, and trust that there was good in everyone. Against everything she had learned about stranger danger, she wanted to surprise her mom

and make her happy with a special gift. She walked out the door one morning with plans to impress her mom with this gift and never came home. Amy Mahalovic was born. December 11th, 1978 in Little Rock, Arkansas, to parents Mark and Margaret Mahalovic. She had an older brother, Jason. The family wound up moving to Bay Village, Ohio, when Mark was transferred for work. Bay Village is a city in the suburbs of Cleveland in western Cuyahoga County. Bay Village currently has a population of around 16,000 people. Mark and Margaret bought a four-bedroom home in the community,

feeling it would be a safer and quieter alternative to Big City, Cleveland, to raise their kids. to support their family. Mark worked for GM as a customer service rep, and Margaret worked in the ad sales department for a local newspaper called The Trading Times. Amy, along with her brother Jason, attended Bay Village Middle School. Amy was a bright student and part of the school's gifted and talented program. She loved nature and animals, her favor being horses. Amy was naturally friendly and curious and like talking to people. She generally trusted them, and sadly, that would be something that would prove deadly. On Friday, October 27th, 1989, 10-year-old Amy and 13-year-old Jason went to school, as usual,

excited that it was almost the weekend and that Halloween was just a few days away. It was a completely normal day. That afternoon after school, Jason arrived home around 3 p.m. as usual, Amy wasn't there, though. At 3.14 p.m., he called their mother, Margaret, who was at work. This was something he did every day, usually with Amy, to let Margaret know they had both made it home safely. On this day, though, Amy wasn't home. Margaret told Jason not to worry too much, but to call her back in a bit if Amy didn't show up after a while. Margaret would later tell Cleveland Magazine, she had mentioned something to me about trying out for the choral group. But despite that,

she still had a very bad feeling after she received the call from Jason. And more if I think this is come up in other episodes that we've done. If I remember correctly, you've told me previously that you were home alone after school. I was as well. I mean, I think it was a very normal thing in the 80s. You know, parents were working. Kids, when they got off the bus, they had a key. They went home, hung out, watched MTV, ate snacks, whatever. Yeah, I definitely was a latch key kid. was the term they used. And, you know, a lot of my friends were, too. And most of the time, we'd go home, get inside. We all had our keys. We'd throw our books down to what needed to do. And then we'd go outside and play football, baseball, whatever, until our parents got home and

then we'd head home. So it was pretty typical. And, you know, most of the time, there was nothing nefarious or anything unusual that happened. But isn't that often the case? I mean, you can see when you go through the research of these cases that, you know, a lot of times people are just doing what they normally did and what other people their age normally did. And like you said, more often than not, or the majority of the time, nothing bad happened. But obviously we know there were times where something did. And this is one of those times. At 3.30 p.m., Jason called Margaret again and told her that Amy still wasn't home. Margaret, got ready to leave work early and come home and see if she could figure out where Amy was.

At 3.40, just before she left her desk at Trading Times Magazine, the phone rang. Margaret was relieved to hear that it was Amy on the other end. Margaret, assuming Amy had gone to the choral edition, asked Amy how it went, and Amy simply replied, okay. Margaret asked Amy how she was feeling now, and Amy said, fine. While Amy was normally very talkative, Margaret noticed she was only giving one-word answers. Instead of pressing the issue, Margaret decided to wait to talk to Amy more after work. She thought that maybe if Amy hadn't made the quarrel group, or had gotten embarrassed during the tryouts, maybe she just didn't want to talk about it over the phone. But Margaret assumed that Amy was home and that there was nothing to worry about. Margaret ended the call

with Amy, not knowing it would be the last time she ever spoke to her daughter. Despite thinking Amy was home and safe, Margaret couldn't let go of the feeling that something was wrong. It was mostly due to how short her answers were in the phone call. And this is one of the things that I was kind of thinking about more. As a parent, we've all been in these situations where, you know, you're talking to your child and they're just being real short, real curt. You can tell something's wrong. Something is bothering them. And a lot of times you ask them and they say, no, everything's fine. But you just know in your mind that it's not. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. You know, By the way your kids are talking and what they say, how they normally talk, whether something's going on, something's off.

And in this situation, it's over the phone. So Margaret's not there to see any body language or what Amy is like in person. So she was a little bit of a disadvantage in the conversation. Margaret would tell Cleveland magazine, Amy was a little chitter chatterbox, but was extremely short with her on the phone. soon Margaret trusted her mother's intuition and left work early to check on Amy at 4.30, she walked into the home to find only Jason. And when Margaret asked where Amy was, Jason said she still isn't here. It was immediately clear to Margaret that something was very wrong. Margaret rushed to Bay Middle School, but found the school was closed. All the students and staff had left for the day. On the bike rack by itself was a teal bike with a white wicker. basket. It was Amy's bike. Margaret's heart sank. She explained to Cleveland magazine, I knew right then it was something terrible. That bite, I was sick. I was shaking. I knew something terrible had happened to Amy. And when I hear that phrase that Margaret used, her heart sank.

That really, you know, hits hard. I've been in that position more of I think you have as well. we've talked about it where you think something is really wrong and you get that it's a kind of dreadful feeling heart sinking feeling now a lot of times it ends up that you're not correct unfortunately margar was yeah it's like when you're in the store shopping and you're with your kids and you turn around and they're not right there and you get that adrenaline rush and then you'll run over a couple aisles and there they are standing there looking at something and then you get that immediate sense of relief, but for Margaret, she didn't get that relief. She got the opposite. She felt that that something was definitely off. And you got to feel for it because at that time, there's nobody there

to even talk to. No kids are around to ask. No staff is there. So it's got to be a real helpless sensation. Amy left the school and quickly drove to the Bay Village Police Department. Once there, Officer Barbara Slepecky took down Margaret's report about Amy and started the investigation. Now, Sometimes, this is the part of a case where we say police were dismissive or say something like she's just out with friends and she'll be home soon. But to her credit, Officer Slepeki immediately treated this like a child abduction. It didn't matter that Amy had technically been heard from just one hour ago. It was clear to Officer Slepecki that this was an urgent matter. A child had been abducted.

Though Amy had called her mom at work to this day, it's still not known where Amy was when she made that call. or whether she knew she was in danger at that point. Was she so quiet because she was terrified of saying the wrong thing in front of her captor? Or was she quiet so she didn't give away that she wasn't at home so that her mom couldn't tell that she was excited in hiding a secret? We still don't know. And to me,

Morp, this is one of the big parts of this case. Where did this phone call come from that Amy made to her mother? and what was going on around her as she was making the call. It's frustrating because due to the time period, there wasn't the ways to track a call that there are today. You know, there wasn't caller ID, star 69. I don't think that came along until a little bit later.

So, you know, I don't know what was in place to, to track a call. But it's frustrating because of the lack of technology there. at 5.14 p.m. just two hours after Jason Mahalovic's first call to Margaret, all officers in Bayview, West Lake, Rocky River, Fairview Park, and Avon Lake received news to be on the lookout for Amy. At 6 p.m., Amy's father, Mark, arrived home from work because he traveled for work and didn't have a stationary location where he could be reached. And this was in the days before cell phones. He was completely unaware of Amy's disappearance until he walked into the house, greeted by a house full of police officers and the terrible news. This was not the kind of scene you wanted to come home to

as a parent. So one of the things that really jumped out of me was, you know, we talked about Officer Slepecki, taking Margaret's concerns very seriously. And, you know, in the 80s, that wasn't something that always happened. And now, you know, we're, you know, we're going, we're hearing about officers in four or five different locations being notified to be on the lookout for Amy. It does seem as though from the very beginning, they took it seriously and they put the word out. Yeah, we know how crucial that early time is in a case like this. The sooner you start trying to figure out what happened and putting the alerts out, the better the chances is there are to recover someone and have a good outcome.

Family and friends rushed to the Malavik home to try to help. They decided to organize a quick search. Mark later told Cleveland Magazine, We just wanted to do something. We searched the ravine, the ones that run through the lake. We walked the whole thing, every inch, calling her name, Amy, Amy. But there was never an answer. Searchers had not given up by 9 p.m.

In fact, the search had only grown. Local volunteers brought flashlights and offered the use of their cars, boats, and scent dogs. Despite a frantic search all night, no sign of Amy was found. By 7 a.m. the next morning, October 28th, the FBI had joined the search for Amy with Special Agent Dick Wren, a resident of Bay Village, who was a father who had children, Amy's age, at the helm. Soon a namer of Amy's headed over with news from his daughter, one of Amy's friends. This news changed the entire course of the investigation. It seemed that this was a targeted abduction. Amy had been carefully picked out and groomed for this abduction.

According to Amy's friend, Amy had received phone calls from an unknown man who seemed to know her. He knew where Margaret worked in her schedule. He knew Amy's name. and the Mahalovic home address. The man told Amy that her mom had just gotten a big promotion at Trading Times magazine. And he convinced Amy to let him help her buy a special gift for her mother to celebrate the occasion. All she had to do was meet him at Bay Village Square, the shopping center. So he could take her to an even bigger mall where she could pick out something truly perfect for Margaret and maybe, just maybe.

get herself a little something while they were there. The man also told Amy that he knew she was better at keeping secrets than her brother Jason was, which is why he had called her to get the gift and not him. But Amy hadn't been able to keep this secret to herself for very long, and she told her friends all about her plans. So police knew that Amy had been interacting with a man, but had no idea who he was. Witnesses came forward with sightings of Amy at Bay Village Square. She had left her bike at school and walked to Bay Village Square Shopping Center,

where she was spotted by shoppers, who said it looked like she was waiting for someone. Other witnesses saw a man approach her in the parking lot near the barber shop, but didn't see where they went or what happened afterwards. Nothing stood out as unusual to anyone shopping or driving by. There had been no reason to pay close attention to Amy at the time. It just seemed as if she was a little girl in broad daylight in a bus, parking lot in the middle of town. One barber shop employee called News 5 Cleveland. There was no screaming, no struggling, because I would have known it. It seemed like Amy thought she could slip away

after school and quickly grab her mom a present for a promotion, and then get dropped off back at school, where she would ride her bike home, and then give the present to her mom after she came home from work. Two of Amy's classmates, also 10-year-olds, saw her talking to an unknown man. They were able to provide investigators with a good enough description for a composite sketch. This man was white around 5 foot 8 to 5 foot 10 with a medium build in black hair. So the one thing that I would say morph is that unlike a lot of the unsolved cases that we do, it seemed as though police had a lot to work with. They have witnesses to the point where they get a pretty good composite sketch,

a good description. In a lot of cases, they don't even have that. Yeah, it seems like an odd choice of a place for this guy to arrange this meeting if he's going to abduct Amy because there's a lot of potential witnesses. It's a crowded place as opposed to maybe a park or something along those lines where there's going to be less people there, less traffic. So it seems like this person really took a chance making her meet him there. Yeah, my only thought was that maybe he was concerned that if he made the meeting location too secluded, that would scare Amy off?

You know, would she let her defenses down a little bit more thinking, okay, this is a big crowded area. There's going to be a lot of people there. Yeah, that's a really good point. And maybe it also shows to that he's not an experienced criminal and didn't even think. about the meeting spot. Yeah, I think all of these things are, you know, things to consider to keep in the back of our mind. While the search for this mystery man began, the search for Amy continued.

Locals and volunteers turned out in droves looking for anything they could do to help. Howard Kimball, a Bay Village resident who ended up helping to coordinate all of the volunteer efforts told Cleveland Magazine, you know, we asked for paper and so much came in. in one day, we had to move it to the fire station. People were so good, so amazing to help get the word out, the local Pizza Hut put Amy's missing poster and the composite sketch of the unknown man on every box of pizza they sold. Many other businesses made similar efforts, like a printing company who printed hundreds of missing posters for free and asked that no one ever mentioned their name. People were that serious about wanting to help for the right reasons, and they stayed focused on finding Amy.

But despite the community's efforts, Amy's whereabouts, as well as the identity of the unknown man, remained elusive. And it's always amazing to me to hear about the selfless acts in cases like this. You know, hundreds of people volunteer their time to search for someone, businesses, go out. of their way to do things for free to help. And in this case, you're hearing about people not even wanting their names mentioned. Well, okay, that's truly selfless. I get it in some cases, businesses are doing it. Yeah, to help out, but also to be seen as the, the good guy.

And that's not going to hurt business. I'm not dismissing that because they are helping. But, you know, when it's truly selfless, it's even more amazing. Yeah, it really seems like it was a community effort to find Amy. And we talked about right from the beginning of the police taking it serious and jumping into action to all these volunteers to people donating resources and products and stuff. It was just an all-out effort. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency.

We just walked in the door and there's blood in the car. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, Blood and Water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to another round of drawing board or Miro board. Today we discussed technical diagramming with systems architect Maya. Let's go. First question. You've spent 10 hours slogging over. a sequence diagram that should have taken five. Drawing board or Miro board? Drawing board. And if I'm being honest,

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Everyone always knows what's up. And she's done it. Join over 60 million people creating technical diagrams without workflow glitches. Get your first three boards for free at Miro.com. That's M-I-R-O.com. Police knew that time was of the essence, and that there was very likely a dangerous person on the loose. He abducted Amy in the middle of the day, in public, with witnesses around.

He also knew things about her and her family, suggesting planning. Finally, the shopping center he picked out was right across the street from the Bay Village Police Department. It seemed very brazen. Lieutenant Richard Wilson of the Bay Village PD in an effort to generate tips and leads told viewers of News 5, if you know of someone who has had behavioral changes recently since the time of the abduction, if there has been changes in work habits or unexplained absences from work or the resident, by all means, call us and let us have that information. So once again, it seems like they're really calling on the community to help in addition

to everything the community is already doing. But I think they need that, right? They've had witnesses, they have this description, but they don't know who this man is. What better way to maybe get a good leader tip than to kind of put some of this information out and maybe somebody realizes, oh, you know, Bill hasn't been at work since this happened or Sam hasn't been home since Amy's abduction. And then, you know, maybe they call in and offer that information up. Maybe it leads somewhere, maybe it doesn't, but those are the kind of tips and leads that the police need to work from. Yeah, you never know what tip is going to be important.

And sometimes people might be just, you know, looking at any little change in somebody and just reporting that. But let the police sort that out and see if there's any merit to any of the tips. Authorities learned of at least two young girls in North Olmsted about five miles away from Bay Village who had received similar calls. A man had waited until they were alone to call their homes and then told them he worked with one of their parents and needed their help to pick out a gift. for them. These girls eventually hung up on the man and did not agree to meet him. Amy may have been confused by this call because Margaret had recently gone from working part-time at the magazine to full-time. So there was a change at work, but it wasn't a promotion. Margaret hadn't gotten one of those. It's very unfortunate timing, but it seems like this man just went down, you know, maybe some list of

girls phone numbers, hoping one would meet him. Sadly, Amy must have felt that this man was telling the truth about the promotion and she trusted him. Assuming that it's the same man who called Amy and these other young girls, it remains unclear how he put this list of girls to call together or how he knew so much about them. Of course, at that time in 1989, there was the phone book, but he was targeting girls of a specific age who wouldn't be listed in the phone book. One promising clue came to light. Amy and the two girls from North Olmsted had one thing in common.

All three of them had visited Lake Erie Nature and Science Center and signed their guest book. Could this man have also visited the Science Center and maybe stolen their info or could he have even possibly worked there? And this does seem like another really good piece of information. Could it be a coincidence that all three of these girls had visited, you know, the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center? Well, maybe. But does it seem more likely that this was a clue into maybe how this individual was targeting these young girls? Yeah, to me, it seems like the most logical explanation about how this person, assuming it's the same caller, decided to call these three girls.

that had this one thing in common. And I don't know how far police investigated that specific clue or that lead, but I would think they spent a lot of time digging into it. Yeah, I mean, I could see them maybe investigating, you know, all the, the males that worked there, maybe even going through recent visitor information, whatever that may have been at the time. And, you know, one of the things that really scares me about this,

case is the thought of a man, just going down a list of girls, calling their houses, trying to see who he can get to meet him. That is such a scary thought. Yeah, and it's pretty disturbing if that list came from the science center and the guest book they signed. If he was not an employee, is this just a book that was sitting out in the open for anyone to see, you know, it doesn't seem very secure. And I think now in 2024, there's a big emphasis on privacy and keeping people's information safe. But back then, just this open book,

you know, for people to sign with their information, their home address and stuff like that on there, you know, is probably a gold mine for predators. Yeah, much more today, right, in the way of trying to protect people's privacy. That, you know, is a, probably a gold mine for predators. Yeah. Much more today. Right. And the way of trying to protect people's privacy. That wasn't as big a thing in the 1980s. Yeah, I mean, you can go back to the 60s and 70s, and they published the Polk's directory, which would list where a person worked, their home address or phone number. I mean, it was unlimited ability for somebody to stock people. On February 8th, 1990, after 104 days with no sign of Amy, a woman named Janet Siebold was out for a jog, along Township Road, 1181, 50 miles from Bay Village,

when she spotted the small decomposing body of a young girl, face down in the brush. The body was right on the edge of a 205-acre farm. Her jog turned quickly into a mad dash as she raced to the nearest home, a quarter of a mile away. At 7.30 a.m., authorities were alerted. When police arrived on scene, despite needing an official identification,

they quickly felt that the dead little girl was likely, Amy Mahalovic. She was wearing the pale green sweatsuit with lavender trim that Amy was last seen it. She was wearing socks, but things that Amy was said to be wearing when she went missing, including blue horse ear rings and studded black boots were missing. Also missing was a black Buick binder with the words best in class on its metal buckle and Amy's denim backpack. 300 yards from the body, also discarded in that field, there was a curtain and blanket. Authorities believe that the girl, they presumed to be Amy, was killed at another location and moved to this field after her death using this curtain and blanket. Years later, Amy's DNA would be found on these items,

confirming police suspicions. The little girl's lifeless body was taken to the medical examiner's office for examination. Cuyahoga County Coroner Elizabeth Bowrox performed the autopsy using Amy's dental records for comparison. The coroner verified that the girl in front of her was indeed Amy Mahalovic. Evidence indicated that she was stabbed twice in the neck and beaten on the head with a blunt object. Due to the decomposition, it seemed that her body had been out in the field for months. And Amy was likely murdered shortly after she vanished, but not instantly. She had been fed by her captor at least once.

According to author James Renner, lunch at school, the day Amy disappeared was spaghetti. But there were no traces of that meal found in Amy's stomach. There was, however, something found made of soy, possibly from Chinese food. It's not clear whether a rape kit was performed, but some reports say Amy was sexually assaulted. James Renner reported that it appeared that Amy had not been

sexually assaulted, but that she had been killed naked and redressed in the clothes she had worn to school the day she disappeared. Rinner says Amy's underwear were on backwards. It's actually speculated that whatever went wrong, whatever interrupted the assault, caused the suspect to kill Amy out of anger. Gold fibers of an unknown origin were collected from Amy's clothing. Authorities believe the fibers were from a general motor's car. made between the years

1976 and 1978, but they were unable to narrow it down any further. So obviously this was not the ending that everyone was hoping for. The volunteers, the police, everyone who had worked hard

to try to find Amy. But in finding Amy, it does seem as though the police had additional clues to work with to try to find her killer. The stomach contents, the gold fibers from, you know, some type of vehicle. It's all good stuff to work with. And who knows had she laid out there longer, some of that stuff

may have been more degraded and not something they could use or, you know, determine its value. But they did have some stuff to work with based on what was found. So one part of the mystery was over. Now police knew what happened to Amy, but they still didn't know. No, who did it? The news was obviously devastating for Amy's family. However, they were able to have Amy back for her final goodbye. Amy was cremated and buried in New Berlin, Wisconsin, near her paternal grandparents. A memorial at Bay Village City Hall was paid for by donations from a fundraiser by local radio host Bill Randall. This peaceful spot was a small comfort for Margaret. Even a decade after Amy's passing, she was touched by how many people still remembered her, telling Cleveland

magazine. To this day, people still leave flowers and notes and stuffed animals. She loved her stuffed animals. In the aftermath of Amy's abduction and murder, the entire community was shocked by the discovery, but they all rallied around the Mahalovic family. Amy's mom, Margaret, told Cleveland.com, do you know there were people, volunteers who had never met Amy? But they were so involved that after they needed counseling, too. Before authorities could even notify the Mahalovic family, members of the media were outside their home. Wilbur, Salyer, who owned the farm Amy was found on, couldn't believe the news. He told the Mansfield News Journal, I just can't understand this.

I've been watching the television for two, three months on this and all that. And here she is, about 300 yards from my house. So there's a couple of things that really kind of grabbed my attention there. Number one is the fact, and this is something that we don't always talk about, there were so many volunteers who were so heavily invested in this that Amy's death took a major toll on them to the point where they needed counseling. And then, you know, you have this individual who owned the farm, didn't have anything to do with Amy's death as far as we know, but how devastating would that be? Just to know that this little

girl was found on your property. Yeah, for me, that would taint the property, you know, just to know that something terrible culminated there. You know, I would never feel the same about that property again. And we hear this in a lot of cases, these farmers that have these hundreds of acres of land. Unfortunately, they make good dumping sites because there's usually not many witnesses around, you know, there's a lot of trees and out of the way. So it's frequent that bodies are found on some of these kinds of properties. But I think it goes to show you, you know, these cases don't just affect the family. Obviously, they affect the family very much, but there is a huge spider web that branches out to affect so many people, some of whom never knew Amy at all.

Patty and Jerry Wetterling, the parents of Jacob Wetterling, who was also missing at the time Amy was abducted and killed, sent their condolences to the Mhalovics, along with a single white rose. They wanted to support a family who, like themselves, was going through something unimaginable. The Mhalovic family was thankful for all the help and support they received. Margaret said at a public press conference, thank you, Cleveland, for all your efforts, for all your hope, for all your support, for all your caring, and bless you. Life for Amy's family after her murder was unbelievably difficult. And as in many cases like Amy's, the family doesn't know how to move forward together. Margaret and Mark Mihalovic ended up divorcing in 1991. Margaret told Cleveland Magazine, yes, it played a part referring to Amy's murder.

It wasn't the only thing, but it made, she tried to continue before changing up what she was going to say. It was hard on us both. we're friends. It's all right, she finally said. And I think, unfortunately, we're in a situation like this, it seems like that's the time when families will really come together. But in a lot of cases, we know from seeing it so many times that it causes problems that weren't there before. And sometimes couples don't know how to deal with it. And they wind up separating. Well, who's prepared for? And how do you know how to navigate life, relationships after something like this happens. We're not prepared for it in school

or anything like that. So it's just extremely tough. And you could see why it would be hard for some relationships to continue. I've even heard more of people saying they couldn't really bear to see their spouse because every time they looked at them, they, saw nothing but their child in that person's face. Yeah, and then you have differences too, probably maybe one person wants to talk about it. The other person doesn't. So I think it just really can create a wedge and just cause things to be a problem. Yeah, no doubt.

The search for Amy's killer continued and the community, fearing a predator targeting kids, was living amongst them, waited for an arrest. But one never came. 10 years after Amy's murder, the search for answers continued. FBI agent Dick Red, who had helped look for Amy in the early stages, told Cleveland magazine. This was a crime against children, against family and community. We're not going to let it go.

We're determined to catch him. Bay Village Special Investigator Phil Tornsey told News 5 Cleveland. Whoever did this was praying on the love this little girl had for her mother. To try and make sure no other family had to go through what the Mahalovics went through and no other child went through what Amy did, Margaret turned to advocacy. She helped co-found the community fund for assisting missing youth, which helped to educate children about the danger of trusting strangers. Sadly, in September 2001, Margaret McNulty, Amy's mother, passed away at the age of 54. In her Las Vegas, Nevada apartment, she had been

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Morning Journal, a very caring, loving person is gone who couldn't get her life back together after Amy disappeared. Margaret didn't remarry after her divorce from Mark. One of the very important. One year after Amy's murder at a memorial for her daughter, Margaret said, let's fill the void that her passing is left with positive thoughts with a smile on her face and say, she blessed our life for a while. Unfortunately, she is gone, but now we must live on. We must do what we can with what she gave to us while she was here. Margaret was laid to rest next to Amy at Highland Memorial Park.

Sadly, she died without ever finding out who murdered her only. daughter. In 2014, a $25,000 reward for information was announced by the FBI. In this case, it seems likely that a reward this large, and after this much time has passed, shows that authorities truly believe a tip can solve the case. In 2016, for his part, Mark Mihalovic was still sure that Amy's case would be solved one day. He told News 5 Cleveland, they'll close the book on this hopefully. I'm very much convinced that one day they will. Two years later, Bay Village Police Chief Mark Spatzel, who was new to the force when Amy was killed, told News 5 Cleveland, for 28 years we've been trying to get this solved. I'd really like to do it before I retire.

The ironic thing is that on the very day that Amy disappeared, Mark Spatzel gave a talk at Bay Middle School about stranger danger. Spatzel clarified that whoever killed Amy didn't just call her out of the blue once and demand she meet him. He said, this person had a lot of time to groom Amy. We know there was one phone call, probably more. Between 2013 and 2019, over 100 people were interviewed as part of the investigation, but no arrest came. And I think this just kind of highlights how long some of these unsolved cases go on. You talk about this guy Mark Spatzel.

He was new to the force when Amy was abducted and killed. And he's talking about, you know, as the Bay Village police chief. 28 years later, wanting to solve this before he retires. There's no doubt that it had to weigh on him in the thought that he was at her school that very day talking about stranger danger, just really the timing is just eerie. In January 2019, after an investigation discovery aired a three-hour special about Amy's case, authorities received nearly 100 tips, including one very promising lead. A woman came forward to authorities with possible information about a suspect in Amy's murder,

her ex-boyfriend. The tipster said that at the time Amy was abducted, she and her boyfriend, a man named Dean Runkle, were living in Bay Village, less than two miles away from the shopping center. Someone lured Amy to. Runkle also had family in the area, including a niece who was Amy's age and in the same grade. The woman remembered that on October 27, 1989, Dean Runkle didn't come home from work like he normally would. Authorities say the woman indicated it was unlike Runkle to disappear and not come home overnight. Though Dean didn't go home that night, he did call home and ask his girlfriend whether or not she had heard on the news that Amy was missing.

It was about 10 p.m. when he called. and they spoke about it, it was during this call that the woman also believed she recalled Dean telling her he himself knew Amy Mahalbitt. According to News 5 Cleveland, Dean Runkle's ex-girlfriend also recalled making at least one trip with him to Ashland County, where Amy's body was found. Authorities were never able to figure out the connection between Bay Village and Ashland County, but it was obvious that both locations were familiar to Dean Runkle. At the time of Amy's abduction and murder, Runkle drove a gold odesmobile with a tan interior, which could explain the gold fibers that were found on Amy's clothes. Looking back through the case files, a gold

odesmobile registered to Runkle was noted by FBI agents as driving near the field where Amy's body was discovered. According to News 5, Cleveland, one detective wrote in a report, the investigation has not been able to show any reasons why Dean Runkle should have been near Amy Mhalovic's body recovery site on 28 1990. If you look at this area on a map, there's really nothing around it. It's pretty out of the way. According to News 5, Cleveland, in November 2019, Dean Runkle showed up at the Bay Village Police Department and made what police deemed very suspicious statements. Runkle said that in 1989, when Amy was abducted and killed, was a dark period for him. He also admitted that he may have met Margaret in a bar before Amy's abduction, but also said that maybe he didn't know who he was

talking to. It was also pretty vague about whether or not he had any contact with Amy before her murder. He was asked if he had ever called her, to which he first replied, I could have and later explained that it could have been a wrong number if he did call her. So we got to talk about this Dean Runkle. I mean, it's 2019. before his ex-girlfriend calls in the tip about him. It seems as though it was kind of spurred on by this investigation discovery special about Amy's case. You know, he lived close to the shopping center, didn't come home that night,

was familiar with the area in Ashland County where Amy's body was found. The FBI was even considering the possibility that he was, was driving near the field where her body was found. And then, you know, he just shows up at the Bay Village Police Department. And some of these comments or statements that he made morph to me are so bizarre. Now, he admits that that year was a dark period for him. Okay, what does that mean? Dark period.

And he talks about he may have met Amy's mother. But for me, it's the answer to this question of whether he had ever. called Amy saying I could have and then later saying well it could have been a wrong number if he did call her that is so strange in my mind because my first thought is if you're asked that question by police you would say no I would have no reason to ever talk or call this young girl but it's almost as if he's hedging in case the authorities have evidence that he did make a call. Yeah, the wishy-washiness of his statements just probably didn't help him at all

in clearing his name, probably made him rank higher as a potential suspect to the police because it's, as you mentioned, did you call a young girl? It's a yes or no answer. If somebody asked me, did you call any young girl? Absolutely not. So for him to just say, well, maybe I did. I could have, but I don't know. It just, it probably set alarm bells off for the police that he's got something here that he's not being honest about. Now, to be fair, it is 30 years later.

But it does seem to me as though he's trying very hard not to get caught in a lie. Dean Runk will agree to take a polygraph test for investigators. According to News 5, Cleveland, the results of the test showed that deception was in the case. Authorities collected a DNA swab from him, but he refused to let them search a storage unit of his. They were able to obtain a search warrant and collect evidence from the unit anyway. The items and any results from the search haven't been released publicly. Many believe that investigators were looking for Amy's boots, binder, and earrings, which have never been found. Perhaps they were trophies for her killer.

Dean Runkle is now believed to live somewhere in Florida. he maintains his innocence in the case, and we do need to point out. He's not been charged with any crimes, but one thing we have not mentioned yet is how eerily similar photos of Runkle are when compared to the sketch of the man. Amy was seen talking to. Listeners can find this sketch online and see for themselves. While sketch alone is not evidence, the incredible likeness only seems to strengthen the case against Runkle, at least in the minds of online sluice, according to an article James Rinner wrote for

cleavesene.com. Multiple witnesses picked out Runkle's picture is the man seen with Amy the day she vanished. And just going back to the pictures of him from back in that time period, they do look a lot in my opinion, like the sketch. A lot of times when there are suspects that come to light, they look way different from the composite sketches that are created. But I have to say, at least in my opinion, he's eerily close to the sketch in this case. According to cleave scene.com, Ronkel was born in New London and grew up in a farmhouse

just a couple of miles from where Amy's body was dumped, along County Road 1181. Most disturbing of all is that he had a background in teaching. And he wasn't just a teacher. he was a science teacher. So if we go back to this Lake Erie nature and science center and the guest book and the thought by police that possibly the perpetrator got the information of these young girls from the guest book, could Runkle's background, you know, as being a science teacher at one time, have made him

very knowledgeable of this place. Could he have even taken his classes there? I mean, it's all conjecture, but obviously that's what we have in these type of unsolved cases. Yeah, and it definitely doesn't prove anything, but it does show a possible link. You know, he may have had a science, you know, we know he was a science teacher. He may have had a science interest, which may have brought him to that spot. And unfortunately, we don't really have all the details about when and where he was a science teacher, but just the connection to that science angle is very interesting. But again, Dean Runkle, who is now in his late 70s, maintains his innocence, and he's not been charged in this case. And obviously, he's completely innocent until

proven guilty in a court of law. But the one thing I will say, Morf, is that, you know, when you go online, you look in forums, and look at the comments by people on places like Reddit and web slews. His name comes up over and over. Yeah, there's clearly a lot more people on these online forums that are accusatory of him and not ones coming to his defense. It seems like there's a real flow of opinion against him. In 2021, new technology allowed DNA evidence to be uncovered from the blanket and curtain

left near Amy in the field. Detective Sergeant Jay Elish, with the Bay Village Police Department, told Cleveland 19 News. For years, we did not know what roles as items played. Everything that was found around Amy was taken as evidence, and now we know that they had to have a connection to Amy because her hairs were on them. Investigators now believe that Amy was wrapped in the white blanket and a quilted avocado green curtain before being transported to Ashland County and dumped. there were also hairs from the Mahalovic family dog found on the curtain. If Amy's DNA, hairs, and even hairs from Amy's dog were found on those items, let's hope evidence connected to her killer is on there too.

Perhaps there's limited DNA belonging to the suspect, where it may be degraded awaiting new advancements that can unlock the answers. We should also point out that the technology now exist to extract DNA from a rootless hair. So if Amy's killer slipped up and left any trace of himself, it could be his downfall. So we don't know exactly how much DNA there is to work with. We don't know how good the DNA is, how viable it is. But what I will say, and I think what is being proven out over the last few years, is that cases are being solved, you know, using new technology that comes about

that can do things with DNA that before couldn't be done. And so I just think we're going to see more and more cases like this solved as the technology continues to advance. I mean, you mentioned it more. You know, they can now extract DNA from a rootless hair. That's another avenue. The genetic genealogy. That's another avenue.

There's all these new avenues that are helping to solve these types of cases. And as good as this technology is and the wonderful things they can do with it, we still have to remember, we don't know how much, if any, of the offenders' DNA they have, what's condition it's in. So these are all things that we need to be mindful of. And hopefully they do have enough to work with. And if they don't now, maybe in the near future, they will have a technology that will help to unlock some of the secrets that might close this case.

Bay Village Sergeant Edward Chapman told News 5 Cleveland, the curtain is unique. it almost appears to be handmade. Explaining the significance of the curtain, retired FBI agent Phil Torsney said, we know where Amy was abducted and we know where she was found. This piece of evidence could tell us where she was killed and help us find the person who killed her. There are photos online of this curtain waiting for someone to recognize it

and prove its connection to a suspect and the police still seek the public's help. One tip has already given them a potential suspect. Maybe another tip can solve this case. On October 27, 2003, 34 years to the day after Amy went missing, two dozen residents of Bay Village gathered for another walk for Amy Mahalovic. At 5 p.m. They huddled together at Bay Middle School, where Amy left her bike, and then set off on foot for the shopping center where she was last seen alive.

It's a short walk, less than a half a mile down Wolf Road. but every step was heavy, filled with the knowledge of what awaited Amy at the end of her own walk. Though there will never truly be closure in this case, Mark Mahalovic says the day Amy's killer's identified will be a great day. He told the Mansfield News Journal that a lot of tears of sadness and joy will be shed at that moment. I guarantee you that. There is still a reward for information leading to the identity of Amy's killer, but it has been doubled to $50,000. If you have any information about, the abduction and murder of Amy Renee Mahalovic, please call the Bay Village Police Department

at 440-871-1234 or email BVPD at cityof-bayvillage.com with what you know. You can also call the FBI directly at 1-800 call FBI with any tips. So morph as we wrap up this case, you know, we said it right up front. This is a pretty infamous, well-known unsolved case. Amy Mahalovic's abduction and murder has received a lot of attention over the years. And it is one of those cases that, you know, people online, even, you know, 30 plus years later, continue to evaluate, talk about, speculate on this case is not, it's not going away. and the police have even said that, right?

They're not going to give up until they find out who did this. And I kind of want to go back to Mark for a little bit. I mean, everyone in the Mahalovic family was affected by Amy's abduction and murder. Her mother, Margaret, obviously suffered greatly. You know, there was mention of possible alcoholism. and she died at a very young age. The marriage fell apart. So, you know, when you look at Mark, he lost his marriage.

He lost Amy. We don't know that much about Jason just because there wasn't that much in the reporting. It just kind of tears me up. When you talk about the devastation that, you know, a family goes through in the aftermath of something like this. I mean, it just completely upends and changes everyone's life. Yeah, what I go back to is just from start to finish from the very beginning when the police took this case seriously, to all the people that helped in the search and donating time and resources to years later, authorities are still asking the community for help.

You know, it's been a very cooperative investigation from the beginning. and it took 30 years for that documentary to air to generate that tip. So, you know, if it can take 30 years to generate that big tip that leads to a suspect, you know, it's proof that other things can still come this far along after the fact. Yeah, no doubt. And that's why I do believe it's important to continue to talk about these types of cases. You just never know who you're going to reach, a person who might have information that, you know, before they thought wasn't relevant.

But now after hearing something, they think, you know, maybe I should call this set. And that could be the one thing that breaks the case wide open. And then if we go back to Dean Runkle, again, not been charged, she's innocent until proven guilty. What I will say is that there's a lot of smoke there. around Dean Runkle, he matches the sketch pretty closely, familiar with the area. You know, we kind of went through all of the things about him. You would have to say he's at the top of the list.

And that's very obvious when you look online. Yeah, we know to some degree he did cooperate, even though his story constantly changed. He did give DNA. He did take a polygraph, which again, reportedly he, failed, but at least we know that the police do have his DNA on file. So if they're able to ever definitively do anything with any DNA they have in the case, it should either exonerate him and clear his name ones and for all, or if he's responsible, it would hopefully link him to the crime. And that's probably what it's going to take at this point,

right? Something in the area of DNA, because we are, again, you know, third. plus years on from the murder, people have died. People are getting older who were associated with the case or may have known about something. I do think it'll be somewhere in the area of DNA if this case is ever sold. But that's it for our episode on Amy Mihalovic. If you love the show, but I haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out and leave us a five-star rating. You can leave a review. keep telling your friends. A word of mouth about the podcast is huge. If you want to find us on social media, we're on X with the handle at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook by going to facebook.com slash criminology podcast.

And you can join our Facebook discussion group, criminology podcast discussion and fans. So that's it for another episode of Criminology. But Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So for Mike. and more. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.