amy mihaljevic suspect dean runkle

Real Name: Amy Renee Mihaljevic Nicknames: No known nicknames Location: Bay Village, Ohio Date: October 27, 1989 Amy Mihaljevic. 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. The girl had been sexually assaulted years earlier, and thankfully did not fall into the mans trap. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. He's not homeless anymore. The FBI believes the murder was actually committed in the remote rural area surrounding Bay Village to avoid being seen. But when Renner questioned other teachers and students, they all confirmed that this teacher, Dean Runkle, did in fact frequent the nature center. Margaret ran home, called her husband Mark, and began calling all of Amys friends and neighbors asking if theyd seen her. Amy was last seen walking away from the plaza, toward the parking lot, with that man. Amy Mihaljevic was 10 years old when she disappeared from Bay Village, Ohio, on October 27, 1989, launching a massive, high-profile investigation. For more info about Amy's case, you can read through the blog I've devoted to it since 2006. I suspect they preyed on school-age girls by attempting to lure them out shopping under the guise of getting gift for their mothers. DR seems eccentric from what Ive read, but being eccentric isnt a crime either. BAY VILLAGE, Ohio Investigators Thursday revealed new evidence they believe will help solve the kidnapping and murder of Amy Mihaljevic. Meanwhile, Mark and Jason moved on with their lives as best they could. And it seems that there's finally some break in the case. New DNA results reveal Amys hair was on both items. Detectives kept trying to focus in on what he knew about Amys disappearance, but the suspect would not answer the questions. See pictures of the handmade curtain and blanket here. Science teacher from the area, lived in Ashland County and grew up. Thousands of tips have come in throughout the years, but no one has ever been arrested. 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. Lamborgine, reputed to be one of the leaders of a pedophile ring, lived in Cleveland and within close proximity to Mihalevic for years. As an FBI agent on the case said, we have the beginning and the end of what happened to Amy M, but what we dont have is the middle piece. She did not tell the girls who she was waiting for, but she did tell them she received a mysterious phone call right after she got home from school from a man claiming to be a friend of her mothers. Amy's case, beginning with the phone calls from a stranger posing as a family friend, appears to have been a seduction gone wrong. A search warrant for the suspects house was executed, but no evidence linking the man to Amy was found. 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. Jason became concerned quickly and called his mother Margaret at work to ask where Amy was. Jay Elish. 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. As word spread around the neighborhood, friends and family started coming over to the Mihaljevic house to make flyers and search for Amy. Then, in August 2008, a man named Tony Perchinsky called to tell me that he'd heard from a local cop that the man who'd been Perchinsky's eighth-grade science teacher in 1991, Dean Runkle, was a suspect in Amy's case. 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. If you're from NE Ohio, there's nothing that comes close to this case. 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. Dean Runkle is still the prime suspect in the case, according to one FBI agent, but the case against him is still circumstantial. ", I ask him about the sexual nature of the letters and he looks away. Amy was just 10 years . 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. Amy may have resisted and fought back - indeed, her fingernails were chipped, according to the coroner's report - causing her abductor to become violent in order to regain control. A female student from his 1989 class says she noticed the similarities between Runkle and the composite sketch of Amy's abductor. Amy Mihaljevic - Suspect - Dean Runkle. Edit: Press conference just ended. He leans down to whisper something in her ear. The three-hour special, premiering 9 p.m. Sunday on ID, takes a deep dive into the still-unsolved 1989 murder of 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic, who lived in a town on the shores of Lake Erie. Somebody who had ridden in that car a week ago, had dropped a hair on the seat," Renner said about the transfer theory. This interaction was seen by two separate witnesses, both fellow middle school students. Now we know: New clues in the Amy Mihaljevic case. In 2008, I learned of a man named Dean Runkle, who was once a teacher in the small Cleveland suburb of Amherst. The offender is identified to be a white male. She was known for being a Person. Unfortunately the remote farmland surrounding Bay Village offers predators the perfect cover to abduct, assault, kill and dispose of their victims without attracting any attention at all. 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. Today, he's a consultant for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The local middle school dismissed for the day around 2:10pm every day, but the local high school did not dismiss until 3:10pm. Lanning doesn't assume to know enough about Runkle to offer an opinion of his behavior or his motivations. Most child molesters don't abduct and kill their victims, he notes. "We were close. someone shouts. Her last meal was reported to be a soy substance . 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. 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. He didnt seem to even know where he was. Amy Renee Mihaljevic (11 Dcembre 1978 - Le . But it was never inappropriate.". 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. And I realized the nature center was in Bay Village.". Another key person of interest in Amy Mihaljevics disappearance and murder case is Richard Holbert, who, like a few others, has confessed to slaying Amy. There may be circumstances or reasons that may lead him to have sex with others outside his preferred age/sex demographic." Submissions. Runkle was born in New London and grew up in a farmhouse just a couple miles from where Amy's body was dumped, along County Road 1181. He also photographed his students regularly, developing the negatives himself. Ohio Gov. "I didn't leave Ohio because of Amy," he says. At 2:10 p.m., on October . None took the bait. I wasn't going to chance it because I didn't trust him based on his unfounded and mean spirited hatchet job on his personally manufactured suspect, Dean Runkle, in the Amy Mihaljevic case. 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. Did you see this curtain hanging in someone's house? 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. "I walk a lot," he says. But no one knows Runkle. Two witnesses said they saw Amy that day with a man who would now be in his mid-50s or early '60s. 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. 08/18/2006. After years and years of almost-suspects, Bay Village police had yet another lead go cold. It was . Hes a suspect who looks good from a standpoint of circumstantial evidence, but when we need concrete evidence it all falls apart. "But I'm telling the truth when I say I don't remember being there.". He had a few girls he was extra close to, like the girl who sat in front of me. Keeping all this in mind, only a handful of strong suspects remain. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Runkle is an interesting suspect for many reasons. He was an accomplished ragtime piano player and played in the Red Garter Saloon at Cedar Point during the summers. There is new evidence in the Amy Mihaljevic murder investigation - a homemade curtain and a blanket found on the road where Amy's body was discovered in 1989. "My sister told me about you," he says. 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. "I know I'm their top suspect. Nous l'avons rencontr en premier". Edit: Press conference just ended. 4. "I said, 'I know you're the one who killed Amy,'" she recalls. But the only student they know who went inside was a boy named Dan, who attended Sailorway Middle School. Mixed opinions from former students (Renner, 2008). The girl became frightened and immediately hung up the phone. Investigators from Bay Village and the FBI know of this man. At that time, they told me that on the week of St. Patrick's Day in 2005, a retired FBI agent who worked on Amy's case contacted each of the girls from North Olmsted. This case to me, to solve it, not just to me, but for the police department and Amys family and really for Amy, would be everything for us, he said. He seemed excited about a new lead. This person wanted police to find Amys body. Our theory is that they were used to wrap her in before she was dumped where she was found.. Under interrogation, the suspect began softly muttering random words in no particular order. Amy Mihaljevic's cause of death was determined to be homicide by stabbing. 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. By Sunday, October 11, 2015. A homeless man says he thinks he has seen Runkle at a soup kitchen on Flagler Avenue before, but that was years ago. 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. He walks over to see what we're talking about. The story I've spent the most time on is the unsolved abduction and murder of Amy Mihaljevic. BAY VILLAGE -- As the family of JonBenet Ramsey awaits the arrival of a primary suspect in the decade-old murder of 6-year-old JonBenet, Bay Village police are reminded there is still hope to find the killer of Amy Mihaljevic. Amys death affected everyone in the Bay Village community and surrounding areas. No sign of him, of course. Published: Oct. 25, 2021 at 7:26 PM PDT. But, they did classify that although he looked quite presentable, he didnt carry himself in a way that an accomplished or a professional person might. 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. But Lanning can extrapolate some ideas about the man who killed Amy. Elish believes anyone who can identify those items, the curtain especially, will help solve this case. As the years went by, Margaret Mihaljevic moved to Las Vegas to be closer to her mother. 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. Amy Mihaljevic Popularity . he says. Another close timeframe, so its another no from me. 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. Amy Mihaljevic was born in Little Rock. Unfortunately, Ryan didnt remember this incident until years after Amys body was found. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. a suburb of Cleveland. He's doing OK. Amy told her mother she was ok and that she was at home now, and then quickly hung up. 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. One of them spots the girl spinning around the pole, seemingly without a care in the world. Jen Crouch says Runkle liked to tell her about pranks he played on friends. Amy . Investigators would later figure out that Amy was not the only girl who had received such phone calls around the same time. 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. . 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. The details surrounding her disappearance and subsequent murder are a parent's worst nightmare. Both witness accounts corroborated each other. Does Amy Mihaljevic Dead or Alive? They thrive off the increased risk of being caught, so they start leaving bodies out in the open and leaving behind trace evidence. 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. Your email address will not be published. The dog hair traveled on Amy's body and deposited onto them because the curtain and blanket were likely used to wrap her body during travel. Puberty seems to be a very significant issue for many of these serial offenders.". New DNA evidence could help solve the decades old mystery. The man told Amy that her mother had just gotten a promotion at work, and that he wanted to take Amy shopping to buy a gift for her that day. On October 27, 1989, ten-year-old Amy Mihaljevic was kidnapped from the Bay Square Shopping Center in Bay Village, Ohio. 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. Ryan said the car followed him a ways until it pulled up beside him and the man inside slowly lowered his window. At the nature center in 1989 was a log book that all visitors were required to sign when they entered. Anything is possible." document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Design a site like this with WordPress.com, If youre interested in learning more about Amys case, please check out James Renners book about this case. Whether there is enough to convict is a whole separate argument. In 2016, fibers on the curtain turned out to be dog hairs, matching Amys dog at the time of her disappearance. But they recently tested dog hairs found on the fabric and determined that they matched hairs taken from the dog Amy owned at the time. During those delays, I learned that Runkle was that suspect. Other tips were called in about a local handyman who had been doing some work on a house down the street from the Mihaljevics. Amy attended the local middle school, and her older brother Jason attended the local high school in 1989. Remember back to 1989. At one time, they even seemed close to arresting him. 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. In 1971, he quit teaching for two years to play ragtime at Disneyland. "The younger the age of the victim, the more likely the perpetrator would not have a gender preference," he says. "Whenever I was in his car, he'd say, 'There are my breasts, these are my double-D's,'" recalls Chase. "And it better be someone who cannot be linked to you, because when a child is abducted and murdered in this country, trouble will rain down upon you. DR is a teacher, and if its one thing that kids will remember its seeing a teacher or former teacher in public. There is new evidence in the Amy Mihaljevic murder investigation - a homemade curtain and a blanket found on the road where Amy's body was discovered in 1989. Mother, Laura Smith, and Boyfriend Arrested in Toddler, Julian Madera's Death/ deputies say 21-year-old Landon Broussard showed up to his grandmother's house, carrying the badly bruised, naked body of the 3-year-old boy. 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. Investigators said she was stabbed to death. "When you're dealing with human behavior," warns Lanning, "you're not dealing in absolutes. He shrugs. Initial evidence found at the scene suggested that she had been dumped there shortly after her abduction, maybe on the day itself. Search for a Topic. [emailprotected] Anyone with any information, call the FBI at 216.522.1400 or the Bay Village Police Department at 440.871.0773. Everyone standing in line at the Flagler soup kitchen wants to help. 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. One hundred days later, Amys body was found 50 miles away. And, only a few times has she said that the man in the photo could be the one she saw. He knew Amy and her friends. Amy Mihaljevic He admitted he was a teacher at Amys middle school, but denied he had anything to do with the nature center. This theory is based on the fact that Amys body was found re-dressed and her underwear was put back on inside out. In 1987, Runkle set a few thousand dollars aside in a trust for Dan, according to Dan's mother. Police responded to the Mihaljevic house almost immediately, and began interviewing Amys family and friends over the next few days. Tue Aug 17, 06:49:00 PM . 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. All these other girls had unlisted phone numbers. But Runkle eventually asked for the money back. Amy Renee Mihaljevic was just 10 years old when her life was cut short in 1989. Two of Amys friends immediately told police they had met Amy at the Bay Village Shopping Center shortly after school ended. Her murder case raised national attention. Sgt. In August, after hearing from Perchinsky, I sent more than 500 e-mails to former students of Runkle's through MySpace and Facebook. Facebook Amy Mihaljevic and the suspect sketches. Nothing is that simple, I told myself. On October 27th, 1989, 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic disappeared from a shopping center near her home in Bay Village, OH. AMY MIHALJEVIC - 2021 UPDATE! on I ask my questions anyway. Three and a half months later, Amy's body was found near New London, Ohio. We know this perpetrator is both patient opportunistic, the play it safe type who allowed Amy to call her mom as to not raise suspicion, so why would he rush from his job to the abduction scene? "Amy!" What a stupid idea - thinking I would walk into a random fast-food joint and find him. The report that was done by fox 8 said no sperm was found referenced a 1989 report that used 1989 technology. Four months after her kidnapping in 1989, of which the 32nd anniversary falls on Wednesday, Amy's body was discovered in . In 2001, Margaret Mihaljevic was found dead in her apartment. Shortly after her friends went home, Amy was approached by a man in his 30s at the shopping center. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. In 1990 when the body was found, forensic testing for DNA as we know it now and other trace evidence was not yet available. 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. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Runkle also seemed to have volunteered in the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village at the time of the murder. Many of these men have no alibis for the afternoon of October 27, 1989. Dean Runkle himself denies any involvement in the murder of Amy Mihaljevic and the FBI has never officially declared him a suspect. 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. For their part, Bay Village police detectives do not consider Runkle as the only suspect in the case and continue to work all leads. "This is where I'm at," says Amy, and walks alone across the nearly empty parking lot toward Baskin-Robbins. "It was more than creepy; it felt like an animal noticing you walk into a room. "I'm meeting a friend.". A couple hours later after no response, the Mihaljevics filed a missing persons report with the Bay Village Police Department. 1949). Margaret started to panic, so she ran down the block to the middle school to inquire after Amy. Immediately, police focused in on the caretaker of the ranch, who was a dead ringer for the composite sketch. When Amys body was found, the pair of blue earrings in the shape of horse heads that she was wearing that day were missing from her body. Other fibers and hairs were discovered on the curtain and blanket as well, meaning they may be able to link these items to the killer and his home in the future. Send a News Tip. I attempted to locate it in hopes of taking a sample of carpet that could be compared to the gold fibers found on Amy. Disappearance and Murder. The FBI got involved in this case almost immediately to lend their resources to the Bay Village Police Department. This desolate stretch of cracked pavement is not a place you'd likely happen on by chance, and detectives had long theorized that whoever had dumped her body there must have been familiar with the area. I thought about showing his picture to the managers, but then scolded myself for thinking it would be so easy. Today, in his late 70s, he remains free and resides in Key West, Florida, where he works as a restaurant shift manager. There were phone calls made to other girls that were just like the one Amy received. Amy is . 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. Amy passes her blue antique bicycle, which she peddled to school that morning, and heads east on Wolf Road. "He made comments about girls' outfits. 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. To me, Runkle is similar because there is just so much circumstantial evidence that points to him. 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. Last weekend, I paid him a visit. We know where Amy was abducted. Amy's case remains open to this day, and the Bay Village police have never let her case go cold in almost 30 years. BAY VILLAGE, Ohio (WOIO) - Nearly 32 years after her murder, theres a new clue in the Amy Mihaljevic case. Even with todays advanced science and technology, forensic scientists cant test trace evidence that doesnt exist, or was never collected. Why did you leave Ohio in 2003 without giving notice to your employer, For the most part, information on potential suspects has been revealed as, part of independent investigations. 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 . Privacy Policy. This means they have killed before, and theyve gotten away with it. We may never find answers to these questions, but Amys family deserves to know what happened to her. At the time of Amy's . The Ashland County field where Amy Mihaljevic's body was discovered on February 8, 1990. They also start taking trophies. Both of Amys parents worked full time. James Renner chased Runkle down to the Key West, FL area and attempted to interview him. 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. They know this.". Sunday, July 18, 2010 . It didn't. He was an eccentric teacher from the beginning. Currently, a top suspect in the unsolved abduction and murder of Amy Mihaljevic. The new information still led to no significant new leads or suspects. We knew in 2016, her dogs hair was on the curtain, but now knowing her hair is on them tells us more and is a lot stronger, explained Bay Village Det. Amy Mihaljevic. Kids no longer answered phone calls. The man spoke to her for a few seconds, and then led her away from the sidewalk. 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. But something happened in 1987.