The handyman was brought in for questioning, but was quickly eliminated as a suspect once his alibi was corroborated by multiple people. 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 . 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. They recalled seeing him eating at Rax on Route 58 every night, sometimes with his classroom assistants. As the years went by, Margaret Mihaljevic moved to Las Vegas to be closer to her mother. 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. That obsession leads James to a successful career as an investigative journalist. 2.1 Dean Runkle; 3 References; 4 Further reading; Runkle also seemed to have volunteered in the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village at the time of the murder. he shouts. Both of Amys parents worked full time. Another girl in the next town over came forward to police about a similar phone call as well, but this girl had something in common with Amy. During those delays, I learned that Runkle was that suspect. There are several people we are still looking at today as suspects for the case, said Elish. 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). Through Renners research and his own private investigation, Renner has produced what is by far the most valuable lead in Amys case so far. In 2008, I learned of a man named Dean Runkle, who was once a teacher in the small Cleveland suburb of Amherst. Both witness accounts corroborated each other. These other girls went to school in North Olmsted and were roughly the same age as Amy, about 10 or 11. 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. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. And, only a few times has she said that the man in the photo could be the one she saw. Last year, they stated that they are extensively investigating all the suspects in connection with this particular case and feel that when they identify Amys killer, Joseph would most likely be on their list. She was known for being a Person. She said she was going with a friend to the Bay Square Shopping Center. The third girl took horseback riding lessons at Holly Hill Ranch, the very same ranch that Amy took lessons from. In 1987, Runkle set a few thousand dollars aside in a trust for Dan, according to Dan's mother. Most "groom" and "seduce" their victims into going along with their plans, a salesman-like approach that allows them to believe the children are willing participants. He asked them if they remembered writing their names and home numbers in a logbook by the front doors. But with each attempt the killer refined his pitch, until, finally, he called Amy and she agreed to meet. Amy Mihaljevic How often did you visit the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center? They intend to keep it open for the next 30 years until it is solved. Sunday, October 11, 2015. When he couldn't find a textbook up to his standards, he wrote his own and passed it out to the kids. All four girls, who received . Amy Mihaljevic was born in Little Rock. He was immediately brought in for questioning. And how did the log book disappear from the nature center? And that's when the old man with a Frisbee shows up. "And here's the weird thing," said Perchinsky. 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. Jay Elish. But there is so much more circumstantial evidence that says they are guilty than there is for any other "suspects". Tag: Dean Runkle. 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. http://www.. It's hard to tell what might be ailing Runkle, though, because, at 65, he could easily pass for 45. The police also released a letter to all households with school-age children asking if they had received any mysterious phone calls similar to the one that lured Amy out to the shopping center. See pictures of the handmade curtain and blanket here. Hes a suspect who looks good from a standpoint of circumstantial evidence, but when we need concrete evidence it all falls apart. His hair is thick and bushy above his eyes. The witnesses described that he was within the average range for a males height, weight, and build, making him unremarkable in appearance. She was never seen again. None took the bait. I ask him about Dan and he quickly became emotional. She just got a promotion. 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 . He didnt seem to even know where he was. For more info about Amy's case, you can read through the blog I've devoted to it since 2006. How did Amy's life cross paths with the lives of three girls from North Olmsted she had never met? She was stabbed twice in the neck and struck with a blunt object on the back of her head. It's a day investigators have pored over for decades: October 27, 1989 -- when 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic disappeared from Bay Village, Ohio. I shake his hand and introduce myself. Usually, someone that would go this far is not someone who has never done that before or hasnt done it again, Elish said. By the time these women sought me out in 2006, they had forgotten the name. Even after a search of his home, police could not connect the caretaker to Amys disappearance in any way, and he had a solid alibi for the day and time Amy went missing. She jogs a little to catch up with Olivia Masiak. Did you see this curtain hanging in someone's house? He asked each of them if they remembered visiting the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village. The abductor had contacted Mihaljevic by telephone and arranged to meet her on the pretext of buying a gift . At this point, the case was still considered a missing persons case, as Amys body would not be found until months later. Our theory is that they were used to wrap her in before she was dumped where she was found.. It was a tragic year for the Runkles; the family's first home burned to the ground too. As I'm considering how to enter the compound, a man walks across the street in front of me. Runkle liked to tell boys sexual jokes, says Derek Chase. Most of the 100 or so who replied remembered his fondness for Dr. Pepper and disdain for yawning in his class or saying "yeah" instead of "yes." Details: In 1989, ten-year-old Amy Mihaljevic received a call from a man named Frank who claimed to be her mother's coworker and that she was getting a promotion and wanted to meet with her in order to pick out something for her mother for a . Over time the letters became sexual in nature. Lanning has weighed in on the case before. 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. 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. Amy Renee Mihaljevic was just 10 years old when her life was cut short in 1989. I ask him how so much circumstantial evidence could line up against one person. I thought about showing his picture to the managers, but then scolded myself for thinking it would be so easy. 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. DR was a teacher at a middle school, which let out later than Amys school did. Amy was 10 and had not yet reached puberty. he says. "Yeah, I wrote a lot of letters. 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. BAY VILLAGE, Ohio Investigators Thursday revealed new evidence they believe will help solve the kidnapping and murder of Amy Mihaljevic. Renner pressed him for any information about Amys murder, but Runkle walked away. Her dirty-blonde hair hangs, a little disheveled, over her earrings - turquoise horse heads, mounted on gold studs. Whatever the reason, Runkle moved back in with his parents in New London and got a job working at a pet store. Throughout his adult life, Renner has become obsessed with solving Amys murder. They walk together until they reach the shopping plaza a quarter mile down the road. On October 27, 1989, ten-year-old Amy Mihaljevic was kidnapped from the Bay Square Shopping Center in Bay Village, Ohio. But the only student they know who went inside was a boy named Dan, who attended Sailorway Middle School. Someone stitched this together inside their home and hung on their tall, narrow window. 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. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. ", 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. He also photographed his students regularly, developing the negatives himself. But don't tell her what we're doing. "It was more than creepy; it felt like an animal noticing you walk into a room. Amy Renee Mihaljevic (December 11, 1978 - October 27, 1989) was an ten-year-old American elementary school student who was kidnapped and murdered in the U.S. state of Ohio in 1989. And, because he was in the suburban Ohio area in 1989, authorities think that he can be behind Amys death. 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. Several years after the murder, a man at a church service in a nearby town suddenly stood up and yelled out the words I killed Amy Mihaljevic. Some off-duty police officers happened to be in the congregation and immediately took the man into custody. Ohio Gov. This would be a very risky move to pull off, so thats another no for DR. "I'm meeting a friend.". 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. Multiple witnesses say that he matches the man they saw with Amy the day she vanished. 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. Amy Mihaljevic was born on the 11th of December, 1978. A couple thought they had. Is this the sort of curtain someone you knew would have made? He admitted he was a teacher at Amys middle school, but denied he had anything to do with the nature center. 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. "What's the reward?" As if by divine intervention, Renner was on his way back to the Miami airport, and Runkle crossed in front of Renners vehicle on foot at a stop sign. The girl had been sexually assaulted years earlier, and thankfully did not fall into the mans trap. 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. According to reporter James Renner, Dean Runkle is a possible prime suspect in the FBI investigation. "I don't have anything to say." The FBI, currently offering an up to $25,000 reward for any information, has never let this case go cold. 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. . The FBI brought in a sketch artist, and the artist was able to create a composite sketch of the man based on the two witness accounts. We want it to be a surprise. At one time, they even seemed close to arresting him. DR seems eccentric from what Ive read, but being eccentric isnt a crime either. One of them spots the girl spinning around the pole, seemingly without a care in the world. For more info about Amy's case, you can read through the blog I've devoted to it since 2006. 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. 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. Puberty seems to be a very significant issue for many of these serial offenders.". Real Name: Amy Renee Mihaljevic Nicknames: No known nicknames Location: Bay Village, Ohio Date: October 27, 1989 Amy Mihaljevic. No other connection could be made between him and Amys disappearance. 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. But others remember a darker side. 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. Even with todays advanced science and technology, forensic scientists cant test trace evidence that doesnt exist, or was never collected. Gold-colored fibers were found on Amy's body, according to the Ashland County coroner's file on the case. "This is where I'm at," says Amy, and walks alone across the nearly empty parking lot toward Baskin-Robbins. Amy Mihaljevic. I remember when he saw one girl with a skirt that was way too short, he said, 'That's not appropriate, but I'm glad you wore it to my class.' 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.