Did you see this curtain hanging in someone's house? [2 . It didn't. No mention of that investigation was contained in his personnel file. As it happens, the soup kitchen is scheduled to serve free lunch in a half-hour. He shrugs. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. 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. Copyright 2021 WOIO. By allowing her to make contact with her family, the killer bought themselves the precious hours they needed to commit the assault and murder before she was reported as a missing person to police. But there is so much more circumstantial evidence that says they are guilty than there is for any other "suspects". When reached at home, he admits to being Runkle's "favorite" for a while. Only a few times has she told investigators that the man in the photo could be the same one who led Amy away. 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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 when Renner questioned other teachers and students, they all confirmed that this teacher, Dean Runkle, did in fact frequent the nature center. Disappearance and Murder. As the years went by, Margaret Mihaljevic moved to Las Vegas to be closer to her mother. New DNA evidence could help solve the decades old mystery. Sunday, July 18, 2010 . It's hard to tell what might be ailing Runkle, though, because, at 65, he could easily pass for 45. Is this the sort of curtain someone you knew would have made? There are no samples, according to Elish, currently being tested in a lab. Law Enforcement arranged a press conference and revealed new details on the Amy Mihaljevic case. 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. Searchers discovered Amy's body on February 9, 1990. She says he "probably" gave some to the Lake Erie Nature Center. Margaret started to panic, so she ran down the block to the middle school to inquire after Amy. For more info about Amy's case, you can read through the blog I've devoted to it since 2006. Amy Mihaljevic was 10 years old when she was abducted from the shopping plaza across the street from the police station in Bay Village, Ohio, on a sunny Friday afternoon in 1989. "I've been able to tear down this wall. When would I have had time to kill her? I don't think unjust collateral damage matters to him if it is likely to enhance his readership and thus his profit. He seemed excited about a new lead. I ask him about Dan and he quickly became emotional. First Look: Campus Pollyeyes, Opening Next Week in Little Italy, Arthur Treacher's in Garfield Heights Reopened by New Owner Who Plans More Locations in Ohio. "To me, that event is very significant," he says. I do not believe that so much evidence can point to one person and it be just a coincidence. One hundred days later, Amys body was found 50 miles away. 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. As word spread around the neighborhood, friends and family started coming over to the Mihaljevic house to make flyers and search for Amy. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Her murder case received national attention. Jason became concerned quickly and called his mother Margaret at work to ask where Amy was. The only thing that these girls had in common was the fact that they visited the Lake Erie Nature . It also gave him PTSD. 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. She says Runkle and another teacher were discussing the pregnancy of an eighth-grader and which boy might have been the father. 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. I requested Runkle's personnel file from Nord Junior High School and ran his name through a search of newspaper articles. Amy's case, beginning with the phone calls from a stranger posing as a family friend, appears to have been a seduction gone wrong. He was an accomplished ragtime piano player and played in the Red Garter Saloon at Cedar Point during the summers. At the nature center in 1989 was a log book that all visitors were required to sign when they entered. The third girl took horseback riding lessons at Holly Hill Ranch, the very same ranch that Amy took lessons from. DR is to this case what Leigh Allen is the the Zodiac. 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. Renner parked his car and confronted Runkle. There is a press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. EST. "When I went to school, there was this wall - student on this side, teacher over here," he said in an interview that ran in the Lorain Morning Journal that year. When I ask him if he could have used the logbook at the nature center to gather phone numbers for girls in North Olmsted, he says he's done talking and begins to walk away. Multiple witnesses say that he matches the man they saw with Amy the day she vanished. Richard Holbert. Revealed to have close relationships with some students, In 2005, investigators reveal that other girls from the area had, received similar calls to Amy trying to lure them to a public place. 5. Unfortunately, what looked like a slam dunk case ended up fizzling out. "Wish it was me," said Runkle, according to Adkins. Last Friday, I flew to Miami, then drove to Key West, where Dean Runkle has been living since his abrupt departure from Ohio in 2003, which occurred as investigators began to question his relatives and co-workers. Amy Mihaljevic, United States Unclassified. She was never seen again. Investigators from Bay Village and the FBI know of this man. . Detectives kept trying to focus in on what he knew about Amys disappearance, but the suspect would not answer the questions. When re-interviewed in 2009, two witnesses picked Runkle out a lineup of nearly 30 men as the most similar to the man they remember seeing (Lewis, 2009). The report of a missing child from their own neighborhood frightened every soul in Bay Village. Amy told her mother she was ok and that she was at home now, and then quickly hung up. 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." I know that one of the more well known people who cover this case (James Renner) likes DR as a suspect, and Im sure its with Renners full belief that DR fits according to evidence. Amy Mihaljevic was born in Little Rock. None had ever talked to a reporter, until they found me in 2006. However, a few minutes after she hung up from Jason, Margaret received a call from Amy herself. Our theory is that they were used to wrap her in before she was dumped where she was found.. Over three decades after the kidnapping of 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic in northeast Ohio, local police said this week that newly-discovered DNA on a blanket and a curtain could be the key to solving the decades-old cold case. And I realized the nature center was in Bay Village.". It was only then, in 2005, that investigators first learned that each of them had gone to the nature center in the weeks leading up to the abduction. 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 left for health reasons." Whatever the reason, Runkle moved back in with his parents in New London and got a job working at a pet store. Amy Mihaljevic - Suspect - Dean Runkle. They intend to keep it open for the next 30 years until it is solved. Amy Renee Mihaljevic (i) mhlvk (December 11, 1978 - October 27, 1989) was a ten-year-old American elementary school student who was kidnapped and murdered in the U.S. state of Ohio in 1989. Kids no longer answered phone calls. . Dean Runkle. Now we know: New clues in the Amy Mihaljevic case. Ohio Gov. In the years since Amy's abduction, Maddie (not her real name) has been shown hundreds of photos of suspects. In February 1990, when Amys body was found in an Ashland County field, a curtain and a blanket were discovered 300 yards away. They walk together until they reach the shopping plaza a quarter mile down the road. 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. "This is where I'm at," says Amy, and walks alone across the nearly empty parking lot toward Baskin-Robbins. According to reporter James Renner, Dean Runkle is a possible prime suspect in the FBI investigation. It seems inappropriate now, the way he treated some of the girls." DR was a teacher at a middle school, which let out later than Amys school did. But don't tell her what we're doing. Her murder case raised national attention. She was stabbed twice in the neck and struck with a blunt object on the back of her head. . He got a job teaching seventh-grade science at Sailorway Middle School in Vermilion in 1967. In terms of a suspect, I agree that Dean Runkle appears incredibly suspicious. Lanning cites Ted Bundy, who is best known for raping college-aged women even though his last victim was 12 years old. It was dinnertime when I got there, and I quickly surveyed the room. The killer also must have been local at the time, having known about the corn field on the remote county road for disposal of Amys body. Amy Mihaljevic disappeared on October 27, 1989. 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. 08/18/2006. 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. In 2008, I learned of a man named Dean Runkle, who was once a teacher in the small Cleveland suburb of Amherst. For their part, Bay Village police detectives do not consider Runkle as the only suspect in the case and continue to work all leads. "We were close. The local middle school dismissed for the day around 2:10pm every day, but the local high school did not dismiss until 3:10pm. Earlier that day, Amy and Olivia had sat together at a school assembly and listened to a rookie policeman named Mark Spaetzel give a "meet your friendly local officer" presentation. I ask my questions anyway. The only thing that all these girls had in common was that they had visited the local Lake Erie Nature and Science Center, which kept a visitors logbook by the front door. That obsession leads James to a successful career as an investigative journalist. And how did the log book disappear from the nature center? In 2016, fibers on the curtain turned out to be dog hairs, matching Amys dog at the time of her disappearance. He was like a son. I ask him how so much circumstantial evidence could line up against one person. In late October 1989, Amy Mihaljevic was lured to a suburban Ohio shopping center by an unknown male who had befriended her via conversations on the phone, and she was never seen alive again. His hair, thick and bushy, fell on his forehead, just above his eyes, and he was probably in his mid-to-late 30s at the time. He arranged to meet Amy after school that day to help her buy a gift for her mom for a work promotion. Amys case remains open to this day, and the Bay Village police have never let her case go cold in almost 30 years. Amy was last seen walking away from the plaza, toward the parking lot, with that man. She was popular, funny, kind and energetic. She jogs a little to catch up with Olivia Masiak. Today, he's a consultant for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. A Catastrophic Cyber Event in the Next 2-Years; Youth Pastor and Foster Dad in Florida Accused of Human Trafficking; Downtown Denver Dying? All rights reserved. I attempted to locate it in hopes of taking a sample of carpet that could be compared to the gold fibers found on Amy. Over time the letters became sexual in nature. Bay Village, . Renner pressed him for any information about Amys murder, but Runkle walked away. The offender is identified to be a white male. In fact, he's probably at work right now.". Nothing is that simple, I told myself. Edit: Press conference just ended. "He would stare at me in class," says Kim Raeburn. Did it go missing? 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. That way I really get to know the kids and they get to know me, and we understand each other that way.". Shortly after her friends went home, Amy was approached by a man in his 30s at the shopping center. ALSO, Dean Runkle has NOT been named as a suspect. There may be circumstances or reasons that may lead him to have sex with others outside his preferred age/sex demographic." These items were found a ways down the road from her body and until now they were not sure that they were linked to the crime. According to his co-workers, he lives just a mile from the restaurant, near a large apartment complex, but no one has his exact address. 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. Send a News Tip. I was around kids all day.". 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. "Statistical probabilities are always trumped by case specifics." Runkle is an interesting suspect for many reasons. Suspects Dean Runkle Runkle most resembled the famous composite drawing made with the help of Amy's classmates who saw her at the shopping center on the day of her disappearance. 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. Friends of Amy said the caretaker paid special attention to Amy and was always saying hi to her while she was there for lessons. 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. He looked after me when we lived at the shelter together a couple years ago. he says. 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. Lamborgine, reputed to be one of the leaders of a pedophile ring, lived in Cleveland and within close proximity to Mihalevic for years. By James Renner on Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 4:00 am. Two witnesses said they saw Amy that day with a man who would now be in his mid-50s or early '60s. . "The younger the age of the victim, the more likely the perpetrator would not have a gender preference," he says. Another close timeframe, so its another no from me. Some recognize him as a piano player in local bars, but these tips don't get me any closer. He bred mice in his classroom, and then donated them to the nature center to feed the mice there. On October 27, 1989, Amy Mihaljevic was kidnapped from the Bay Square Shopping Center in Bay Village, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Amy is . At that intersection is her killer. By 2. Not only is it not a list, but there is NO ATTRIBUTION for it. The story I've spent the most time on is the unsolved abduction and murder of Amy Mihaljevic. He wears a beige windbreaker with plaid lining, front-pressed khakis and a button-up shirt. Renner never made contact until he was about to leave town. 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 . 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. Mike DeWine suffered injury while in East Palestine, U.S. Friends of hers claim she slid into alcoholism. Her murder case raised national attention. Many were just look-alikes, men who resembled the sketch circulated by police but who otherwise could not be linked to the crime. He gave them the name of a suspect and asked if it sounded familiar. Unfortunately, Ryan didnt remember this incident until years after Amys body was found. It appears Dan stopped hanging out with Runkle in the fall of 1989. 2 Suspects. On Friday October 27th, Jason arrived home at about 3:15pm, but Amy was nowhere to be found. The man spoke to her for a few seconds, and then led her away from the sidewalk. . Investigators think it could have been an old quilt turned into a curtain. 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 . And it seems that there's finally some break in the case. Blood was also found inside of her underwear. its a blog about my life. A curtain, held for decades as potential evidence, just became an even bigger piece of the puzzle in solving the decades-old mystery. 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. But I answered the FBI's questions, I took their lie detector test and they haven't done anything to me. He was released from police custody. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Some killers do this accidentally, but some do it purposely. Two witnesses said they saw Amy that day with a man who would now be in his mid-50s or early '60s. Someone missed this curtain when it was gone - or at least noticed it was missing. Elish believes anyone who can identify those items, the curtain especially, will help solve this case. 1. She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and she later moved to a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. He promptly began building a new zoo and inviting kids to help with the animals after school. She just got a promotion. He says that after he left for high school, Runkle used to write him letters. I was always at school. No other connection could be made between him and Amys disappearance. Renner says on the podcast he believes Lamborgine can be connected to other top suspects . Sept. 21, 2021, 5:41 PM PDT. 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. a suburb of Cleveland. Several students say they were invited back to Runkle's apartment after school. We may never find answers to these questions, but Amys family deserves to know what happened to her. 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. 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 . . Whether there is enough to convict is a whole separate argument. It was a crowded plaza filled with adults as well as middle and high school students who would frequent the Baskin Robbins after school. Call the Bay Village Police Department at 440-871-1234. In 1987, Runkle set a few thousand dollars aside in a trust for Dan, according to Dan's mother. Amy and her friends were in . Margaret ran home, called her husband Mark, and began calling all of Amys friends and neighbors asking if theyd seen her. I will admit that sketch of the man Amy met that day looks like DR (and like a dead-ringer too), but simply looking like a sketch doesnt make him our guy. Privacy Policy. 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. People will say that DR was odd in many ways (which he may have been), about how he abruptly left, gave excuses, and whatnot but leaving and not telling anyone why isnt a crime. 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 . A search warrant for the suspects house was executed, but no evidence linking the man to Amy was found. Today, Dan is living in a rundown apartment complex in Vermilion. Submissions. Also not in his personnel file were the occasions when Runkle was caught alone with students in his gold-colored Grand Prix, by both the principal and a policeman, who let him go with a warning. A group of fifth-grade boys congregates at the corner of the plaza, by Bay Lanes. 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. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Amy: My Search for Her Killer: Secrets and Suspects in the Unsolved Murder of Amy Mihaljevic at Amazon.com. 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.
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