Just like this, because the authorities have revealed a lot of information and evidence surrounding this case to the public in the hopes of getting some tips they have received several false confessions from mentally ill individuals or convicts who get a kick out of admitting to something so heinous. Residents of Bay Village lived on edge for years after Amys disappearance and murder. It also gave him PTSD. 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 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. She jogs a little to catch up with Olivia Masiak. By the time police made this connection, the log book had vanished from the nature center. And it seems that there's finally some break in the case. 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. Shockingly, another girl a few years older than Amy came forward to police that she had received a similar call months earlier. He was released from police custody. DR seems eccentric from what Ive read, but being eccentric isnt a crime either. It was a tragic year for the Runkles; the family's first home burned to the ground too. Thus, Amy found herself home alone every afternoon for about an hour before her brother Jason came home from school. "I don't have anything to say." I suspect they preyed on school-age girls by attempting to lure them out shopping under the guise of getting gift for their mothers. 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. Spaetzel also discussed the dangers of strangers. It was a crowded plaza filled with adults as well as middle and high school students who would frequent the Baskin Robbins after school. He looks more like the sketch than anyone I have seen before. "If you do become a violent guy, you better be victimizing strangers," explains Lanning. Jay Elish. "Wish it was me," said Runkle, according to Adkins. She was born on December 11, 1978 and her birthplace is Little Rock, AR. 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. 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. We know where she was found. Adkins says she and other young girls were questioned about Runkle's behavior by the superintendent in 1995. In terms of a suspect, I agree that Dean Runkle appears incredibly suspicious. Sometimes he talked about how his father beat him if he didn't finish dinner when he was younger. 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. In August, after hearing from Perchinsky, I sent more than 500 e-mails to former students of Runkle's through MySpace and Facebook. By Nichole Vrsansky. As it happens, the soup kitchen is scheduled to serve free lunch in a half-hour. Runkle sold his gold Grand Prix in 1991. The first place I stopped was a chain restaurant that Runkle reportedly frequented in Ohio. Mixed opinions from former students (Renner, 2008). Right now, there is a theory going around about the possibility of Amys case having multiple assailants, with a connection to a pedophile ring in Michigan. The story I've spent the most time on is the unsolved abduction and murder of Amy Mihaljevic. At that intersection is her killer. Mark remarried about six years after Amys disappearance in 1995. Renner, your stuff is interesting, but ad hominem attacks . I ask him about Dan and he quickly became emotional. Two witnesses said they saw Amy that day with a man who would now be in his mid-50s or early '60s. The handyman was brought in for questioning, but was quickly eliminated as a suspect once his alibi was corroborated by multiple people. As of 2014, her homicide remained unsolved. Amy's case, beginning with the phone calls from a stranger posing as a family friend, appears to have been a seduction gone wrong. For 19 years, the FBI and the Bay Village Police Department kept the identity of these other girls a secret. Investigators believe the suspect has ties to Bay Village and Ashland County. 4. 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. He arranged to meet Amy after school that day to help her buy a gift for her mom for a work promotion. She had been stabbed twice in the neck and hit in the head with a . News of the other suspicious phone calls in the area spread around, and suddenly, no children went anywhere alone. One such prank supposedly involved dipping a cat in liquid nitrogen and then smashing the frozen carcass to bits on the floor. He leans down to whisper something in her ear. No one went out after dark. Family Life. Facebook Amy Mihaljevic and the suspect sketches. a suburb of Cleveland. New DNA evidence could help solve the decades old mystery. In the years since Amy's abduction, Maddie (not her real name) has been shown hundreds of photos of suspects. 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. inappropriate behavior and unwanted physicality? Multiple witnesses say that he matches the man they saw . 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? INTERVIEW FOLLOW-UP The evidence is highly circumstantial toward Dean Runkle. Child murder victim who was kidnapped from an Ohio shopping center and whose body was found four months later in an Ashland County field. Only Amy and her killer will ever know the answer. Were pursuing more so the angle of science now than we ever have in the past because DNA changes every couple of months, Elish said. Someone stitched this together inside their home and hung on their tall, narrow window. 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. He called some students his assistants, and they were allowed to stay with Runkle after school and on weekends to help clean the cages and feed the animals. Amy Mihaljevic was 10 years old when she disappeared from Bay Village, Ohio, on October 27, 1989, launching a massive, high-profile investigation. 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. Did it go missing? Sunday, October 11, 2015. At the nature center in 1989 was a log book that all visitors were required to sign when they entered. Investigators would later figure out that Amy was not the only girl who had received such phone calls around the same time. I do not believe that so much evidence can point to one person and it be just a coincidence. Privacy Policy. For more information, please see our "The younger the age of the victim, the more likely the perpetrator would not have a gender preference," he says. He then corroborated what each witness said with what they told police back in 1989 immediately after the disappearance. At the time of the crime, he was wearing a beige windbreaker with plaid lining, front-pressed khakis, and a button-up shirt. He lured Amy out, made her call her mother to gain some time, and then kidnapped her for his own depraved purposes. "I walk a lot," he says. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. 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. "To me, that event is very significant," he says. ", I ask him about the sexual nature of the letters and he looks away. 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. 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. A Catastrophic Cyber Event in the Next 2-Years; Youth Pastor and Foster Dad in Florida Accused of Human Trafficking; Downtown Denver Dying? So by definition, the 3 are still the "most likely suspects". Today, Dan is living in a rundown apartment complex in Vermilion. He walks over to see what we're talking about. They lived in a nearby community. Amy Mihaljevic. Blood was also found inside of her underwear. Amy Mihaljevic disappeared in 1989 when she was ten years old. 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. We should also mention that a former student of Dean has publicly accused him of inappropriate contact. The story of her unsolved kidnapping and murder was one of the first cases presented by John Walsh on the television show, America's Most Wanted during . I'd watch him put his left hand on her back and bend down to whisper in her ear. He kept a cot in a side room and sometimes slept there overnight. 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. Very close. This interaction was seen by two separate witnesses, both fellow middle school students. Jason became concerned quickly and called his mother Margaret at work to ask where Amy was. It's hard to tell what might be ailing Runkle, though, because, at 65, he could easily pass for 45. 10-year-old Amy grew up in Bay Village, OH, an altogether peaceful town on the shores of Lake Erie. 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 . Unfortunately thats the reality of the justice system today. Real Name: Amy Renee Mihaljevic Nicknames: No known nicknames Location: Bay Village, Ohio Date: October 27, 1989 Amy Mihaljevic. It's . Cleveland Taco Week returns on Monday, April 10th. Meanwhile, Mark and Jason moved on with their lives as best they could. Turning the corner, he says, "I have nothing to confess to.". In 2008, I learned of a man named Dean Runkle, who was once a teacher in the small Cleveland suburb of Amherst. All four girls, who received . Lanning cites Ted Bundy, who is best known for raping college-aged women even though his last victim was 12 years old. Most child molesters don't abduct and kill their victims, he notes. "This is where I'm at," says Amy, and walks alone across the nearly empty parking lot toward Baskin-Robbins. In lab, he would stand behind me and push his chest against me. Weeks and months went by, but no news of Amy. In 2002, during a Sunday Mass at St. Angela Merici Catholic Church on Lorain Road in Fairview Park, he announced that he was the one responsible for what happened to Amy. Sunday, July 18, 2010 . The man asked Ryan if he wanted a ride to school. This student, Dan, said that he and his teacher communicated via letters a lot, which later turned sexual in nature. http://www.. A pair of sisters had also received a call from a man who claimed to be a friend of their mothers. 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. "Also, preference does not mean exclusivity. So, take a look. I begin focusing on the people I can tell are locals - the tanned man weaving palm-frond baskets, the musician strumming a guitar on a corner. A couple hours later after no response, the Mihaljevics filed a missing persons report with the Bay Village Police Department. Some credit him for inspiring them to become veterinarians or biologists. "At that age, there's not a lot of difference between boys and girls. Now we know: New clues in the Amy Mihaljevic case. Why do you think Amys body was recovered where it was? Lanning helped create the Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia, where FBI agents are trained. Runkle also seemed to have volunteered in the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village at the time of the murder. There may be circumstances or reasons that may lead him to have sex with others outside his preferred age/sex demographic." It was . He wears a beige windbreaker with plaid lining, front-pressed khakis and a button-up shirt. A continued discussion on the Amy Mihaljevic case after 20 years. DR is a teacher, and if its one thing that kids will remember its seeing a teacher or former teacher in public. Some of them have been suspects for years and decades.. The Handmade Curtain. 2.1 Dean Runkle; 3 References; 4 Further reading; Runkle resigned abruptly, explaining he had to leave for "health reasons." A curtain, held for decades as potential evidence, just became an even bigger piece of the puzzle in solving the decades-old mystery. 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. What happened to the car you were driving in the Fall of 1989? But don't tell her what we're doing. Four months after her kidnapping in 1989, of which the 32nd anniversary falls on Wednesday, Amy's body was discovered in . Renner interviewed all of Amys friends and teachers decades after the murder about the nature center. Puberty seems to be a very significant issue for many of these serial offenders.". All the interviews checked out except one. Others included odd people who lived near the Mihaljevics; parents of Amy's closest friends; convicted sex offenders who were not yet in prison at the time of her abduction. The details surrounding her disappearance and subsequent murder are a parent's worst nightmare. 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. "That's Dean!" Ryan was terrified, said no thank you to the man and quickly ran away to school. 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. For more info about Amy's case, you can read through the blog I've devoted to it since 2006. This theory is based on the fact that Amys body was found re-dressed and her underwear was put back on inside out. And then Maddie sees the man. Birthday December 11, 1978. 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. Elish believes anyone who can identify those items, the curtain especially, will help solve this case. It's the big unsolved mystery of the area. A suspect has never been identified. According to reporter James Renner, Dean Runkle is a possible prime suspect in the FBI investigation. on I shake his hand and introduce myself. 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. Ten-year-old Amy was lured from her Bay Village home on Oct. 27, 1989, to a shopping center at Dover Center . Disappearance and Murder. Amy and her friends were in . A homeless man says he thinks he has seen Runkle at a soup kitchen on Flagler Avenue before, but that was years ago. The calls all came at times when the children were at home, and the parents were typically at work. Dean lived a tumultuous early life, dealing with an abusive father and the tragic death of his 6-year-old twin sister in 1950. New info and they are asking for help from the public. The girl had been sexually assaulted years earlier, and thankfully did not fall into the mans trap. There are no samples, according to Elish, currently being tested in a lab. I quickly began to see why this man was on the FBI's list of priorities. In 1990 when the body was found, forensic testing for DNA as we know it now and other trace evidence was not yet available. Jen Crouch says Runkle liked to tell her about pranks he played on friends. Almost 30 years later, Amys killer is still at large. [2 . 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. He asked each of them if they remembered visiting the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village. Whatever the reason, Runkle moved back in with his parents in New London and got a job working at a pet store. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. 2. "He made comments about girls' outfits. Richard Holbert. using the same gift shopping ruse (Renner, 2008). Initial evidence found at the scene suggested that she had been dumped there shortly after her abduction, maybe on the day itself. Did you see this curtain hanging in someone's house? Not only is it not a list, but there is NO ATTRIBUTION for it. This is a key piece of evidence police searched for when interviewing their many suspects. Detectives kept trying to focus in on what he knew about Amys disappearance, but the suspect would not answer the questions. Dean Runkle sigue siendo el principal sospechoso en el caso, segn un agente del FBI, pero el caso en su contra sigue siendo circunstancial. Ninguna evidencia forense ha vinculado a Runkle con el crimen. James Renner chased Runkle down to the Key West, FL area and attempted to interview 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. As police struggled to connect viable suspects to the case, they compared the girls who received the suspicious phone calls. 1949). I requested Runkle's personnel file from Nord Junior High School and ran his name through a search of newspaper articles. 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. 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. Amy Renee Mihaljevic (i)mhlvk (December 11, 1978 October 27, 1989) was a tenyearold American elementary school student who was kidnapped and murdered in the U.S. state of Ohio in 1989. . Renner pressed him for any information about Amys murder, but Runkle walked away. Today, he's a consultant for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Over time the letters became sexual in nature. As per our current Database, Amy Mihaljevic died on Oct 27, 1989 (age 10). 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.' Renner never made contact until he was about to leave town. To me, Runkle is similar because there is just so much circumstantial evidence that points to him. One of them spots the girl spinning around the pole, seemingly without a care in the world. And others include people, sometimes odd, who lived near the Mihaljevics at the time parents of Amys closest friends, convicted sex offenders, and those with suspicious alibis. 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. He was an accomplished ragtime piano player and played in the Red Garter Saloon at Cedar Point during the summers. 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. "It was more than creepy; it felt like an animal noticing you walk into a room. Her murder case raised national attention. Unfortunately, Ryan didnt remember this incident until years after Amys body was found. 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. On Oct. 27, 1989, Amy was lured to Bay Square shopping plaza by a man who had previously called Amy at her home. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. Tag: Dean Runkle. Some believed that this suspect could have been teacher Dean Runkle, according to James Renner . Amys death affected everyone in the Bay Village community and surrounding areas. I pull the car over and hop out. And though I've never seen him in person before, I recognize him immediately - not from the grainy 13-year-old newspaper photos but from the composite sketch of Amy's abductor. 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. However, this is just a theory, and, to this date, no official charge against anyone has been made. 08/18/2006. As word spread around the neighborhood, friends and family started coming over to the Mihaljevic house to make flyers and search for Amy. It appears Dan stopped hanging out with Runkle in the fall of 1989. 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 . 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. Lanning doesn't assume to know enough about Runkle to offer an opinion of his behavior or his motivations. Another angle is that this killer is toying with police. 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. Our theory is that they were used to wrap her in before she was dumped where she was found.. "He used to tell us about the science center he volunteered at. While Im sure Renner has spent more time on this than some investigators, I will respectfully disagree with him as being the perp here. 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. And that's when the old man with a Frisbee shows up. 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