"He used to tell us about the science center he volunteered at. "I wouldn't be surprised if I was in a picture at the Lake Erie Nature Center," he says. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. Currently, a top suspect in the unsolved abduction and murder of Amy Mihaljevic. Her murder case received national attention. No other connection could be made between him and Amys disappearance. Search. The man asked Ryan if he wanted a ride to school. And, because he was in the suburban Ohio area in 1989, authorities think that he can be behind Amys death. Amy's case, beginning with the phone calls from a stranger posing as a family friend, appears to have been a seduction gone wrong. She was never seen again. She was known for being a Person. Renner never got in touch with him again. There is a $50,000 reward for information that leads to Amys killer. . Your email address will not be published. According to Jason, he would usually find Amy at home watching TV or eating a snack when he arrived. Read More: Where Is Amy Mihaljevics Father Now? Ryan was terrified, said no thank you to the man and quickly ran away to school. 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. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. At this point, the case was still considered a missing persons case, as Amys body would not be found until months later. Marshals searching for Ohio man wanted in multiple crimes, Chief issues 6-alarm fire in Camp Washington, 1 dead, 4 hospitalized after being hit by semi-truck following crash on Ohio Turnpike, 2-year-old Ohio boy found safe, Amber Alert canceled, police say, Duo of suspected porch pirates wanted on Clevelands West Side, police say, RELATED: 32 years later, Mark Mihaljevic still hopeful his daughters killer will be found, Closed Captioning/Audio Description Problems. This interaction was seen by two separate witnesses, both fellow middle school students. In 2016, fibers on the curtain turned out to be dog hairs, matching Amys dog at the time of her disappearance. "At that age, there's not a lot of difference between boys and girls. Unfortunately, neither witness got a good look at the mans face, nor did they see him or Amy get into a vehicle, or go into a store. Dean Runkle himself denies any involvement in the murder of Amy Mihaljevic and the FBI has never officially declared him a suspect. One of Amys friends, who saw this man lead her away, has been shown hundreds of pictures of possible suspects. Edit: Press conference just ended. Lanning helped create the Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia, where FBI agents are trained. None had ever talked to a reporter, until they found me in 2006. 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. I'd watch him put his left hand on her back and bend down to whisper in her ear. Searchers discovered Amy's body on February 9, 1990. And how did the log book disappear from the nature center? Some of them just came to our attention recently. INTERVIEW FOLLOW-UP The evidence is highly circumstantial toward Dean Runkle. She lugs a blue-denim book bag with red piping. Not only is it not a list, but there is NO ATTRIBUTION for it. By James Renner on Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 4:00 am. Sunday, October 11, 2015. 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. Copyright 2021 WOIO. Her murder case raised national attention. I call. I ask. "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. It turns out the suspect had schizophrenia and he had stopped taking his medication. "NEW" EVIDENCE? 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." Most of these killers are not stupid. He promptly began building a new zoo and inviting kids to help with the animals after school. New DNA results reveal Amys hair was on both items. Then the man puts an arm around Amy's shoulders and leads her away. The girl had been sexually assaulted years earlier, and thankfully did not fall into the mans trap. on 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. Amy Mihaljevic has been died on Oct 27, 1989 ( age 10). Investigators think it could have been an old quilt turned into a curtain. 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. Today, he's a consultant for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The calls all came at times when the children were at home, and the parents were typically at work. Runkle is an interesting suspect for many reasons. The FBI Finally Has A Top Suspect In The Amy Mihaljevic Murder. The Ashland County field where Amy Mihaljevic's body was discovered on February 8, 1990. Amy was just 10 years old when she was kidnapped and stabbed to death. 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. 4.5 stars This book is about a young reporter's unceasing quest to find out what happened to Amy Mihaljevic. Amy Mihaljevic was born in Little Rock. He often filmed his students in class, cutting together the film later at home. "He made comments about girls' outfits. I work with your mother, he told her. Amy was last seen walking away from the plaza, toward the parking lot, with that man. This is a key piece of evidence police searched for when interviewing their many suspects. This "list os suspects" is so completely bogus. Amys case remains open to this day, and the Bay Village police have never let her case go cold in almost 30 years. 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. We want it to be a surprise. By Dean Runkle. The school doors open, and here comes Amy Mihaljevic, dressed in green pants and a pale green shirt with lavender trim. Just got a phone call from an investigator working on it. It's the big unsolved mystery of the area. He knew Amy and her friends. On October 27th, 1989, 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic disappeared from a shopping center near her home in Bay Village, OH. I ask my questions anyway. When reached at home, he admits to being Runkle's "favorite" for a while. Many of them are simply just look-alikes who otherwise have no connection to the crime. Family Life. At one time, they even seemed close to arresting him. His hair is thick and bushy above his eyes. Person Of Interest. Bay Village, . Ken Lanning dislikes the word "profiler" and seldom uses it, but that's what most people would call him. Runkle also seemed to have volunteered in the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village at the time of the murder. Amy Mihaljevic disappeared in 1989 when she was ten years old. We should also mention that a former student of Dean has publicly accused him of inappropriate contact. 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. El caso de Amy sigue abierto hasta el da de hoy, y la polica de Bay Village tiene la intencin de mantenerlo abierto hasta que se resuelva. Many of these men have no alibis for the afternoon of October 27, 1989. BAY VILLAGE, Ohio (WOIO) - Nearly 32 years after her murder, theres a new clue in the Amy Mihaljevic case. The FBI believes the murder was actually committed in the remote rural area surrounding Bay Village to avoid being seen. But be careful not to try to fit a square peg in a round hole, he warns. Men with mostly shady pasts and weak alibis, vague connections to the suburban area, or those who have a history of sexual offenses are the ones who are included in the suspect list. 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. On that Top 25 list, he would be the man at the top. inappropriate behavior and unwanted physicality? 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. It wouldnt have been unusual for Amy to go there alone or with friends. In 2008, I learned of a man named Dean Runkle, who was once a teacher in the small Cleveland suburb of Amherst. But it was never inappropriate.". "I didn't leave Ohio because of Amy," he says. Dean Runkle is still the prime suspect in the case, according to one FBI agent, but the case against him is still circumstantial. Some killers do this accidentally, but some do it purposely. What a stupid idea - thinking I would walk into a random fast-food joint and find him. Published: Oct. 25, 2021 at 7:26 PM PDT. Runkle says he doesn't ever remember being physical with his female students, either. 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. . Mike DeWine suffered injury while in East Palestine, U.S. Amy Mihaljevic Through Renners research and his own private investigation, Renner has produced what is by far the most valuable lead in Amys case so far. Real Name: Amy Renee Mihaljevic Nicknames: No known nicknames Location: Bay Village, Ohio Date: October 27, 1989 Amy Mihaljevic. She loved horseback riding, and took riding lessons with her friends at a local horse ranch. Multiple witnesses say that he matches the man they saw . Lanning has weighed in on the case before. As police struggled to connect viable suspects to the case, they compared the girls who received the suspicious phone calls. 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. A group of fifth-grade boys congregates at the corner of the plaza, by Bay Lanes. Remember back to 1989. "I don't have anything to say." When she learned he was also living in New London, not far from where they found Amy, she called the Amherst police and then confronted Runkle directly. Somebody who had ridden in that car a week ago, had dropped a hair on the seat," Renner said about the transfer theory. He kept a cot in a side room and sometimes slept there overnight. The girl became frightened and immediately hung up the phone. Mr. Runkle taught classes at the nature center and frequently volunteered there. 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. http://www.. Friends of hers claim she slid into alcoholism. Birth Sign Sagittarius. Joseph, real name Robert Ivan Nichols, committed suicide in Eastlake, Ohio, in 2002, but when investigators were unable to locate his family at the time, they discovered that he had stolen the identity of an eight-year-old boy who was killed in a car crash in 1945. 10-year-old Amy grew up in Bay Village, OH, an altogether peaceful town on the shores of Lake Erie. Amy Mihaljevic disappeared on October 27, 1989. [2 . Several students have recently stated that they rode in Mr. Runkles car with him to donate the mice at the nature center. Runkle!" However, this is just a theory, and, to this date, no official charge against anyone has been made. Today, in his late 70s, he remains free and resides in Key West, Florida, where he works as a restaurant shift manager. Feeling like police never investigated the local nature center lead after the log book disappeared, Renner began his own investigation. He arranged to meet Amy after school that day to help her buy a gift for her mom for a work promotion. He nods, unsurprised. Margaret became severely depressed and was unable to move on with her life. The FBI got involved in this case almost immediately to lend their resources to the Bay Village Police Department. Amy is also well known as, Child murder victim who was kidnapped from an Ohio shopping center and whose body was found four months later in an Ashland County field. 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. While Im sure Renner has spent more time on this than some investigators, I will respectfully disagree with him as being the perp here. 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. No forensic evidence has tied Runkle to the crime. Apparently, in 1987, Dean even set up a few thousand dollars in a trust fund for his favorite student, but then, in the fall of 1989, they just stopped communicating. Lamborgine, reputed to be one of the leaders of a pedophile ring, lived in Cleveland and within close proximity to Mihalevic for years. 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. 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. Child abductions are some of the most upsetting cases for police, because the victims are usually killed within hours of their abduction. It was a tragic year for the Runkles; the family's first home burned to the ground too. Police responded to the Mihaljevic house almost immediately, and began interviewing Amys family and friends over the next few days. "He would stare at me in class," says Kim Raeburn. 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. I quickly began to see why this man was on the FBI's list of priorities. During those delays, I learned that Runkle was that suspect. One hundred days later, Amys body was found 50 miles away. Unfortunately, Ryan didnt remember this incident until years after Amys body was found. 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. As word spread around the neighborhood, friends and family started coming over to the Mihaljevic house to make flyers and search for Amy. Material that was collected at the scene may contain the killers DNA. At the time of Amy's . Although the Bay Village Police have, confirmed that these same suspects have been interviewed, there are few. I requested Runkle's personnel file from Nord Junior High School and ran his name through a search of newspaper articles. In terms of a suspect, I agree that Dean Runkle appears incredibly suspicious. Renner, your stuff is interesting, but ad hominem attacks . Investigators believe the suspect has ties to Bay Village and Ashland County. Adkins says she and other young girls were questioned about Runkle's behavior by the superintendent in 1995. And, only a few times has she said that the man in the photo could be the one she saw. The lengths that Joseph went to hide his real name and the longevity of his identity theft led them to speculate that he was a dangerous fugitive. "We were close. And he talked about how he liked kids who hadn't reached puberty yet, because "I was a runt too.". Her body was found four months later, in a field in rural Ashland County. 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. The owners let the man live on the property in exchange for cleaning out the stables. James Renner chased Runkle down to the Key West, FL area and attempted to interview him. 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. In an attempt to connect the girls with Amy, it was discovered that all, three girls had visited the nearby Lake Erie Nature and Science Center. "The younger the age of the victim, the more likely the perpetrator would not have a gender preference," he says. 4. Another angle is that this killer is toying with police. Two witnesses said they saw Amy that day with a man who would now be in his mid-50s or early '60s. It's . Birthday December 11, 1978. He then corroborated what each witness said with what they told police back in 1989 immediately after the disappearance. At 2:10 p.m., on October 27, 1989, classes end for the fifth graders of Bay Village Middle. According to reporter James Renner, Dean Runkle is a possible prime suspect in the FBI investigation. The movie Mean Girls made a joke about this, but its something that sticks out to the kids theyve taught. He was an eccentric teacher from the beginning. 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. He admitted he was a teacher at Amys middle school, but denied he had anything to do with the nature center. He lured Amy out, made her call her mother to gain some time, and then kidnapped her for his own depraved purposes. I pull the car over and hop out. I ask him about Dan and he quickly became emotional. After having a snack at the shopping center, Amys friends went home, but Amy stayed behind to wait for someone. Hes also a person of authority whom Amy wouldve known and trusted. When he couldn't find a textbook up to his standards, he wrote his own and passed it out to the kids. But something happened in 1987. 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. BAY VILLAGE, Ohio Investigators Thursday revealed new evidence they believe will help solve the kidnapping and murder of Amy Mihaljevic. Amy Mihaljevic's cause of death was determined to be homicide by stabbing. Thursday marks 33 years since Amy was taken from a shopping plaza in Bay Village. What history do I have of inappropriate behavior with kids? The center had been one of Amy's favorite places. Amy Renee Mihaljevic (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. Her murder case received national attention. "My sister told me about you," he says. 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. . In 2018, officials announced that they were following a potential link between Joseph Newton Chandler III and the murder of Amy Mihaljevic. 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. "That's Dean!" On Oct. 27, 1989, Amy was lured to Bay Square shopping plaza by a man who had previously called Amy at her home. He asked them if they remembered writing their names and home numbers in a logbook by the front doors. He starts to leave. Police considered it another dead end. Tue Aug 17, 06:49:00 PM . Ten-year-old Amy was lured from her Bay Village home on Oct. 27, 1989, to a shopping center at Dover Center . They walk together until they reach the shopping plaza a quarter mile down the road. "There have not been many [photos] that have been this close," she says. 1949). 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. She had contracted lupus, along with several other health issues. Amy Mihaljevic is a famous Child murder victim. someone shouts. After he returned, Runkle began building his own nature center inside his classroom. And then Maddie sees the man. he shouts. Amy ignores him. There were at least three others. He also photographed his students regularly, developing the negatives himself. 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. Many were just look-alikes, men who resembled the sketch circulated by police but who otherwise could not be linked to the crime. Amy was 10 and had not yet reached puberty. "I left for health reasons." Runkle stops and answers them for a while. Amy Mihaljevic Popularity . For more info about Amy's case, you can read through the blog I've devoted to it since 2006. We know where Amy was abducted. Two witnesses said they saw Amy that day with a man who would now be in his mid-50s or early '60s. Another close timeframe, so its another no from me. "And here's the weird thing," said Perchinsky. 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 . July 12, 202211 items. He told them he needed their help to pick out a present and asked them to come with him to the store. 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. Amys body was only ever found because her killer wanted it that way. "I said, 'I know you're the one who killed Amy,'" she recalls. They recalled seeing him eating at Rax on Route 58 every night, sometimes with his classroom assistants. Dean lived a tumultuous early life, dealing with an abusive father and the tragic death of his 6-year-old twin sister in 1950. 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. 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. "That was a difficult time in my life," he says. 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. But no one knows Runkle. She was born on December 11, 1978 and her birthplace is Little Rock, AR. Search for a Topic. 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. Law Enforcement arranged a press conference and revealed new details on the Amy Mihaljevic case. He bred mice in his classroom, and then donated them to the nature center to feed the mice there. Cleveland Taco Week returns on Monday, April 10th. Now we know: New clues in the Amy Mihaljevic case. "I've been able to tear down this wall. Cookie Notice Sure enough, all the employees there recognize Runkle's picture - he's a manager, but he's not working today. 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. Subscribe now to get the latest news delivered right to your inbox. By the time police made this connection, the log book had vanished from the nature center. There are no samples, according to Elish, currently being tested in a lab. 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. Ninguna evidencia forense ha vinculado a Runkle con el crimen. This person wanted police to find Amys body. 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. How often did you visit the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center? It was . According to friends and neighbors, Amy was a beautiful, intelligent girl with a bright future ahead of her. Lanning doesn't assume to know enough about Runkle to offer an opinion of his behavior or his motivations. This student, Dan, said that he and his teacher communicated via letters a lot, which later turned sexual in nature. Two of Amys friends immediately told police they had met Amy at the Bay Village Shopping Center shortly after school ended. Although Renner describes Runkle as an eccentric teacher, no hard evidence supports this view. "Man, me and Dean are friends. 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. By 1982, he had collected a 9-foot-long boa constrictor, a prairie dog named Susie, a tank of piranhas, a ferret, and countless hamsters, gerbils and mice. At that intersection is her killer. She had been stabbed twice in the neck and hit in the head with a . She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and she later moved to a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. BAY VILLAGE, Ohio (WOIO) - Nearly 32 years after her murder, there's a new clue in the Amy Mihaljevic case. Several students say they were invited back to Runkle's apartment after school. 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. 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. A stranger convinced Amy that he needed her help buying a present . Kids no longer answered phone calls. As I'm considering how to enter the compound, a man walks across the street in front of me. For 19 years, the FBI and the Bay Village Police Department kept the identity of these other girls a secret. Signed the visitor log book with their phone numbers, Abruptly quit teaching in 2003 without notice and moved to Florida. 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. Shortly after her friends went home, Amy was approached by a man in his 30s at the shopping center. "I know I'm their top suspect. ALSO, Dean Runkle has NOT been named as a suspect. She steadily declined for years until she left Bay Village in the 1990s and relocated to the Cleveland area. Unfortunately thats the reality of the justice system today. For more than 31 years, her killer has remained a mystery. The other students assumed the man was a friend or relative, and that Amy knew him, so they thought nothing of it. 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 . At 2:10 p.m., on October . 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.' Turning the corner, he says, "I have nothing to confess to.".