Bay Village Boogeyman: The Unsolved Murder of Amy Mihaljevic Artwork

ColdCaseDetective

Educating and spreading awareness on some of the most puzzling missing person cases in history. This is Cold Case Detective, shutting the blinds on unsolved mysteries as we seek to heat up another...Created by TJ Ruesch & the team behind Top5s.

All Episodes

ColdCaseDetective

Bay Village Boogeyman: The Unsolved Murder of Amy Mihaljevic

July 06, 2020 • Hit The Lights • Episode 17

Amy Mihaljevic, known to her parents and various schoolmates as a sparkling young girl to their family and loving neighbourhood, was an adventurous and outgoing resident of Bay Village, Ohio. Her passion for the natural world and promising athletic talents were cut short by an unexplainable, unsolved death in late October of 1989, leaving all who knew her across the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio and later the entire country grasping for answers in a sea of evidence that drowned us all in doubt…

As a hope to provide more substantial reasoning built upon observable evidence and situational analysis, this is an examination of Amy Hihaljevic’s kidnapping and murder, and the mystery of the manhunt for a Lake Erie predator...

This is Cold Case Detective.

Amy Mihaljevic Case File Photographs:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ic08QkrAr-pnLkn2tIveyjoXx5zBJNGi?usp=sharing

Additional Reading:

[Main Wiki]

[Unsolved Mysteries Recap]

[Crime Stoppers Documentary]

[Cleveland Magazine Article w/ Timeline]

[intouch Article w/ Timeline]

[Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Presentation]

[James Renner Article]

Researched and written by TJ Ruesch
Episode narrated by William Earl
Music by CO.AG

________

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. Listener discretion is advised.

Submit a Cold Case - https://forms.gle/usZ7B2vJeWwDjzJ19

Visit our YouTube channel for more True Crime content - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdjslyNQupPSFxK_mSPcG-g

This is Cold Case Detective.

The Victim

Amy Renee Mihaljevic was born on December 11th, 1978 in Little Rock, Arkansas, to parents Mark and Margaret Mihaljevic. She was the second child of the family, joining her older brother of three years, Jason Mihaljevic. Looking to raise the children in a more idyllic, midwestern locale, Mark and Margaret moved their family to the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, alongside the shores of Lake Erie, in 1984.

Thus the Mihaljevics landed in Bay Village, Ohio, a western suburb of Cleveland full of cleanliness and a promise for a fulfilling life. It was a pristine example of the “American Dream” lifestyle so many people sought, attractive to those who wanted simplicity yet an immense sense of comfort. Bay Village was a slice of middle class paradise, full of working people and more importantly, benevolence. The streets were considered safe, the neighborhoods were considered protected, and many residents let their children roam free, keeping their front doors unlocked and windows open in the warm summer months.

In effect, the Mihaljevic’s fit right in. Mark joined the blue collar community with employment at General Motors, Margaret at Tradin’ Times Magazine, while Jason and Amy entered the public schooling system. That town of 17,000 people couldn’t have been a sweeter deal, its close-knit citizens welcoming new families with open arms.

As Amy grew older, she found an interest in many hobbies and subjects, none more prolific than a love for animals. Amy became vastly fascinated by horses, especially, and dreamt of owning her own one day or taking care of a stable of her favorite breed. This infatuation then extended into all of mother nature and the great outdoors. Amy became quite the explorer, creating her own adventures around town and wasting no time in bringing her spirited imagination to life through storytelling and fantasy.

At school, Amy’s outgoing personality brought forth a number of friends and close classmates. She was social with a lot of kids her age and infected those around her with a vibrant energy she relentlessly exuded. Academically, Amy performed well in school just like her brother, displaying a strong potential for a future in education. When she wasn’t studying, Amy engaged in athletic activities both at school and around Bay Village, becoming quite the avid swimmer as she grew into adolescence. In fact, there really wasn’t a thing on Earth Amy wasn’t willing to try out for, curious about everything and anything presented to her young life. Her father Mark would later explain her go-getting demeanor as if a parent wasn’t able to teach their child how to tie their shoes because the child had pushed them off and figured it out themselves. That’s the soul Amy was.

Despite Amy’s forward-thinking mind and incredibly sociable inclinations, Amy wasn’t actually keen to interact with adults. She was practically best friends with her mother, Margaret, but wasn’t one to strike up conversations with somebody outside of her own home or school. She’d answer questions if asked directly or share a kind greeting, but didn’t seek out elder interaction. Which makes it all the more troubling when in October of 1989, Amy’s promising life was shuttered by a sinister plot of phone calls, kidnappings, and ultimate tragedy, burying the once bright and beautiful laketown of Bay Village into a pit of paranoia and panic.

The Timeline

In the week leading up to October 27th, 1989, Amy Mihaljevic receives a phone call from a mysterious caller who informs her that her mother Margaret has received a promotion at work, and asks Amy if they can meet in a public place to buy a gift for Margaret. Amy agrees and they arrange a meeting at a shopping centre near Bay Village Middle School at the end of the week.

Over the next few days, Amy tells a few of her close friends at school about her meeting, thinking it to be completely innocent and nothing but a kind gesture for her mother. She does not tell her parents about the man or his phone call and acts normal around the house.

Early in the morning hours of Friday, October 27th, Amy awakens and prepares for the upcoming school day, behaving casually and excited for the weekend. Before she leaves, she informs her mother that she’ll be late returning home from school, citing an audition for the 5th grade choir as the reason.

At around 7:20am, Amy departs for school on her bicycle. She rides alone as Jason had already left before her.

For the remainder of that morning up until class was dismissed at 2:04pm, Amy spends the day as if it were any other Friday, exhibiting no signs of stress or worry.

Eleven minute pass by and Amy walks just down the street from the middle school to the shopping centre on the corner of Wolf Road and Dover Center, ironically just across the street from the local police department.

At 2:15pm, Amy is seen in the shopping centre plaza by fellow classmates who are all hanging around in after-school recreational tradition.

Somewhere between 2:20 and 2:30pm, Amy is approached by an adult white male of about 30 years, standing around 5’9” and sporting brown hair. This is the last confirmed sighting of Amy Mihaljevic as she is abducted and disappears from plain sight, along with the adult male figure.

Another 40 minutes pass by, and per the rule of Margaret Mihaljevic that each child is to call her at work once they return home from school each day, Jason phones his mother at 3:14pm from their residence. He alerts Margaret that Amy hadn’t come home yet, a bit strange considering their pattern of always returning by 3:00pm. Margaret tells Jason not to worry as Amy was probably still at her choir audition but an inkling of concern begins to grow within her.

Barely a quarter of an hour later and at 3:30pm Jason calls his mother once more, again alerting her of Amy’s tardiness.

Margaret feels wary enough this time to gather her things and prepare to leave work, until moments after she hangs up with Jason she gets another call, this time from Amy, between 3:30 and 3:40pm. She asks her daughter how the tryout turned out, to which Amy replies, “okay.” She follows it up asking how Amy is doing, to which Amy says, “fine.” The remainder of the conversation is brief, but assuming Amy to be home and safe, Margaret resumes her normal work. This is the last confirmed contact anyone makes with Amy Mihaljevic.

The next couple of hours trickle by and Margaret cannot shake an unsettling fear growing in her heart. She thinks back to the last phone call with Amy, bothered by her daughter’s peculiarly short replies in contrast with her usual sociable way of talking. Letting her motherly instincts kick in full gear, Margaret packs up and leaves work in a rush, running to her car.

At about 5:30pm, Margaret arrives at the residence where she finds Amy still absent. She does not hesitate in calling Amy’s friends and the neighbors, desperate for any sightings or contacts. Unable to locate her, Margaret hops in the car and retraces her daughter's steps from earlier that day, leading her back to the Bay Village Middle school where she finds Amy’s bicycle still chained to the bike rack outside of the building.

At 5:58pm, Margaret takes matters out of her own hands and visits the Bay Village Police Department, officially reporting Amy missing. A couple of officers take notes, ask questions, and put out a bulletin to alert other authorities of the issue.

By 7:00pm that evening, Mark Mihaljevic returns home from General Motors and aids in the search for his daughter. Joining him are countless Bay Village citizens, forming search parties and canvassing the streets of their once-innocent little lake town.

Another two hours fly by and at 9:00pm the BVPD becomes a command post for one of the quickest assembled volunteer search efforts in northern Ohio history.

At around 7:10am the next morning on Saturday, October 28th, the federal bureau of investigation arrives in Bay Village to assist the local law enforcement. The investigation is headed by special agent Dick Wrenn, a Bay Village resident himself with deep rooted connections to the community.

Before the morning ends that autumn Saturday, Wrenn and police learn from one of Amy’s schoolmates of her phone conversations with an unidentified male. They realize the abduction was not random, but a predetermined plan. The schoolmate tells investigators this man knew Amy’s phone numbers, her address, her mother’s employer, and even the time she would come home. He knew the area and could create trust in even the smartest of children, and would certainly be a force to be reckoned with.

At the arrival of night on Saturday, October 28th, longtime Bay Village resident Howard Kimball takes the charge in leading the volunteer search efforts for Amy, setting up his own command post above city hall, taking calls and tips from around the area. It doesn’t take long before the community’s efforts become the largest organized search in the state of Ohio since the 1951 disappearance of Beverly Potts.

The late October weekend comes to a close and lead investigators worry their window of prime opportunity is closing. The initial hours in a missing child’s case are the most vital, and without a shred of evidence to guide them, authorities fear the worst is yet to come.

Over the next 100 days nothing of use is uncovered. Amy’s profile is shared around the world, across multiple television programs and in various platforms, and yet no one comes forward with anything of sustenance.

The next big find wouldn’t come until the early morning hours of Thursday February 8th, 1990, and the worst possible scenario unfolds. At around 7:00am, a female jogger running alongside County Road 1181 in New London of rural Ashland County, Ohio notices what appears to be a body or lump of clothes resting in a field near her pathway. Authorities are called and quickly respond, only to discover the body belongs to Amy Mihaljevic, in a spot nearly 50 miles from where she was last seen 3.5 months prior. Near the crime scene are a blanket and shower curtain covered in Amy’s family dog hair.

By 1:40pm later that afternoon, Amy’s body undergoes an autopsy by the coroner’s office of Cuyahoga County. The coroner rules Amy’s death a clear homicide via multiple stab wounds too the neck and blunt force trauma to the head. They also discover Amy had at least one meal before her death, which most likely occurred only days after her abduction. Of all the mysteries presented by the discovery of Amy’s body, one thing remains certain: an innocent young girl was murdered in cold blood and a conniving killer is on the loose.

For the next three decades, a massive manhunt for the Lake Erie murderer burns on, led by Bay Village detectives and the FBI.

In 2006, law enforcement learns that a few other girls in the city of North Olmsted, Ohio received similar calls from an unidentified male figure around the time Amy received hers, all regarding buying presents for their mothers in similar setups to the one that led to Amy’s abduction. None of these girls had gone through with the scheme, however it signals to police that they are dealing with a serial predator rather than a one-off criminal.

After another seven years of inconclusive investigating, the case brings aboard retired special agent Phil Torsney, known for his role in capturing infamous gangster Whitey Bulger, in late 2013. Tornsey tells reporters the killer was most likely a longtime resident of Northern Ohio with in-depth knowledge of the geography.

Fast forward a second set of seven years to present day and authorities are still without any luck or noteworthy leads in 2020. Last year, investigators claimed that whoever is responsible is most likely not even on their list of suspects at this point due to how exhaustively thorough they’ve been looking into names they’ve already come up with. Over 15,000 interviews, 150 suspects, and 8,000 clues later and Amy Mihaljevic’s death is still up in the air, frozen in a cloud of anguish, despair, and utter tragedy.

The Major Case Point

When it comes to clues in Amy Mihaljevic’s case file, nothing major catches the eye as a big break in the investigation. Unfortunately, the era in which Amy perished was a time before detailed phone records were kept, and thus the location of the phone used by the suspect to converse with Amy, as well as the line Amy called from to inform her mother she was safe, cannot be determined. Had Amy been abducted a few years later, the shopping centre she made contact with her kidnapper probably would have CCTV monitoring systems installed that might have captured a better image of the suspect. Remember that Bay Village was thought to be as secure as a small community could be and those types of measures were never even at the back of citizen’s minds.

All that being said, there are a few clues and missing artifacts sprinkled throughout the case that are actually worth magnification. Instead of one major piece of evidence or suspicious pattern, we want to bring awareness to the smaller details that could make the biggest difference. First, there were three significant items missing from Amy’s person the day her body was found in the field along County Road 1181. Of these personal artifacts were a pair of black horse riding boots, a denim backpack with an academic binder inside displaying a Buick symbol and the slogan “Best In Class” written on the clasp, and a pair of turquoise earrings shaped like horse heads. These items were unique enough to make an impression on Amy’s parents and distinguishable enough for the general public to be on the lookout for. Detectives assigned to the investigation remarked about how predators in these types of crimes often keep mementos of their victims like twisted trophies to keep for themselves. All four missing objects could easily have been held onto by the killer specifically as mementos. If these objects ring any sort of bell, they could be connected to Amy.

The other peculiar point of interest was uncovered in November of 2006 when multiple other girls came forward to investigators sharing similar stories of phone conversations with a man who wanted to buy them gifts for their mothers and meet up at shopping malls. These girls were also residents of northern Ohio suburbia in a town called North Olmsted, a neighboring community with Bay Village. While these girls were not friends with Amy directly, all of them had one conclusive connection to the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center. Detectives looked into the pattern and realized that the center utilized a visitor’s log booth at the front door, which all of the girls, including Amy, probably signed upon their trips there. Along with signatures, the log books also included visitor’s phone numbers and addresses, giving the predator an in-depth resource for his potential victim’s information. How many log books the center kept throughout their history and if they archived these records is unknown. Sadly, the discovery wasn’t made until 17 years after Amy’s murder, and thus going back and pinpointing suspects from any documents kept is nearly impossible, and if it was carried out, no leads were brought forth from it by authorities. However, we bring it up because it seems more than likely the perpetrator used the visitor log and possibly the center itself to find young women. If you have any information regarding the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center over the past 30 years that could be deemed relevant, it’s important to reach out to proper officials. Or, if you’ve heard of similar instances of the phone calls made in the northern Ohio area like the girls of North Olmsted, it could be linked to a serial criminal.

The Theories

As with many missing and murdered children’s cases, one of the oft-argued theories in the beginning of an investigation is a targeting of the parents and their potential involvement. Luckily, in Amy’s case authorities were able to quickly rule out both Mark and Margaret Mihaljevic as suspects. They both had rock solid alibis as they were both at work and around co-workers. Some conspiracy theorists have tried to reason the parents had hired someone or convinced a man to kidnap their daughter, but the truth of the matter was Amy’s parents were preparing for a divorce around the time of her death and had absolutely nothing monetary to gain from carrying out such a bizarre scheme. It’s a hypothesis based on grasping at straws and should be put to rest for good.

However, many of the other early theories did revolve around friends and family members close to the Mihaljevic family. These were the people most likely to have the knowledge of Margaret’s employment situation, as well as Amy’s after-school routine and the telephone number to her residence. They would know of Amy’s deep rooted connection with her mother and her absolute will to do anything to make her happy. A child’s compassion is usually seen and taken advantage of by people close to them, not by strangers or bystanders out to commit random crimes. Sadly, any and all of the possible persons of interest closely connected to the Mihaljevics were intensely vetted by both the local police and FBI special agents, and none are currently considered as prime suspects.

There were a couple of promising individuals discovered by investigators through the first few years after Amy’s body was found. The first was a former stable-hand at Holly Hills Farms where Amy would ride horses for recreation. His name was Shawn Tabellion who also went by Shawn Dusky. Shawn was kicked out of a previous labor position at Senoj Stables food tickling girls and was accused of raping a 12 year-old girl in Washington state in 1983. Another person connected via the Holly Hills farms was Doctor Gregory Kapela, who’s daughter also rode horses alongside Amy. He faced accusations of writing love letters to a female minor, asking to be her boyfriend, and would sleep in the same room as young girls when taking the youth soccer teams on trips to Canada. Both of the Holly Hills Farms men profiled only had circumstantial suspicions at best and never were arrested.

Another set of suspects arose due to their involvement with Amy’s memorial events held around Bay Village soon after she disappeared. The first was Robert Jones, who attended a memorial service and handed Margaret $1,000 in cash. He didn’t know the Mihaljevic family on a personal level, making the kind transaction a bit odd. When investigators looked into Robert, they discovered a pattern of strange behavior, such as his infamy around town for standing nude in front of the living room window as young girls walked by, or simply staring at them as they ventured to school. He was also suspected of arson after the home he lived in burned down in 1989, but when the FBI obtained a search warrant to dig through his new home, nothing of note happened. The other peculiar subject targeted by police after Amy’s memorial was an unnamed man featured in former FBI agent Robertt Ressler’s book, “Whoever Fights Monsters.” Ressler claimed the man went out of his way to volunteer in the search efforts for Amy, handing out fliers and going door-to-door. The man also sent Margaret sympathy cards with hair pins attached, telling Margaret that she and Amy could wear them when Amy was found. Thinking it to be a sign of involvement, Ressler and another FBI agent visited the man to thank him for his volunteer efforts before turning it into an interrogation. The man professed his innocence but the police kept checking in on him. They found he had a history of mental and emotional issues and felt they had found their man. Their gut reactions seemed to be validated when the man combined a lethal dosage of ethanol in his soda and committed suicide 3 weeks later, right after Amy’s body was uncovered. Ressler and the FBI attempted to search his residence, but before they could the man’s family had the house cleaned and emptied, his clothing donated to a Goodwill store. Years later, the local police told multiple investigators this unidentified man in question had actually very little evidence to suggest he could be the killer and was never strongly considered, citing that they did have access to the man’s belongings and not even a fraction of a clue was found. The man is no longer considered a prime suspect.

There were also a couple of other men around the Bay Village area that exhibited disturbing histories with minors and young girls focused on by authorities. One was Kenneth Robert Stanton, a serial molester who moved to northern Ohio in 1989 a few months before Amy went missing. His modus operandi was to befriend young girls and learn of when they’d be home alone, building up their trust before invading their homes. Police would later say Stanton was only a suspect due to his congruent MO aligning with Amy’s killer, but had zero physical connection to her case. Another seedy male figure was Doctor Frank Vokoun, a local Bay Village dentist with an inclination to make passes on female minors. He moved out of the country shortly after Amy was kidnapped, and those who knew him told reporters that he asked his family to send him updates about Amy’s fate. What happened to Frank is unknown, but some say he had beat his wife and fled to Costa Rica.

One glaring problem with the investigation at large and a search for the perfect perpetrator is there are an disproportionate amount of registered sex offenders in the northern Ohio area, especially sprinkled around middle-class suburbs such as Bay Village and North Olmstead. And if the list of known pedophiles and rapists is large, one can only imagine how big the list of unconfirmed and unknown criminals is. Thus, the sheer number of names cycled through police reports and FBI investigations is too big to comprehend, let alone list with appropriate reason. If anything, this realization is all the more disturbing, considering what happened to Amy might not have been at the hands of a single, serial predator with multiple victims, but rather a solo pedophile in the midst of countless others, still out there carrying out their bidding in an uncontrolled circus of evil.

Of all the men investigated and interviewed and implicated in Amy’s case, none stand out more than one suspicious figure researched by longtime journalist and expert on the matter, James Renner. In November of 2008, Renner published an article for clevescene.co, titled “Person of Interest,” detailing the history and his personal search for a man by the name of Dean Runkle. Dean Runkle wasn’t just a character of the northern Ohio suburbs with vague connections to the Mihaljevic family or a semi-shady past. Rather, Dean was the first and most prolific suspect intersecting with all of the girls who received strange calls from an unidentified male in the late 1980’s. He had worked as a volunteer at the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in 1989, but none of the former employees of the center had remembered his name until a man named Tom Perchinsky called up Renner in August of 2008 and told him his former 8th grade science teacher in 1991 named Dean Runkle would talk about the Lake Erie Science Center to his classes. This was the volunteer both Renner and the FBI wanted to investigate, and thus a profiling endeavor began.

Dean Runkle was born in the mid 1940’s in New London, Ohio, on a farmhouse only a few miles away from where Amy Mihaljevic’s body would be found on County Road 1181, 45 years later. Dean lived a tumultuous early life, dealing with an abusive father and the tragic death of his 6-year-old twin sister in 1950. Nevertheless, he went on to develop a love for science and biology and studied education at Bowling Green State University, finding employment soon after graduation as a 7th grade science instructor at Vermilion Junior High School in 1967, already earning awards for his work by the end of his second year. And on the surface, his raves and certificates for innovative teaching made sense. He was a colorful individual, implementing film and photography with his students. Yet this habit seemed to run deeper into his private life, as he would take the videos and photos of his students home to cut and develop the film in his own residence. When he wasn’t teaching, Dean took time to play ragtime piano at venues around the country, including Disneyland. By the time he returned to teaching, Dean Runkle assembled a miniature conservatory in his classroom with various animals and creatures. This led him to involve his students even more outside of lectures, calling them his “assistants” and allowing them to spend time at his home after school and on the weekends whilst tending to the animal equipment.

All of that changed abruptly in 1987 when Dean quit his position citing “health concerns” yet never gave the same explanation to either parents or administrators. He moved back to New London and worked in a pet store, delivering mice to nature centers around the area, including the Lake Erie Science Center. It didn’t take long before Dean secured another teaching position at Nord Junior High School in Amherst where he built another miniature zoo and used students as his after-school assistants once more. He maintained this position until 2003, when Dean quit out of the blue again. This time, Dean truly left without reason, forgoing a sabbatical, retirement, and his pension.

Curious about Dean’s personality and relationship with his students, Renner reached out to over 500 of his former middle schoolers, now adults in the real world. He heard back a lot of positive feedback regarding Dean’s infectious energy and how he inspired students to pursue degrees in biology or veterinary sciences. However, he also received a fair share of secrets revealing a darker side to Dean and a pattern of disturbing behavior. First was the stories of animal cruelty, like the time he pulled a prank on a friend by dipping a cat in liquid nitrogen, freezing it, and letting it crash into a million pieces on the floor. Then there were the copious instances of creepy incidents with kids. One girl was quoted by Renner in his article saying, “It was more than creepy; it felt like an animal noticing you walk into a room. He had a few girls he was extra close to, like the girl who sat in front of me. I'd watch him put his left hand on her back and bend down to whisper in her ear. It seems inappropriate now, the way he treated some of the girls.” Another male student recalled Dean’s propensity for telling sexual jokes to the boys, going as far as to hint he liked kids before they hit puberty because he was once, quote, “a runt.”

Another former female student thought Dean was the closest match to the police sketch of Amy’s kidnapper she had ever seen. She actually confronted him about it one day back in 1990 and told Renner, “I said, 'I know you're the one who killed Amy. His eyes popped out of his head. He didn't say anything, just walked past me.” Four years later, yet another female student of his named Christina Adkins, came forward with a disgusting revelation when she overheard Dean tell a fellow administrator he wished he was the father of a baby held by a pregnant 8th-grader. And that wasn’t all. Adkins said Dean gave off incredibly uncomfortable vibes when they were alone, that he made suggestive comments about the clothes female students would wear and be very touchy with them, pressing his chest against them when he spoke in close quarters. Adkins and a few other girls were interviewed about these behaviors by their superintendent a year later in 1995 but that investigation is nowhere in Dean’s professional records.

One of the most glaring pieces of evidence against Dean is an incident that occurred with another student of his, in which they were caught alone in Dean’s gold colored Pontiac Grand Prix. Both the school’s principal and the police were aware of the situation, but let Dean off with nothing more than a warning. It’s incredibly peculiar looking back on it when considering the make and model of the vehicle itself. Amy Mihaljevic’s body was found with microscopic gold fibers researched to be those of a General Motors automobile, most likely a model from the mid-to-late 1970’s. Dean’s Grand Prix was just that -- a gold-colored Pontiac manufactured by GM. Renner attempted to track it down to a junkyard only to find it had been scrapped years earlier.

While there was only that single known instance of a kid being in Dean’s car with him, there were more rumors that Dean had invited kids back to his actual apartment. The one boy who was confirmed to have actually gone inside was named Dan, who later told Renner that he was a favorite pupil of Dean’s and the two became quite close. They stayed in contact after Dan graduated high school, with Dean writing letters that grew sexual in nature. Dean went as far as to set aside a trust fund for Dan, but the two eventually tapered off in their conversations and Dean took the money back. The timeframe when their friendship ended completely? The fall of 1989, around Amy’s initial disappearance.

When Renner carried out this investigation in 2008, he paid a visit to Dean in Key West, Florida, where Dean had fled to in 2003 and was managing a fast food restaurant ever since. Dean vehemently denied any involvement with Amy or her murder, saying he always cooperated with the FBI including taking lie detector tests, and moved to Florida for health reasons. He claimed he was always at school after hours and wouldn’t have had time to get to the shopping centre and abduct Amy so soon after the final bell rang. When Renner confronted Dean about his relationship with Dan, Dean chalked it up to being a difficult time in his life, but maintained they never became physical with one another. Renner also asked Dean if he could have been at the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in 1989 like Tom Perchinsky claimed, and Dean told him he might have been but couldn’t remember being there. Before he left, Renner asked one more question, wondering if Dean used the logbook at the Science Center to gather phone numbers of young girls from North Olmstead. Dean says he has nothing to confess to, that he was done talking, and walked away.

While the evidence is circumstantial at best, the clues and patterns associated with Dean definitely suggest something more sinister could have been at play. He had a childhood filled with trials and terrors, like facing beatings from his father. The death of his twin at such a young age is also theorized to be an underlying factor similarly seen in other like-criminal’s upbringings. Dean also had eyewitness testimonies of animal cruelty and pedophilic comments, including the possibility of inappropriate touching. He was familiar with the New London countryside, which investigators say is a key to the killer’s placement of Amy’s corpse on County Road 1181. He also had the all-important connection to the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center with a known fascination with prepubescent girls. Not only that, but people have pointed out that when he refused to renew his teaching license and fled from the schooling system, it aligned with the timeframe that states mandated all educators be fingerprinted for a national database to obtain a license. Top it off with a car that could have matched the description of the gold fibers on Amy’s body and everything seems to fit like the perfect puzzle piece.

However, there is an equal chance Dean did not kidnap and kill Amy. One has to consider the slim chance he could have run out of school and made it to the shopping center in time to take her at the time she was abducted. Also remember that as a former teacher, the other kids could have easily recognized him, and those who did describe Amy’s perpetrator as having dark brown hair. Dean’s hair was dirty blonde. The FBI had Dean zeroed in as prime suspect number one for awhile, but came out and said in 2019 that whoever did indeed murder Amy probably wasn’tt someone they had already investigated, making it sound like Dean had been cleared after years of interviews, passed polygraphs, and extreme vetting processes. Like so many other names and suspects that were spewed in various theories, Dean Runkle became just that: just another assumption.

The Conclusion

Before we divulge our hypothesis of Amy Mihaljevic’s unsolved murder, we want to make known our conclusions presented in Cold Case Detective are purely logical speculation based on evidence, circumstance, and factual subtext. We are only privy to the same information presented in each video, and we do not attempt to promise certainty or an expert guarantee on the findings we reach in closing. We simply observe, research, and report.

While the carousel of suspects is neverending, we are confident the man who took Amy’s life a way from her was a longtime resident of northern Ohio, familiar with Bay Village and its neighboring communities. He was confident in his incredibly risky approach in contacting young girls, displaying a disregard for consequence yet a slick skillset in remaining undetected. He was certainly a serial predator, and whether or not he has struck before is impossible to say, but without a doubt he planned his strategies to the finest detail. The killer most certainly had connections to the Lake Erie Science and Nature Center, and if he wasn’t an employee, he was probably a guest or volunteer who frequented enough to know about the logbook and understand it was a trove of phone numbers and contact information for his victims. He most likely didn’t have a personal vendetta against the Mihalvejic family, but also could have worked at either General Motors or Tradin’ Times Magazine with one of Amy’s parents, knowing their schedules as well as her’s and coordinated his attack using that information. Find a man with a history in abusing young children and a damaged background and he must be considered.

Ken Lanning, one of the founders of the Behavioral Science Unit for the FBI and interviewed in the same James Renner article listed above, makes very good points regarding the theoretical murderer. He talked about how most child molesters aren’t actual killers, but rather influential figures who convince their victims to trust them. They only use violence as a last resort, say, if the victim fights back or the trust factor never leads to physical contact. Lanning continued to point out that serialized murdered children are often the result of strangers getting their hands tied behind their backs, for a perpetrator would be leaving behind too much of a trail to victimize someone close to them. Again, this is using the theory of a serial predator and not a one-off homicide. Amy’s case fits Lanning’s profile of child molester attempting to seduce his targets, and her subsequent murder the effect of his ultimate failure to seduce her. Amy’s nails were chipped when her corpse was found, signaling she fought her attacker until he gave up and took her life.

So did Dean Runkle do it? Possibly. But so could have any of the other names the FBI listed in their investigation. The scariest part is that the killer could be someone nobody expected, someone who became so invisible their face was never even considered. Not even the police sketches of the abductor give us a concrete answer, as law enforcement has said the drawing is a simple estimation and probably inaccurate. Thus, the only road to a justified conclusion will probably be if DNA evidence is ever procured and linked to an individual. Police did find partial hairs not belonging to either Amy or her family on her body, and have recently been submitted for DNA analysis. Without the root of the hair, a full DNA profile might not be possible, but if 30 years later this type of clue can still surface, there must be hope for more.

In the end, we want to remember Amy not for that afternoon on October 27th, 1989, but rather for every moment leading up to that day. We want to preserve her infectious compassion and beautiful soul in memories of her delicate yet innocent humanity. When we think of Amy, think of her as the free spirited, nature loving young girl with infinite potential. Think of her adventurous soul and gifted mind and the happiness she brought to people in the years she graced the Earth. Think of the girl who loved horses and animals and brought comfort to the living and breathing creatures of the world. Think of Amy not as a statistic or a case file or another episode of a true crime project, but as a brilliant child with a massive heart, who was stripped of her will to grace the earth way too soon. Mythicizing the Bay Village Boogeyman is not what’s important here… It’s memorializing Amy Mihaljevic, and making sure she is remembered for good, for always, and that she lives on through us.

This is Cold Case Detective...