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. The witnesses described that he was within the average range for a males height, weight, and build, making him unremarkable in appearance. A curtain, held for decades as potential evidence, just became an even bigger piece of the puzzle in solving the decades-old mystery. Amys death affected everyone in the Bay Village community and surrounding areas. 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. I can tell whatever I want to. The school doors open, and here comes Amy Mihaljevic, dressed in green pants and a pale green shirt with lavender trim. Mr. Runkle wouldve had access to the log book which listed Amys address and phone number, as well as the unlisted phone numbers of the other girls who received the suspicious phone calls. "I don't have anything to say." Read more about this topic: Amy Mihaljevic, Suspect, Confession, alas, is the new handshake.Richard Dean Rosen (b. She loved horseback riding, and took riding lessons with her friends at a local horse ranch. James Renner chased Runkle down to the Key West, FL area and attempted to interview him. Eventually, their method of killing starts to bore them, and the killer needs more drama, risk and excitement with each new victim. But I answered the FBI's questions, I took their lie detector test and they haven't done anything to me. Did you see this curtain hanging in someone's house? "It was more than creepy; it felt like an animal noticing you walk into a room. Unfortunately the remote farmland surrounding Bay Village offers predators the perfect cover to abduct, assault, kill and dispose of their victims without attracting any attention at all. Thankfully, though, a few people noticed him with Amy that day, and so a sketch of what he looked like was made. By the time police made this connection, the log book had vanished from the nature center. In lab, he would stand behind me and push his chest against me. When he couldn't find a textbook up to his standards, he wrote his own and passed it out to the kids. A homeless man says he thinks he has seen Runkle at a soup kitchen on Flagler Avenue before, but that was years ago. 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 . The Ashland County field where Amy Mihaljevic's body was discovered on February 8, 1990. Amy Mihaljevic, United States Unclassified. He knew Amy and her friends. 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. ", And though most victims of child abuse know their attackers, when a child is killed, often it's at the hands of a stranger who has gone outside his safe zone. A suspect has never been identified. Science teacher from the area, lived in Ashland County and grew up. Finally, police discovered a link between all the girls. Amy was the subject of my first crime article - and my first book. Many of them are simply just look-alikes who otherwise have no connection to the crime. Renner pressed him for any information about Amys murder, but Runkle walked away. Some of them just came to our attention recently. This case to me, to solve it, not just to me, but for the police department and Amys family and really for Amy, would be everything for us, he said. Again, no one remembered the name. Investigators would later figure out that Amy was not the only girl who had received such phone calls around the same time. All the interviews checked out except one. But no one knows Runkle. The abductor had contacted Mihaljevic by telephone and arranged to meet her on the pretext of buying a gift . Someone stitched this together inside their home and hung on their tall, narrow window. 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. This three-decade-old mystery and the nationwide hunt for the perpetrator, involving hundreds of suspects, is still ongoing. Runkle also seemed to have volunteered in the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village at the time of the murder. "Statistical probabilities are always trumped by case specifics." She steadily declined for years until she left Bay Village in the 1990s and relocated to the Cleveland area. 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. in 1989where Runkle frequently volunteered (Renner, 2008). 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. At the time of Amy's . In 1990 when the body was found, forensic testing for DNA as we know it now and other trace evidence was not yet available. From conversations with the nature center's staff (I had donated some of the book's profits to the organization, in memory of Amy, and so had reason to talk to them occasionally), I learned that Bay Village Det. Runkle is an interesting suspect for many reasons. Amy Mihaljevic disappeared in 1989 when she was ten years old. Multiple witnesses say that he matches the man they saw . Runkle also seemed to have volunteered in the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village at the time of the murder. 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. They had a safe place to take her to incapacitate her, sexually assault her and murder her, all without detection. If we can find out where that curtain came from or who owned that, we believe strongly that will take us to the person responsible for this, he said. Today, Dan is living in a rundown apartment complex in Vermilion. She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and she later moved to a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1987, Runkle set a few thousand dollars aside in a trust for Dan, according to Dan's mother. Copyright 2021 WOIO. Investigators said she was stabbed to death. But the only student they know who went inside was a boy named Dan, who attended Sailorway Middle School. Several students say they were invited back to Runkle's apartment after school. I shake his hand and introduce myself. It seems inappropriate now, the way he treated some of the girls." The offender is identified to be a white male. She just got a promotion. In early 1990 her body was found. The report of a missing child from their own neighborhood frightened every soul in Bay Village. Spaetzel also discussed the dangers of strangers. But Runkle eventually asked for the money back. In 1971, he quit teaching for two years to play ragtime at Disneyland. The girl became frightened and immediately hung up the phone. Four months later, her body was found in a corn field off a remote county highway. The other students assumed the man was a friend or relative, and that Amy knew him, so they thought nothing of it. Four months after her kidnapping in 1989, of which the 32nd anniversary falls on Wednesday, Amy's body was discovered in . Amy Mihaljevic has been died on Oct 27, 1989 ( age 10). 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. 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. In the fall of 1989, Runkle applied for a teaching position at Nord Junior High in Amherst and was hired on the glowing recommendations of former administrators from Vermilion. He walks over to see what we're talking about. Amy's case remains open to this day, and the Bay Village police have never let her case go cold in almost 30 years. 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. A search warrant for the suspects house was executed, but no evidence linking the man to Amy was found. 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. Unfortunately, what looked like a slam dunk case ended up fizzling out. He bred mice in his classroom, and then donated them to the nature center to feed the mice there. "If you do become a violent guy, you better be victimizing strangers," explains Lanning. This "list os suspects" is so completely bogus. She didnt recognize the mans voice. Is this the sort of curtain someone you knew would have made? When would I have had time to kill her? This can suggest a couple of things about the behavioral profile of the killer. It wouldnt have been unusual for Amy to go there alone or with friends. The curtain is incredibly unique and likely homemade. Amy Mihaljevic disappeared on October 27, 1989. Person Of Interest. "He would stare at me in class," says Kim Raeburn. "Mr. "This is where I'm at," says Amy, and walks alone across the nearly empty parking lot toward Baskin-Robbins. "My sister told me about you," he says. Friends of Amy said the caretaker paid special attention to Amy and was always saying hi to her while she was there for lessons. **See the blog below for more** It was October 27, 1989 . The third girl took horseback riding lessons at Holly Hill Ranch, the very same ranch that Amy took lessons from. 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. 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. Tue Aug 17, 06:49:00 PM . It's a day investigators have pored over for decades: October 27, 1989 -- when 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic disappeared from Bay Village, Ohio. So by definition, the 3 are still the "most likely suspects". 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 interaction was seen by two separate witnesses, both fellow middle school students. Police found signs of sexual assault, and her cause of death was declared as multiple stab wounds to the neck area. The Lake Erie area had never seen such a gruesome murder of a child. Amy Mihaljevic. At 2:10 p.m., on October . After high school, he went to Bowling Green, where he majored in education with a focus in biology. James Renner, around the same age as Amy at the time, had been following the story about the cute little girl with the side ponytail. 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. Margaret became severely depressed and was unable to move on with her life. Nothing is that simple, I told myself. Mark remarried about six years after Amys disappearance in 1995. Friends of hers claim she slid into alcoholism. 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 . A teacher at Amys middle school had told police back in 1989 that he had never heard of the nature center and had nothing to do with the establishment. Hes also a person of authority whom Amy wouldve known and trusted. I ask. They thrive off the increased risk of being caught, so they start leaving bodies out in the open and leaving behind trace evidence. For their part, Bay Village police detectives do not consider Runkle as the only suspect in the case and continue to work all leads. Adkins says she and other young girls were questioned about Runkle's behavior by the superintendent in 1995. Subscribe now to get the latest news delivered right to your inbox. Other tips were called in about a local handyman who had been doing some work on a house down the street from the Mihaljevics. Jen Crouch says Runkle liked to tell her about pranks he played on friends. A stranger convinced Amy that he needed her help buying a present . BAY VILLAGE, Ohio (WOIO) - Nearly 32 years after her murder, theres a new clue in the Amy Mihaljevic case. Runkle was a twin, but his sister died in 1950, when they were 6. 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. 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. In terms of a suspect, I agree that Dean Runkle appears incredibly suspicious. Both of Amys parents worked full time. Lanning helped create the Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia, where FBI agents are trained.