Obscure Occurrences : The Abduction and Murder of Amy Mihaljevic

 Amy Mihaljevic was born on the 11^th of December, 1978, in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was the second child of Mark and Margaret Mihaljevic, joining her older brother of three years, Jason. Looking to raise the children in a more idyllic midwestern locale, Mark and Margaret moved their family to Bay Village, Ohio, a suburb full of promise for a fulfilling life.

 Mark found employment at General Motors, while his wife, Margaret, secured a job at Trading Times Magazine and their two kids, Amy and Jason, entered the public schooling system. As Amy grew older, she found an interest in many hobbies and subjects, but nothing matched her love for animals, especially horses. This love soon spread to all of mother nature and the great outdoors.

 Creating her own Adventures around town, Amy became quite the explorer. Through her storytelling and fantasy, she brought her spirited imagination to life. At school, Amy's outgoing personality brought forth a number of friends. She was extremely social and infected those around her with the vibrant energy she relentlessly exuded. Just like her brother, Amy excelled academically in school, displaying a strong potential for a future in education. She also engaged herself in athletic activities, both at school and around Bay Village, becoming an avid swimmer as she grew into adolescence.

 Despite Amy's forward-thinking mind and social inclinations, she had not been keen to interact with adults. She would answer questions if asked directly or share a kind greeting but didn't seek out elder interaction. This aspect makes her tragic death all the more troubling.

(Source: Gray and Company)

Disappearance

 Leading up to the 27^th of October, 1989, Amy received a phone call from a mysterious caller, who informed her that her mother, Margaret, had received a promotion at work. He had asked Amy if they can meet in a public place to buy a gift for Margaret. Amy agreed to the proposal, before arranging a meeting at a shopping centre near Bay Village Middle School, at the end of the week. Over the next few days, Amy told 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. However, she did not tell her parents about the man or this phone call, acting normally around the house.

 Early in the morning hours of Friday, October 27^th, Amy prepared for the upcoming school day, behaving casually and excited for the weekend. Before leaving, she informed her mother that she would be returning late, citing the audition for the fifth-grade choir as her reason. At around 7:20 am, Amy departed for school on her bicycle, riding alone as Jason had already left.

 For the remainder of that morning, up until class was dismissed at 2:04 pm, Amy spent the day as if it were any other Friday, exhibiting no signs of stress or worry. Eleven minutes later, Amy walked down the street from the Middle School to the shopping centre on the corner of Wolf Road, just across the street from the local police department. At 2:15 pm, Amy was seen in the shopping centre plaza by fellow classmates, who were all hanging around in after-school recreational tradition. Soon afterward, Amy was approached by a thirty-year-old white male, standing around five foot nine and sporting brown hair. This would turn out to be the last confirmed sighting of Amy, before disappearing from plain sight along with the adult male figure.

(Source: The Cinemaholic)

 Forty minutes later, Jason rang his mother from their residence, alerting her about Amy’s absence. Assuming that Amy was probably still at her choir audition, Margaret asked Jason not to worry. But another alert from Jason fifteen minutes later worried Margaret, causing her to gather her things and prepare to leave work. Just at this moment, she received a call from Amy.

 After a brief communication with her daughter, Margaret assumed that Amy returned home safely, thus resuming her normal work. The next couple of hours trickled by and Margaret could not shake the unsettling fear caused by her daughter's peculiarly short replies. Letting her motherly instincts kick in, she packed up and left work in a rush, running to her car. At about 5:30 pm, Margaret arrived home, only to find Amy still absent. She began calling Amy's friends and the neighbours, desperate for any sightings or contacts. Unable to locate her, Margaret hopped in her car and retraced her daughter's steps from earlier that day, leading her to Amy's chained bicycle. Immediately afterward, Amy was officially reported missing.

Search and Discovery

 Authorities were alerted and multiple search parties were formed. Countless Bay Village citizens canvassed the streets of their once innocent little Lake Town. The next morning, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrived in Bay Village to assist the local law enforcement. The investigation was headed by Dick Wrenn, a special agent who was a Bay Village resident himself.

 Before the end of the morning, the police learnt from one of Amy's schoolmates of her phone conversations with an unidentified male, realizing that the abduction was not random but a predetermined plan. The schoolmate told the investigators that 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 children. This abductor was a force to be reckoned with.

 On October 28th, Howard Kimball, a long-time Bay Village resident, took charge of leading the volunteer search efforts for Amy, setting up his own command post above City Hall and taking calls and tips from around the area. The late October weekend came to a close and investigators worried about their window of prime opportunity closing.

 Over the next hundred days, nothing of use was uncovered. Amy's profile was shared across multiple television programs and on various platforms and yet, no one came forward with anything of substance. The next big find wouldn't come until the early morning hours of February 8th, 1990, when the worst possible scenario unfolded.

 At around 7 am, a female jogger running alongside County Road 1181 in rural Ashland County, Ohio, noticed what appeared to be a body or a lump of clothes resting in a field near her pathway. Authorities were called and the body was soon discovered to be Amy Mihaljevic. Near the crime scene were blankets and a shower curtain, covered in Amy's family dog’s hair.

Investigation

 An autopsy on Amy’s body revealed her death to be a clear case of homicide. She had suffered multiple stab wounds to the neck and blunt force trauma to the head. Amy had at least one meal before her death, which most likely was an artificial chicken product and it occurred only days after her abduction. Furthermore, the blood stains on her underwear suggested a possibility of sexual assault. The innocent young girl was murdered in cold blood and her killer was on the loose.

 For the next three decades, Bay Village detectives and the FBI led a massive manhunt for the Lake Erie murderer. In 2006, law enforcement learnt that a few other girls in the city of Northern Olmsted, Ohio received similar calls from an unidentified male figure at around the time Amy received hers. All of them were 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. This new piece of information signaled to police that they were dealing with a Serial Predator rather than a one-off criminal.

 After another seven years of inconclusive investigating, Special Agent Phil Torsney was brought aboard. Phil told the reporters that the killer was most likely a long-time resident of Northern Ohio with in-depth knowledge of the local geography. Even today, authorities are still without any luck or noteworthy leads. Due to how exhaustively thorough they've been looking into the names, they've come up with over 15,000 interviews, 150 suspects, and 8,000 Clues. Despite their commendable efforts, Amy's death is still frozen in a cloud of mystery.

 There are a few clues and missing artefacts sprinkled throughout the case that is worth magnification. First of all, there were three significant items missing from Amy's body on the day that her body was found. These personal artefacts were a pair of black, horse-riding boots, a denim backpack with an academic binder inside 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.

 Detectives assigned to the investigation remarked about how predators in these types of crimes often keep mementos of their victims. These missing objects could easily have been held onto by the killer as a souvenir. If any of them could be found and identified, it could be a connection 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 an unidentified man. While these girls were not friends with Amy directly, all of them had one conclusive connection to the Lake Erie Nature and Science Centre. Detectives looked into the pattern and realized that the centre utilized a visitor's log booth at the front door, which all of the girls including Amy had signed up on their trips there. Along with signatures, the log books also included visitors' phone numbers and addresses, giving the Predator an in-depth resource for his potential victim's location. How many log books the centre kept throughout its history and if they are archived 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 was nearly impossible.

Theories and Suspects

Involvement of Family

 As with many missing and murdered children's cases, one of the most argued theories at the beginning of the investigation was targeting the parents and their potential involvement. Fortunately, in Amy's case, authorities were able to quickly rule out both Mark and Margaret as suspects. They had both rock-solid alibis as they were both at work and around co-workers. Some conspiracy theorists have tried to reason that the parents might have hired someone to kidnap their daughter. However, the truth of the matter was that Amy's parents had nothing to gain from carrying out such a bizarre scheme.

 Many of the other early theories also revolved around friends and family members. These people most likely had knowledge of Margaret's employment situation, Amy's after-school routine, and the telephone number to her residence. They would have also known 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.

 However, all of the possible persons of interest closely connected to the Mihaljevi were intensely vetted by both the local police and the FBI special agents and none are currently considered prime suspects.

Connections to Holly Hills Farm

 There were a few 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 Tabelli and he also went by Shawn Dusky. Shawn was kicked out of a previous labour position at a stable for tickling young girls. He was also accused of raping a twelve-year-old girl in Washington state in 1983.

 Another person connected via Holly Hills Farms was Dr Gregory Kappela, whose daughter also rode horses alongside Amy. He faced accusations of writing love letters to a female minor, asking to be her boyfriend. He would also sleep in the same room as young girls when taking the youth soccer teams on trips to Canada.

 That being said, both of the Holly Hills Farm's men profiled only had circumstantial suspicions at best and were never arrested.

Connections to Memorial Events

 Another set of suspects would arise 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 one thousand dollars in cash. He didn't know the Mihaljevic family on a personal level, making the kind transaction a bit odd.

 Upon investigation, Robert’s strange pattern of behaviour was discovered. He had a penchant for standing nude in front of the living room window as young girls walked by. He was also suspected of arson when the home he lived in burned down in 1989. That being said, the FBI could find nothing useful while digging through his new home.

 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 that this man went out of his way to volunteer in search efforts for Amy, handing out flyers and going door to door. The man also sent Margaret sympathy cards with hairpins attached, telling her that she and Amy would 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. While the man professed his innocence, the police kept checking in on him. They found he had a history of mental and emotional issues and felt that they had found their man.

  Their gut reactions seem to be validated when the man combined a lethal dosage of ethanol with his soda just weeks after Amy's body was found. Ressler and the FBI attempted to search the residents after his suicide, but before they could, the man's family had the house cleaned and emptied.

 Years later, however, the local police told multiple investigators that there was very little evidence to suggest that this man could be the killer.

A Serial Molester

 There were also a couple of other men around the Bay Village area that exhibited disturbing histories with minors and young girls. One of them was Kenneth Robert Stanton, a serial molester who moved to Northern Ohio in 1989. His modus operandi was befriending young girls, building up their trust, and invading their homes. Police later said Stanton was only a suspect due to his methods aligning with Amy's killer, but he had zero physical connection to her case.

  The other male figure was Dr Frank Vokoun, a local Bay Village dentist who exhibited an interest in 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 case. What happened to Frank is unknown but some say he had beaten his wife and fled to Costa Rica.

Dean Runkle

 Out of all the men investigated, interviewed, and implicated in Amy's case, none stand out more than one suspicious figure researched by long-time journalist and expert on the case James Renner. In November of 2008, Renner published an article titled “Person of Interest”, detailing the history and his personal search for a man by the name of Dean Runkle.

(Source: Scene)

 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 1980s. He had worked as a volunteer at the Lake Erie Nature and Science Centre in 1989, but none of the former employees of the centre had remembered his name until a man named Tom Perchinsky called up Renner in August of 2008.

 The man told Renner that his former eighth-grade science teacher in 1991, Dean Runkle, would talk about the Lake Erie Science Centre to his classes. This was the volunteer both Renner and the FBI wanted to investigate and thus, the profiling endeavour began.

 Dean Runkle was born in the mid-1940s in New London, Ohio, on a farmhouse only a few miles away from where Amy's body would be found. He lived a turbulent early life, dealing with an abusive father and the tragic death of his six-year-old twin sister in 1950. Nevertheless, he went on to develop a love for science and biology and studied at Bowling Green State University. Soon after graduation, he found employment as a seventh-grade science instructor at Vermillion Junior High School in 1967.

 Dean was a colourful individual who implemented film and photography with his students. This habit seemed to run deeper into his private life, as he would take videos and photos of his students home to cut and develop the film. 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.

 Citing health concerns, Dean abruptly quit his position in 1987. He moved back to New London and worked at a pet store, delivering mice to nature centres around the area, including the Lake Erie Science Centre. It didn't take long before Dean secured another teaching position at Nord Junior High School, where he built another miniature zoo and used students as his after-school assistants. Once more, he quit out of the blue, but this time without any apparent reason.

 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. By all accounts, he heard back a lot of positive feedback regarding Dean's infectious energy. However, he also received a fair share of secrets, revealing a darker side to Dean and a pattern of disturbing behaviour. First were the stories of animal cruelty. In one instance, he had pulled a prank on a friend by dipping a cat in liquid nitrogen, freezing it, and letting it crash into multiple pieces on the floor.

 Then, there were copious instances of creepy incidents with the kids. One female student recounted his inappropriate behaviour with minor girls. Another male student recalled his propensity for telling sexual jokes to the boys, going as far as to hint that he liked kids before they hit puberty. Another former female student thought Dean was the closest match to a police sketch of Amy's kidnapper. While she confronted him, his “eyes popped out of his head” before he walked past without saying anything. Another one of Dean’s female students came forward with a disgusting revelation. She claimed to overhear Dean tell a fellow administrator that he wished he was the father of a baby held by a pregnant eighth grader.

 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-coloured Pontiac. Both the school's principal and the police were aware of the situation but let Dean off with nothing more than a warning. Amy's body was found with microscopic gold fibres, researched to be those of a GM automobile, most likely a model from the mid to late 1970s. Dean's gold-coloured Pontiac fell in line with this clue. Renner tried to track it down to a junkyard, but the car had already been scrapped.

 When Renner carried out this investigation in 2008, he paid a visit to Dean in Key Wes, Florida, where Dean had fled in 2003 before managing a fast-food restaurant. Dean vehemently denied any involvement with Amy or her murder, saying that he always cooperated with the FBI including taking lie detector tests. Furthermore, he claimed he was always at school after hours and wouldn't have the time to go to the shopping centre and abduct Amy so soon after the final bell.

 While the evidence is circumstantial at best, the clues and patterns associated with Dean definitely suggest something more sinister could have been at play. However, there is an equal chance Dean did not kidnap and kill Amy. Those who described Amy's captor described him as having dark brown hair, but Dean's hair is a dirty blonde.

Conclusion

 Was Dean Runkle the man responsible? It's certainly possible but so too are any of the other names the FBI listed in their investigation. The killer could also have been someone nobody expected. Someone who became so invisible, that his face was never even considered. Not even the police sketches of the abductor give us a concrete answer, as law enforcement has said that the drawing is a simple estimation and likely 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 these have been recently submitted for DNA analysis. However, without the root of the hair, a full DNA profile might not be possible. Unfortunately, considering that over three decades had passed since the crime, the possibility of finding Amy’s killer only seems to dwindle in the future.