on a farm near the road where Amys body was found (Renner, 2008). He didn't say anything, just walked past me. She watches as he walks up to Amy and puts a hand on her back. Last weekend, I paid him a visit. 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. According to Jason, for months and years after Amys disappearance, Margaret would do nothing but go to work, and then come home and barricade herself inside Amys room. Categories Posted Recently. 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. 5. Scne de . The dog hair traveled on Amy's body and deposited onto them because the curtain and blanket were likely used to wrap her body during travel. Ryan was terrified, said no thank you to the man and quickly ran away to school. Runkle sold his gold Grand Prix in 1991. He was an eccentric teacher from the beginning. Police responded to the Mihaljevic house almost immediately, and began interviewing Amys family and friends over the next few days. She jogs a little to catch up with Olivia Masiak. The story I've spent the most time on is the unsolved abduction and murder of Amy Mihaljevic. Amy was the subject of my first crime article - and my first book. Dean Runkle himself denies any involvement in the murder of Amy Mihaljevic and the FBI has never officially declared him a suspect. At that intersection is her killer. Someone stitched this together inside their home and hung on their tall, narrow window. 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. 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. In 2016, fibers on the curtain turned out to be dog hairs, matching Amys dog at the time of her disappearance. Everyone standing in line at the Flagler soup kitchen wants to help. 3. James Renner chased Runkle down to the Key West, FL area and attempted to interview him. 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. 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. 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. Multiple witnesses say that he matches the man they saw with Amy the day she vanished. Amy passes her blue antique bicycle, which she peddled to school that morning, and heads east on Wolf Road. Amy's case, beginning with the phone calls from a stranger posing as a family friend, appears to have been a seduction gone wrong. He promptly began building a new zoo and inviting kids to help with the animals after school. Where? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Design a site like this with WordPress.com, If youre interested in learning more about Amys case, please check out James Renners book about this case. How much time would that give DR to rush out after work, find a pay phone or some other way of calling, then make the call? There are several people we are still looking at today as suspects for the case, said Elish. They recalled seeing him eating at Rax on Route 58 every night, sometimes with his classroom assistants. She says Runkle and another teacher were discussing the pregnancy of an eighth-grader and which boy might have been the father. Margaret immediately became alarmed and decided to leave work early. The center had been one of Amy's favorite places. In 1987, Runkle set a few thousand dollars aside in a trust for Dan, according to Dan's mother. Visitors had to enter their name, address and phone numbers in the book. "Amy!" He's not homeless anymore. I work with your mother, he told her. Ryan said the car followed him a ways until it pulled up beside him and the man inside slowly lowered his window. The witnesses described that he was within the average range for a males height, weight, and build, making him unremarkable in appearance. By the time these women sought me out in 2006, they had forgotten the name. He was an accomplished ragtime piano player and played in the Red Garter Saloon at Cedar Point during the summers. We know this perpetrator is both patient opportunistic, the play it safe type who allowed Amy to call her mom as to not raise suspicion, so why would he rush from his job to the abduction scene? As it happens, the soup kitchen is scheduled to serve free lunch in a half-hour. Amy Renee Mihaljevic (/ m h l v k /, MUH-hah-LEVIK; December 11, 1978 - c. 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. Runkle was born in New London and grew up in a farmhouse just a couple miles from where Amy's body was dumped, along County Road 1181. The man told Amy that her mother had just gotten a promotion at work, and that he wanted to take Amy shopping to buy a gift for her that day. He told different stories to administrators and students, everything from eating bad food while on safari in Africa to contracting a blood disease after cutting his hand on coral. DR was a teacher at a middle school, which let out later than Amys school did. I attempted to locate it in hopes of taking a sample of carpet that could be compared to the gold fibers found on Amy. Required fields are marked *. Amy was last seen walking away from the plaza, toward the parking lot, with that man. Dean lived a tumultuous early life, dealing with an abusive father and the tragic death of his 6-year-old twin sister in 1950. Recently, she saw a suspect's photo on the blog I've maintained since publishing a book about the unsolved case. Some believed that this suspect could have been teacher Dean Runkle, according to James Renner . The first place I stopped was a chain restaurant that Runkle reportedly frequented in Ohio. "He's one of those men who makes you feel uncomfortable when you're alone with them," she says. on And how did the log book disappear from the nature center? Margaret ran home, called her husband Mark, and began calling all of Amys friends and neighbors asking if theyd seen her. He walks over to see what we're talking about. 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. Margaret became severely depressed and was unable to move on with her life. Other tips were called in about a local handyman who had been doing some work on a house down the street from the Mihaljevics. July 12, 202211 items. Her last meal was reported to be a soy substance . Read more about this topic: Amy Mihaljevic, Suspect, Confession, alas, is the new handshake.Richard Dean Rosen (b. Birthday December 11, 1978. He also photographed his students regularly, developing the negatives himself. 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 . Throughout his adult life, Renner has become obsessed with solving Amys murder. Most of these killers have what psychologists deem a thrill-seeking personality.. However, a few minutes after she hung up from Jason, Margaret received a call from Amy herself. During those delays, I learned that Runkle was that suspect. At one time, they even seemed close to arresting him. Send a News Tip. Amy Mihaljevic has been died on Oct 27, 1989 ( age 10). 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. Im not sure how he explained to Amy that he knew that her mother had gotten a promotion on October 27th on that fateful phone call. The girl had been sexually assaulted years earlier, and thankfully did not fall into the mans trap. Why did you leave Ohio in 2003 without giving notice to your employer, For the most part, information on potential suspects has been revealed as, part of independent investigations. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. For more info about Amy's case, you can read through the blog I've devoted to it since 2006. As police struggled to connect viable suspects to the case, they compared the girls who received the suspicious phone calls. When reached at home, he admits to being Runkle's "favorite" for a while. It's . Her murder case raised national attention. The offender is identified to be a white male. Dean Runkle is still the prime suspect in the case, according to one FBI agent, but the case against him is still circumstantial. However, this is just a theory, and, to this date, no official charge against anyone has been made. They also start taking trophies. The only thing that these girls had in common was the fact that they visited the Lake Erie Nature . In 1971, he quit teaching for two years to play ragtime at Disneyland. One hundred days later, Amys body was found 50 miles away. DR is a teacher, and if its one thing that kids will remember its seeing a teacher or former teacher in public. As I'm considering how to enter the compound, a man walks across the street in front of me. In February 1990, when Amys body was found in an Ashland County field, a curtain and a blanket were discovered 300 yards away. After high school, he went to Bowling Green, where he majored in education with a focus in biology. Police believe Amys body was wrapped in the curtain for transport from the actual crime scene to the field where her body was dumped. Whatever the reason, Runkle moved back in with his parents in New London and got a job working at a pet store. In the years since Amy's abduction, Maddie (not her real name) has been shown hundreds of photos of suspects. Mark Spaetzel and a retired FBI agent had interviewed employees about a man who might have volunteered there in 1989. INTERVIEW FOLLOW-UP The evidence is highly circumstantial toward Dean Runkle. In terms of a suspect, I agree that Dean Runkle appears incredibly suspicious. Runkle is an interesting suspect for many reasons. Margaret and Mark filed for divorce, and Mark moved out of the house. Many of them are simply just look-alikes who otherwise have no connection to the crime. Meet Dean Runkle, former teacher of the year from Amherst, Ohio. He often filmed his students in class, cutting together the film later at home. That night and much of the next day I show Runkle's photo around town. "I don't have anything to say." No sign of him, of course. Meanwhile, Mark and Jason moved on with their lives as best they could. She was stabbed twice in the neck and struck with a blunt object on the back of her head. Her murder case received national attention. Hes also a person of authority whom Amy wouldve known and trusted. A group of fifth-grade boys congregates at the corner of the plaza, by Bay Lanes. Feeling like police never investigated the local nature center lead after the log book disappeared, Renner began his own investigation. 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. Neighbors had seen the man talking to Amy briefly days before her disappearance, and he also resembled the composite sketch. Anything is possible." Signed the visitor log book with their phone numbers, Abruptly quit teaching in 2003 without notice and moved to Florida. We should also mention that a former student of Dean has publicly accused him of inappropriate contact. A large volunteer search party with dogs and flashlights found nothing. Over time the letters became sexual in nature. Amys case remains open to this day, and the Bay Village police have never let her case go cold in almost 30 years. http://www.. 2 Suspects. Her murder case received national attention. Amy visited the nature center frequently because she loved science. Lanning doesn't assume to know enough about Runkle to offer an opinion of his behavior or his motivations. 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.