July 10, 2024 • 31 mins
On October 27, 1989, 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic vanished from a Bay Village, Ohio, shopping center after being lured by a man claiming he needed help buying a gift for her mother. Months later, her body was found in a field 50 miles away, bearing signs of a brutal attack. Despite numerous leads and ongoing investigations, her killer remains unidentified. Join me as I share the chilling details and the relentless pursuit of justice in this enduring unsolved murder mystery
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Anyone who grew up during the 80s grew up with hearing about stranger danger.
(00:05):
We were taught not to answer the phone or the door when home alone, to maintain special
code words if someone new tried to pick us up from school, and to never ever get into
a stranger's car.
Later, studies would reveal that most of those who prey on children target kids who are close
to them.
Parents began easing up on restrictions, if only a little.
(00:28):
But there are some cases that make the stranger danger panic seem all too reasonable.
This is one such story.
On October 27th, 1989, a bright and active 10-year-old girl was kidnapped from a shopping
center parking lot in broad daylight.
100 days later, a jogger found her body in a field.
(00:50):
The quiet community where she lived, a place named one of America's top 10 safest cities
to live, was thrown into turmoil and to this day has never really recovered.
The number of suspects is mind-boggling, though I'll only cover the strongest ones when I
go through my theories.
(01:10):
Some of them may have even worked together, and over three decades later, police are still
trying to find the final puzzle piece, the one that will convince a jury that they've
got their man and got him beyond a reasonable doubt.
Join me for the odd and mysterious story of Amy Mihalovic.
(01:30):
10-year-old Amy Mihalovic was a sweet and friendly whirlwind of a tomboy growing up
in Bay Village, Ohio.
She was a student at Bay Middle School.
Her mother, Margaret, worked as a sales rep selling car classified ads in the local paper.
Her father, Mark, sold cars.
(01:53):
Her brother, Jason, who was one year older and one grade higher, looked out for her as
best as he could.
Bay Village was and is the kind of community where many would love to raise a family.
It was the kind of place where kids rode their bikes to school, occasionally stopping at
(02:13):
the local Baskin Robbins.
It's a sedate little suburb of Cleveland situated on the banks of Lake Erie, offering
stunning views in a quiet atmosphere, simply an idyllic place.
Amy's home life was not so idyllic.
Both her parents loved her and she was the apple of her mother's eye.
(02:35):
But tensions were rising between Margaret and Mark.
The couple was careening towards a divorce and Amy knew it.
Weeks prior to her abduction, Amy was home alone when the kidnapper killer contacted
her via telephone.
He sounded warm, charming even.
(02:55):
And he had great news.
Amy's mom had just gotten a promotion at work.
He then asked Amy if she would like to meet him so they could buy her mother a surprise
gift.
Amy, who might well have known the caller, readily agreed.
Together, they hatched a plan. She would meet him at the Baskin Robbins after school on an
(03:18):
agreed upon date.
That morning, Amy rode her bike to the middle school and locked it up in the bike rack there.
Investigators know about the ruse for two reasons.
First, Amy confided the plan to a friend on the day of her disappearance.
Second, they would later come to learn that the kidnapper had contacted other girls in
(03:41):
the area with a similar ruse.
Of all the girls he contacted, only Amy, desperate to soothe the tension in her household and
to soothe her mother's hurting heart, took the bait.
At school, a young police officer named Mark Spitzel gave a presentation on Stranger Danger
(04:01):
and Safety.
Amy already knew about Stranger Danger.
She and her parents used the code word system.
If someone other than her mom or her dad approached her, they were supposed to give her the proper
code word so that she knew her mom or dad had sent them.
Spitzel, who is now the Bay Valley chief of police and who has been on this case for 30
(04:27):
years, often wonders what the killer could have said or done differently to make Amy
drop her guard that day.
But Spitzel isn't the only investigator on this case and to those who didn't have such
a personal stake.
It was an indicator that the killer may have been someone Amy thought wasn't a stranger
(04:47):
at all.
After all, he'd had enough details about her mom and her mom's work to convince her that
he was on the up and up.
If it were someone she saw nearly every day anyway, then she wouldn't have had much reason
to make the connection between a dangerous stranger and her planned outing that afternoon.
When school let out at two o'clock that afternoon, Amy took the short walk to the Baskin Robbins,
(05:13):
located in the Bay Square shopping center, leaving her bike behind, clearly expecting
that she'd have a car to get into.
It's roughly a seven minute walk, most of which can be done via a sidewalk.
Amy made the trip with another friend.
Nobody was worried about her yet because though the choir wasn't meeting at school that day,
(05:36):
she'd used choir practice as a cover to buy herself a little time to secure the promised
gift.
They met up with a third friend while there.
The friends entered a conversation, which Amy, seemingly distracted, drifted out of.
By the time the friends noticed, Amy was gone.
Around 2.45 pm, shoppers spotted the suspect with Amy.
(06:00):
She showed no signs of distress.
The suspect was a white male aged 30 to 35, approximately 5'8 to 5'10", inches tall.
He was of medium build and had dark hair, also possibly curly.
He had a bald spot and a trace of beard growth.
Some witnesses mentioned thick glasses.
(06:22):
When he arrived, he put his hand on Amy's shoulder and led her away.
The entire transaction was so smooth that multiple eyewitnesses did not react in the
slightest.
They assumed they were seeing a father picking up his daughter.
A local business owner spotted the man's vehicle in passing but did not think to memorize
the plates.
(06:43):
After all, nothing at all seemed to be amiss.
Most people didn't remember a specific car at all.
The killer was confident.
He'd planned this ruse so neatly that he even stopped at a pay phone to let Amy make her
regular afternoon check-in call to her mother at 3.30 pm.
The call gave the killer a head start, creating an additional two-hour window during which
(07:05):
nobody was looking for Amy.
Amy did not sound strange, strained, or upset at any point.
Margaret assumed she was at home and that nothing was out of the ordinary.
There are some reports that Margaret was concerned about Amy's one-word responses on the call.
But Amy may have been evasive thinking she didn't want her mom to find out about the
(07:29):
supposed surprise gift.
Do you agree this seems like further evidence that the killer knew Amy's routine?
Regardless of whether he knew her or not, that phone call was the last time anyone other
than her killer ever heard Amy's voice.
(07:50):
Margaret returned home at 5.30 pm that night, only to discover Amy wasn't anywhere in the
house.
The police wasted no time in designating Amy's case as a missing person's case.
Bay Village PD organized a search that evening and the FBI sent 50 agents into the area the
very next day.
The eyewitnesses from the shopping center helped police create a composite sketch of
(08:14):
the kidnapper, which police soon released.
Tips poured in, Margaret got on television pleading with Amy to get to the police, to
call home to do anything she could to get back to them.
Sadly, Amy was already gone.
On February 5, 1990, Channel 3 News received a phone call.
(08:35):
So did the police.
The caller told the police that they could find Amy's body in Ashland County.
On February 8, a jogger named Janet Sebold spotted what she hoped was a mannequin lying
in the cornfields near County Road 1181.
In Ruggles Township in Ashland County, Ohio.
(08:58):
But deep in her gut, she already knew otherwise.
She was crying by the time she got herself to a neighbor's house and called the police
department.
Janet didn't know it, but the spot where she'd found Amy's body was only a few miles
away from the spot the Channel 3 caller had indicated.
Had police been able to trace the caller's number, they might have developed an excellent
(09:21):
lead.
However, it was not possible to recover comprehensive phone records during that time.
Police arrived to find Amy fully clothed, lying face down in the field.
Her clothes had been removed at one point, then placed back on her body.
She'd taken a blow to her head and a pair of stab wounds to her neck.
(09:43):
It looked like she'd bled out from her stab wounds.
Due to the condition of the body, which was fully decomposed, they deduced that Amy had
died shortly after she'd been taken.
The body was so damaged, in fact that law enforcement had to use dental records to secure
a positive identification.
By now, star FBI agent Phil Torsney was on the case.
(10:08):
He joined forces with dozens of Bay Village police officers to pluck every cigarette
butt, gum wrapper, and other bits of physical evidence out of the field that they could
find.
They did not find the murder weapon.
While there, they collected two of the most important pieces of evidence, items crucial
to the entire case, an old homemade curtain and a blanket.
(10:33):
Investigators believe the killer had originally used the items to wrap Amy's body, though
they were eventually found some distance from it.
DNA testing would later reveal that they were correct in their assessment.
The curtain is olive green with uneven tabs.
It looks like it may have once done duty as a hotel bedspread.
The blanket was white.
(10:54):
Law enforcement released photos of both, hoping someone had made the curtain or seen it in
someone's house.
Phil Torsney had a different opinion on where the curtain might have been hanging.
He thought that it might have hung in a barn, shed, or dilapidated building where the killer
brutalized and murdered Amy.
He still wants to know where it was and who owned the property or constructed the building
(11:20):
where it all happened.
Investigators also came to believe that the killer knew the area quite well, simply because
the body dump site was in such a remote location.
The missing items were just as important to investigators as the items that were found.
Many of Amy's items were missing, including a denim backpack, a binder with the words
(11:44):
Buick, best in class written on it, and the turquoise earrings in the shape of horse heads
that she always wore.
Her boots were missing too.
It all pointed to a chilling revelation.
This killer liked to take trophies.
Amy's case is not technically a cold case.
(12:05):
The investigation is still open and ongoing.
Over the years, law enforcement has run down nearly 4,800 leads and they were still conducting
DNA tests as early as last year.
To date, they have conducted over 20,000 interviews.
After gathering evidence at the dump site, they were able to uncover some additional
information.
(12:27):
One of the most important pieces of information law enforcement found was the fact that Amy
was not the only girl to receive a phone call from the killer.
The killer had a pattern.
He'd call a girl, claim to work with the child's mother, and would suggest a similar
scheme, a shopping trip on mom's behalf.
Police found two other girls who had received a similar call.
(12:51):
One of the girls, codenamed Pam by investigators, turned to tell her brother about the call
while the killer was still on the phone.
She remembered how angry he got when she did that and how he began accusing her of ruining
it.
The other girls that made her tell the caller she couldn't go and she hung up the phone.
(13:11):
The girls all had something in common.
They had all visited the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center recently and they'd all
put their names and addresses into a guest book that turned out to be missing when investigators
looked for it.
Later, I'll tell you about a strong suspect, someone who had at least two points of contact
(13:32):
with Amy.
Investigators now also know something about the car that Amy's body must have been inside
of.
They found gold fibers on Amy's clothing.
The fibers matched the carpeting inside a car with tan interior of a gold Oldsmobile,
one that a suspect drove between 1989 and 1990.
They know about two more vehicles of interest.
(13:54):
A bronze Pontiac and a dark blue vehicle that witnesses say was sitting by the side of the
road with its trunk open a few nights before Amy's body was found.
They even know the killer seems to have fed Amy one last meal before assaulting and murdering
her.
It may be frustrating to hear that investigators have been unable to make an arrest, but they've
(14:15):
stopped at nothing to get to the truth.
The FBI has even admitted to using a truth serum on some suspects, including a Vietnam
vet who lived and worked at the Holly Hill Farm, where Amy took horseback riding lessons.
They cleared the vet, but they either did not use the truth serum on other suspects,
(14:37):
or were unable to clear all suspects in this fashion.
Behavioral scientists helped create a profile of the suspect.
They must be very careful with some of the evidence.
For example, law enforcement is in possession of three hairs that might belong to the killer,
but the hair only contains mitochondrial DNA.
(15:00):
Nuclear DNA can give investigators an exact match to anyone they have a database linked
to, but mitochondrial DNA can only help them eliminate suspects.
And to get at nuclear DNA at all, they'd have to destroy the current samples.
Fortunately, DNA science evolves rapidly, with new tests and techniques emerging every
(15:22):
year.
Investigators are hopeful that, with time, they'll be able to extract what they need
from the hair.
They've already conducted what tests they could.
For example, they know one of the hairs holds a rare genetic marker that puts people at
a higher risk for psychosis.
(15:42):
Even now, law enforcement has assured the public that they are still thoroughly investigating
several probable suspects.
Some of the suspects the public knows about sound so strong that it may even be difficult
to believe that they are not already behind bars.
The writer, detective, is a common trope in mystery fiction, but in this art mimics life.
(16:08):
James Renner was just 11 years old when Amy was taken.
He was a classmate of hers, and he'd had his own run in with a predator, one whom he thinks
may even have been the same man who took Amy.
He was probably the very youngest citizen trying to call tips into Bay Valley PD.
He kept right on calling in tips as an adult.
(16:31):
In fact, he began conducting his own investigation, starting as a child.
He'd ride his bike to the Bay Square shopping center conducting surveillance, doing his
best to spot the man from the composite photos.
Many have questioned James' motives.
He became obsessed with the case well into his adult life.
(16:53):
He conducted interviews, ran down leads, and gathered new information.
Even FBI agent Torsney seemed impressed, though he tried to caution that a true crime writer's
methods, goals, and evidence weren't sufficient for a conviction, and that James probably
didn't understand all the steps that would need to put the killer away.
(17:14):
Nevertheless, the two men seem to have developed a relationship of mutual respect.
Married, now with children, and an established true crime writer, James eventually devoted
all his research to Kent State University, but not before he wrote a book about the case.
(17:35):
He's writing about other cases now, but he's never forgotten Amy and occasionally expresses
frustration over the limitations investigators are facing as they attempt to bring this
case to a close.
Some of the theories I will share in this case came from James first.
Law enforcement constantly tells people the same thing many times.
(18:01):
Information from the public is usually the most important factor in breaking a cold case
wide open.
In January 2019, investigators received one of those all-important tips.
They got a call from a woman who said she'd lived close to that shopping center.
A woman who believed her ex-boyfriend may have been Amy's kidnapper and killer.
(18:25):
There's a lot to like about the shopping center man as a suspect.
First, he worked at a store within the Bay Square shopping center.
Second, his ex claims he didn't return home from work on the night of Amy's disappearance,
which was highly unusual.
But he did call her around 10 that night to ask if there had been any news coverage about
(18:46):
Amy's disappearance.
According to his girlfriend, he'd also made several trips to Ashland County.
He even looked like the man from the composite sketches.
Shopping center man also owned the Oldsmobile, the first vehicle of interest.
When law enforcement interviewed the man in November 2019, they got some very suspicious
(19:08):
cagey statements.
He admitted that 1989 to 1990 had been a quote dark period in his life.
Shopping center man also said he may have met Margaret Mahalovitch in a bar.
His answers to police questions were evasive and suspicious.
Did he ever call Amy?
(19:29):
He says he could have or that it could have been a wrong number.
Was Amy ever in his car?
He doesn't believe so.
It's possible.
But he doesn't know what the situation would have been for that to happen.
These answers are an eerie parallel to answers other suspects gave police.
And this might be more meaningful than you know.
Police took a DNA swab.
(19:51):
Police also seized evidence from a storage unit that shopping center man was renting
and from his home.
None of it was enough to warrant an arrest.
At least not yet.
There's one weakness in this theory.
In spite of all the mounting evidence, it seems strange that Amy would so readily trust
some random person from the shopping center.
(20:12):
Remember a great deal of evidence points to Amy knowing her kidnapper well enough that
she didn't link stranger danger about the person she was supposed to meet after school.
Nevertheless, all this evidence seems very compelling.
Is this a case of, it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.
So arrest this guy already.
(20:34):
What could be giving police officers reason to pause?
What missing piece could they be looking for?
You may be surprised to learn there are even stronger suspects, as well as a possible theory
that could tie a number of these very strong theories together.
(20:56):
One person whom Amy would have known well enough not to think of as a stranger might
have been her science teacher, a man who has a dark history.
First, it is confirmed that this teacher wrote love letters to his students and that he touched
several inappropriately on several occasions.
He volunteered at the nature center, the one that all three of the girls who the killer
(21:20):
called had visited.
He would have had access to the guest book and he would have had the opportunity to steal
it.
As it turns out, the science teacher lived less than two miles from the dump site, so
he certainly would have known the area.
He also took off after Amy's murder, dropping off the face of the earth for six months,
until investigators located him in a homeless shelter in Key West, Florida.
(21:45):
Even more damning, he looks like the composite sketch.
He's a strong enough suspect that James Renner once traveled down to Key West just to track
him down.
His answers to James' questions were evasive in all the ways shopping centermen were to
the police.
He never provided the easiest answer of all.
(22:06):
When asked if he killed Amy, he never said no.
I can't really find a weakness in this theory.
If anything, it seems to pass the Occam's razor test.
However, it's possible that the police lack sufficient physical evidence to tie the science
teacher to the crime, and most of the facts seem right.
(22:27):
Does the science teacher seem like an even stronger suspect than shopping centerman?
I don't have answers around why he hasn't been arrested for earlier incidents with
his students.
What evidence do you think police would need to charge him with Amy's killing?
Remember, I mentioned James Renner had a scary experience when he was just 11 years old,
(22:53):
an experience which might tie into Amy's murder.
Not long before Amy was taken, James was visiting a local park near the middle school.
He saw a man standing in the doorway of a park bathroom grabbing himself.
He quickly used a park path to enter the woods.
He happened to look over his shoulder only to find the man was following him.
(23:17):
James ran, and the man broke into a run to follow him.
James hit a wall and scaled it, taking himself out of the man's reach.
He happened to look back again to see that the man had a look of sheer rage on his face.
To this day, he believes this is the same man who might have abducted Amy.
(23:38):
He remembers the man looking very close to the composite sketch.
Years later, at a book signing, James spoke to a man who once worked at that park system.
When James told him the story, the man's face went white, and he asked if James had
ever investigated his old boss, who had been arrested in 2002, for soliciting a sex act
(24:00):
from an undercover agent at that very same park.
The park boss also admitted himself to a mental institution just 10 days after Amy's
abduction, the timing of which seems very interesting.
The story is compelling, though unfortunately it doesn't offer much new evidence in Amy's
(24:21):
case.
It may even be tainted by the nature of eyewitness memory, given time, and the amount of fear
that James' own family was experiencing as a way of protecting him in the aftermath of
Amy's disappearance.
This is also a detail he has shared on podcasts.
His memory might have morphed over time to create a resemblance that was not there.
(24:44):
Finally, there seems to be a high likelihood the police would have investigated the park
boss after that arrest.
I think the story explains James' lifelong commitment to this case far better than it
explains Amy's abduction and murder.
And yet there are only a handful of parks in Bay Village anyway, and many of them are
(25:06):
close to Bay Middle School.
Do you think there is a possibility of park boss being a suspect in Amy's case?
The next theory is perhaps the wildest theory of all, and yet may explain some of the major
issues that police face as they try to work on this case.
(25:27):
One interesting aspect of the Amy Mahalovitch case is that some of the suspects alibi for
one another, which is one reason why police have had such a hard time finding the final
puzzle piece that can lead to an arrest.
Why would the suspects cover for one another like this?
A older case from Michigan may provide the answer.
(25:48):
During the late 1970s, a pedophile ring formed in the Cass Corridor of Detroit.
It started with pedophiles targeting underprivileged kids, luring them with cash and a series of
manipulations to sexually assault them at parties hosted in the basement of a shop owned
(26:09):
by a man named Bobby Moore.
Bobby wasn't just hosting some sort of sick social club.
He was making money off the scheme, and the ring soon grew.
Soon the kids were taken to bigger houses, where multiple predators would assault them.
Everyone who showed up would bring one kid.
The ring fell apart after police began taking interest in the Oakland County child killer
(26:33):
case.
Most of the pedophiles associated with the ring fled to different areas.
In 2005, police pulled over a man named Ted Lambergine, a man who had been a member of
that ring.
Lambergine lived in Paramahites, just 10 miles from Amy's location.
Lambergine had links to both the shopping center man and the Sceve Science teacher.
(26:57):
There are hints he may have been involved with other suspects in this case.
Suspects neither the police nor the media have ever named.
A ring sounds sensational, but it could explain a few details, such as why we have three cars
of interest, why two of the strongest suspects seem to have remarkably similar answers, why
the potential blue body dump car is so different from the gold thread car we know Amy was in,
(27:22):
at some point.
How the shopping center person seems like their behavior is such a good fit for the
case.
But why does the science teacher seem like the person who might have been able to put
Amy at ease?
Perhaps the idea was to get multiple girls.
Perhaps the pedophile ring was shocked when 50 FBI agents flooded the area almost the
(27:47):
very next day, and so the group scattered.
Do you think Amy's murder pointed to a much bigger and broader confederation of individuals?
If so, we're looking at the tip of an evil iceberg that has stretched across the decades.
Could law enforcement be moving as slowly because they're hoping to unravel the whole
(28:08):
thing for good?
Detectives have never stopped working this case.
They have continued to take advantage of evolving DNA technology, have continued to conduct
interviews.
They have also continued to increase the reward for information, leading to the arrest of
Amy's killer.
(28:29):
Meanwhile, Bay Village is a community forever altered and tainted.
Twelve years after Amy's murder, in 2001, Margaret Mihalovic died.
The official cause, complications from Lupus.
But those close to her believe she ultimately died of a broken heart.
She never recovered from Amy's loss.
(28:52):
Members of the community haven't forgotten either.
They speak of how, now they take a harder look at anything out of the ordinary and memorize
license plate numbers out of habit.
They live with guilt, the questions wondering if they could have done anything differently
that day to save a little girl's life.
(29:13):
If you are someone who has substantial information about this case, I urge you to reach out to
the Bay Village Police Department.
More information could be the last puzzle piece law enforcement needs to blow this case
wide open.
If you have insights to share, please let me know in the comments below.
(29:33):
Amy's father and brother are still seeking closure in her murder.
Please help if you can.
Here at Odd Mysteries Stories, I do hope that Amy and Margaret rest in peace.
Knowing their story hasn't ended and isn't forgotten.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this story.
If you did, please leave me a review.
(29:54):
Download and share this podcast with your friends.
Can you imagine how Amy's family feels?
Her life taken from them when she was so young?
It's such a sad story of a young lady who tried her best to do something good for her
mom, only to have her life ended by some truly devious person.
While there is a short list of suspects, is there one that stands out the most for you?
(30:19):
Who is that in your opinion?
Child predators are the absolute worst in my opinion.
Now if you found this story intriguing, wait till you hear the story of two young people
in Southern Oklahoma who disappeared and are seemingly cloaked in a veil of silence that
the people of two counties are under.
(30:40):
The story of Molly Miller and Colt Haines intrigues and baffles, even the most talented
investigators.
Find that story next on our podcast channel.
Can I ask a favor of you?
I'm trying to grow my podcast so if you enjoyed this story, please consider following my podcast.
If you really enjoyed my podcast, I hope you'll consider buying me a cup of coffee at my Patreon
(31:03):
site.
While I enjoy what I do, a good cup of Joe sure does keep me motivated to bring you more
true unsolved crime stories.
Thank you.
Anyone who grew up during the 80s grew up with hearing about stranger danger.
(00:05):
We were taught not to answer the phone or the door when home alone, to maintain special
code words if someone new tried to pick us up from school, and to never ever get into
a stranger's car.
Later, studies would reveal that most of those who prey on children target kids who are close
to them.
Parents began easing up on restrictions, if only a little.
(00:28):
But there are some cases that make the stranger danger panic seem all too reasonable.
This is one such story.
On October 27th, 1989, a bright and active 10-year-old girl was kidnapped from a shopping
center parking lot in broad daylight.
100 days later, a jogger found her body in a field.
(00:50):
The quiet community where she lived, a place named one of America's top 10 safest cities
to live, was thrown into turmoil and to this day has never really recovered.
The number of suspects is mind-boggling, though I'll only cover the strongest ones when I
go through my theories.
(01:10):
Some of them may have even worked together, and over three decades later, police are still
trying to find the final puzzle piece, the one that will convince a jury that they've
got their man and got him beyond a reasonable doubt.
Join me for the odd and mysterious story of Amy Mihalovic.
(01:30):
10-year-old Amy Mihalovic was a sweet and friendly whirlwind of a tomboy growing up
in Bay Village, Ohio.
She was a student at Bay Middle School.
Her mother, Margaret, worked as a sales rep selling car classified ads in the local paper.
Her father, Mark, sold cars.
(01:53):
Her brother, Jason, who was one year older and one grade higher, looked out for her as
best as he could.
Bay Village was and is the kind of community where many would love to raise a family.
It was the kind of place where kids rode their bikes to school, occasionally stopping at
(02:13):
the local Baskin Robbins.
It's a sedate little suburb of Cleveland situated on the banks of Lake Erie, offering
stunning views in a quiet atmosphere, simply an idyllic place.
Amy's home life was not so idyllic.
Both her parents loved her and she was the apple of her mother's eye.
(02:35):
But tensions were rising between Margaret and Mark.
The couple was careening towards a divorce and Amy knew it.
Weeks prior to her abduction, Amy was home alone when the kidnapper killer contacted
her via telephone.
He sounded warm, charming even.
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And he had great news.
Amy's mom had just gotten a promotion at work.
He then asked Amy if she would like to meet him so they could buy her mother a surprise
gift.
Amy, who might well have known the caller, readily agreed.
Together, they hatched a plan. She would meet him at the Baskin Robbins after school on an
(03:18):
agreed upon date.
That morning, Amy rode her bike to the middle school and locked it up in the bike rack there.
Investigators know about the ruse for two reasons.
First, Amy confided the plan to a friend on the day of her disappearance.
Second, they would later come to learn that the kidnapper had contacted other girls in
(03:41):
the area with a similar ruse.
Of all the girls he contacted, only Amy, desperate to soothe the tension in her household and
to soothe her mother's hurting heart, took the bait.
At school, a young police officer named Mark Spitzel gave a presentation on Stranger Danger
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and Safety.
Amy already knew about Stranger Danger.
She and her parents used the code word system.
If someone other than her mom or her dad approached her, they were supposed to give her the proper
code word so that she knew her mom or dad had sent them.
Spitzel, who is now the Bay Valley chief of police and who has been on this case for 30
(04:27):
years, often wonders what the killer could have said or done differently to make Amy
drop her guard that day.
But Spitzel isn't the only investigator on this case and to those who didn't have such
a personal stake.
It was an indicator that the killer may have been someone Amy thought wasn't a stranger
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at all.
After all, he'd had enough details about her mom and her mom's work to convince her that
he was on the up and up.
If it were someone she saw nearly every day anyway, then she wouldn't have had much reason
to make the connection between a dangerous stranger and her planned outing that afternoon.
When school let out at two o'clock that afternoon, Amy took the short walk to the Baskin Robbins,
(05:13):
located in the Bay Square shopping center, leaving her bike behind, clearly expecting
that she'd have a car to get into.
It's roughly a seven minute walk, most of which can be done via a sidewalk.
Amy made the trip with another friend.
Nobody was worried about her yet because though the choir wasn't meeting at school that day,
(05:36):
she'd used choir practice as a cover to buy herself a little time to secure the promised
gift.
They met up with a third friend while there.
The friends entered a conversation, which Amy, seemingly distracted, drifted out of.
By the time the friends noticed, Amy was gone.
Around 2.45 pm, shoppers spotted the suspect with Amy.
(06:00):
She showed no signs of distress.
The suspect was a white male aged 30 to 35, approximately 5'8 to 5'10", inches tall.
He was of medium build and had dark hair, also possibly curly.
He had a bald spot and a trace of beard growth.
Some witnesses mentioned thick glasses.
(06:22):
When he arrived, he put his hand on Amy's shoulder and led her away.
The entire transaction was so smooth that multiple eyewitnesses did not react in the
slightest.
They assumed they were seeing a father picking up his daughter.
A local business owner spotted the man's vehicle in passing but did not think to memorize
the plates.
(06:43):
After all, nothing at all seemed to be amiss.
Most people didn't remember a specific car at all.
The killer was confident.
He'd planned this ruse so neatly that he even stopped at a pay phone to let Amy make her
regular afternoon check-in call to her mother at 3.30 pm.
The call gave the killer a head start, creating an additional two-hour window during which
(07:05):
nobody was looking for Amy.
Amy did not sound strange, strained, or upset at any point.
Margaret assumed she was at home and that nothing was out of the ordinary.
There are some reports that Margaret was concerned about Amy's one-word responses on the call.
But Amy may have been evasive thinking she didn't want her mom to find out about the
(07:29):
supposed surprise gift.
Do you agree this seems like further evidence that the killer knew Amy's routine?
Regardless of whether he knew her or not, that phone call was the last time anyone other
than her killer ever heard Amy's voice.
(07:50):
Margaret returned home at 5.30 pm that night, only to discover Amy wasn't anywhere in the
house.
The police wasted no time in designating Amy's case as a missing person's case.
Bay Village PD organized a search that evening and the FBI sent 50 agents into the area the
very next day.
The eyewitnesses from the shopping center helped police create a composite sketch of
(08:14):
the kidnapper, which police soon released.
Tips poured in, Margaret got on television pleading with Amy to get to the police, to
call home to do anything she could to get back to them.
Sadly, Amy was already gone.
On February 5, 1990, Channel 3 News received a phone call.
(08:35):
So did the police.
The caller told the police that they could find Amy's body in Ashland County.
On February 8, a jogger named Janet Sebold spotted what she hoped was a mannequin lying
in the cornfields near County Road 1181.
In Ruggles Township in Ashland County, Ohio.
(08:58):
But deep in her gut, she already knew otherwise.
She was crying by the time she got herself to a neighbor's house and called the police
department.
Janet didn't know it, but the spot where she'd found Amy's body was only a few miles
away from the spot the Channel 3 caller had indicated.
Had police been able to trace the caller's number, they might have developed an excellent
(09:21):
lead.
However, it was not possible to recover comprehensive phone records during that time.
Police arrived to find Amy fully clothed, lying face down in the field.
Her clothes had been removed at one point, then placed back on her body.
She'd taken a blow to her head and a pair of stab wounds to her neck.
(09:43):
It looked like she'd bled out from her stab wounds.
Due to the condition of the body, which was fully decomposed, they deduced that Amy had
died shortly after she'd been taken.
The body was so damaged, in fact that law enforcement had to use dental records to secure
a positive identification.
By now, star FBI agent Phil Torsney was on the case.
(10:08):
He joined forces with dozens of Bay Village police officers to pluck every cigarette
butt, gum wrapper, and other bits of physical evidence out of the field that they could
find.
They did not find the murder weapon.
While there, they collected two of the most important pieces of evidence, items crucial
to the entire case, an old homemade curtain and a blanket.
(10:33):
Investigators believe the killer had originally used the items to wrap Amy's body, though
they were eventually found some distance from it.
DNA testing would later reveal that they were correct in their assessment.
The curtain is olive green with uneven tabs.
It looks like it may have once done duty as a hotel bedspread.
The blanket was white.
(10:54):
Law enforcement released photos of both, hoping someone had made the curtain or seen it in
someone's house.
Phil Torsney had a different opinion on where the curtain might have been hanging.
He thought that it might have hung in a barn, shed, or dilapidated building where the killer
brutalized and murdered Amy.
He still wants to know where it was and who owned the property or constructed the building
(11:20):
where it all happened.
Investigators also came to believe that the killer knew the area quite well, simply because
the body dump site was in such a remote location.
The missing items were just as important to investigators as the items that were found.
Many of Amy's items were missing, including a denim backpack, a binder with the words
(11:44):
Buick, best in class written on it, and the turquoise earrings in the shape of horse heads
that she always wore.
Her boots were missing too.
It all pointed to a chilling revelation.
This killer liked to take trophies.
Amy's case is not technically a cold case.
(12:05):
The investigation is still open and ongoing.
Over the years, law enforcement has run down nearly 4,800 leads and they were still conducting
DNA tests as early as last year.
To date, they have conducted over 20,000 interviews.
After gathering evidence at the dump site, they were able to uncover some additional
information.
(12:27):
One of the most important pieces of information law enforcement found was the fact that Amy
was not the only girl to receive a phone call from the killer.
The killer had a pattern.
He'd call a girl, claim to work with the child's mother, and would suggest a similar
scheme, a shopping trip on mom's behalf.
Police found two other girls who had received a similar call.
(12:51):
One of the girls, codenamed Pam by investigators, turned to tell her brother about the call
while the killer was still on the phone.
She remembered how angry he got when she did that and how he began accusing her of ruining
it.
The other girls that made her tell the caller she couldn't go and she hung up the phone.
(13:11):
The girls all had something in common.
They had all visited the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center recently and they'd all
put their names and addresses into a guest book that turned out to be missing when investigators
looked for it.
Later, I'll tell you about a strong suspect, someone who had at least two points of contact
(13:32):
with Amy.
Investigators now also know something about the car that Amy's body must have been inside
of.
They found gold fibers on Amy's clothing.
The fibers matched the carpeting inside a car with tan interior of a gold Oldsmobile,
one that a suspect drove between 1989 and 1990.
They know about two more vehicles of interest.
(13:54):
A bronze Pontiac and a dark blue vehicle that witnesses say was sitting by the side of the
road with its trunk open a few nights before Amy's body was found.
They even know the killer seems to have fed Amy one last meal before assaulting and murdering
her.
It may be frustrating to hear that investigators have been unable to make an arrest, but they've
(14:15):
stopped at nothing to get to the truth.
The FBI has even admitted to using a truth serum on some suspects, including a Vietnam
vet who lived and worked at the Holly Hill Farm, where Amy took horseback riding lessons.
They cleared the vet, but they either did not use the truth serum on other suspects,
(14:37):
or were unable to clear all suspects in this fashion.
Behavioral scientists helped create a profile of the suspect.
They must be very careful with some of the evidence.
For example, law enforcement is in possession of three hairs that might belong to the killer,
but the hair only contains mitochondrial DNA.
(15:00):
Nuclear DNA can give investigators an exact match to anyone they have a database linked
to, but mitochondrial DNA can only help them eliminate suspects.
And to get at nuclear DNA at all, they'd have to destroy the current samples.
Fortunately, DNA science evolves rapidly, with new tests and techniques emerging every
(15:22):
year.
Investigators are hopeful that, with time, they'll be able to extract what they need
from the hair.
They've already conducted what tests they could.
For example, they know one of the hairs holds a rare genetic marker that puts people at
a higher risk for psychosis.
(15:42):
Even now, law enforcement has assured the public that they are still thoroughly investigating
several probable suspects.
Some of the suspects the public knows about sound so strong that it may even be difficult
to believe that they are not already behind bars.
The writer, detective, is a common trope in mystery fiction, but in this art mimics life.
(16:08):
James Renner was just 11 years old when Amy was taken.
He was a classmate of hers, and he'd had his own run in with a predator, one whom he thinks
may even have been the same man who took Amy.
He was probably the very youngest citizen trying to call tips into Bay Valley PD.
He kept right on calling in tips as an adult.
(16:31):
In fact, he began conducting his own investigation, starting as a child.
He'd ride his bike to the Bay Square shopping center conducting surveillance, doing his
best to spot the man from the composite photos.
Many have questioned James' motives.
He became obsessed with the case well into his adult life.
(16:53):
He conducted interviews, ran down leads, and gathered new information.
Even FBI agent Torsney seemed impressed, though he tried to caution that a true crime writer's
methods, goals, and evidence weren't sufficient for a conviction, and that James probably
didn't understand all the steps that would need to put the killer away.
(17:14):
Nevertheless, the two men seem to have developed a relationship of mutual respect.
Married, now with children, and an established true crime writer, James eventually devoted
all his research to Kent State University, but not before he wrote a book about the case.
(17:35):
He's writing about other cases now, but he's never forgotten Amy and occasionally expresses
frustration over the limitations investigators are facing as they attempt to bring this
case to a close.
Some of the theories I will share in this case came from James first.
Law enforcement constantly tells people the same thing many times.
(18:01):
Information from the public is usually the most important factor in breaking a cold case
wide open.
In January 2019, investigators received one of those all-important tips.
They got a call from a woman who said she'd lived close to that shopping center.
A woman who believed her ex-boyfriend may have been Amy's kidnapper and killer.
(18:25):
There's a lot to like about the shopping center man as a suspect.
First, he worked at a store within the Bay Square shopping center.
Second, his ex claims he didn't return home from work on the night of Amy's disappearance,
which was highly unusual.
But he did call her around 10 that night to ask if there had been any news coverage about
(18:46):
Amy's disappearance.
According to his girlfriend, he'd also made several trips to Ashland County.
He even looked like the man from the composite sketches.
Shopping center man also owned the Oldsmobile, the first vehicle of interest.
When law enforcement interviewed the man in November 2019, they got some very suspicious
(19:08):
cagey statements.
He admitted that 1989 to 1990 had been a quote dark period in his life.
Shopping center man also said he may have met Margaret Mahalovitch in a bar.
His answers to police questions were evasive and suspicious.
Did he ever call Amy?
(19:29):
He says he could have or that it could have been a wrong number.
Was Amy ever in his car?
He doesn't believe so.
It's possible.
But he doesn't know what the situation would have been for that to happen.
These answers are an eerie parallel to answers other suspects gave police.
And this might be more meaningful than you know.
Police took a DNA swab.
(19:51):
Police also seized evidence from a storage unit that shopping center man was renting
and from his home.
None of it was enough to warrant an arrest.
At least not yet.
There's one weakness in this theory.
In spite of all the mounting evidence, it seems strange that Amy would so readily trust
some random person from the shopping center.
(20:12):
Remember a great deal of evidence points to Amy knowing her kidnapper well enough that
she didn't link stranger danger about the person she was supposed to meet after school.
Nevertheless, all this evidence seems very compelling.
Is this a case of, it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.
So arrest this guy already.
(20:34):
What could be giving police officers reason to pause?
What missing piece could they be looking for?
You may be surprised to learn there are even stronger suspects, as well as a possible theory
that could tie a number of these very strong theories together.
(20:56):
One person whom Amy would have known well enough not to think of as a stranger might
have been her science teacher, a man who has a dark history.
First, it is confirmed that this teacher wrote love letters to his students and that he touched
several inappropriately on several occasions.
He volunteered at the nature center, the one that all three of the girls who the killer
(21:20):
called had visited.
He would have had access to the guest book and he would have had the opportunity to steal
it.
As it turns out, the science teacher lived less than two miles from the dump site, so
he certainly would have known the area.
He also took off after Amy's murder, dropping off the face of the earth for six months,
until investigators located him in a homeless shelter in Key West, Florida.
(21:45):
Even more damning, he looks like the composite sketch.
He's a strong enough suspect that James Renner once traveled down to Key West just to track
him down.
His answers to James' questions were evasive in all the ways shopping centermen were to
the police.
He never provided the easiest answer of all.
(22:06):
When asked if he killed Amy, he never said no.
I can't really find a weakness in this theory.
If anything, it seems to pass the Occam's razor test.
However, it's possible that the police lack sufficient physical evidence to tie the science
teacher to the crime, and most of the facts seem right.
(22:27):
Does the science teacher seem like an even stronger suspect than shopping centerman?
I don't have answers around why he hasn't been arrested for earlier incidents with
his students.
What evidence do you think police would need to charge him with Amy's killing?
Remember, I mentioned James Renner had a scary experience when he was just 11 years old,
(22:53):
an experience which might tie into Amy's murder.
Not long before Amy was taken, James was visiting a local park near the middle school.
He saw a man standing in the doorway of a park bathroom grabbing himself.
He quickly used a park path to enter the woods.
He happened to look over his shoulder only to find the man was following him.
(23:17):
James ran, and the man broke into a run to follow him.
James hit a wall and scaled it, taking himself out of the man's reach.
He happened to look back again to see that the man had a look of sheer rage on his face.
To this day, he believes this is the same man who might have abducted Amy.
(23:38):
He remembers the man looking very close to the composite sketch.
Years later, at a book signing, James spoke to a man who once worked at that park system.
When James told him the story, the man's face went white, and he asked if James had
ever investigated his old boss, who had been arrested in 2002, for soliciting a sex act
(24:00):
from an undercover agent at that very same park.
The park boss also admitted himself to a mental institution just 10 days after Amy's
abduction, the timing of which seems very interesting.
The story is compelling, though unfortunately it doesn't offer much new evidence in Amy's
(24:21):
case.
It may even be tainted by the nature of eyewitness memory, given time, and the amount of fear
that James' own family was experiencing as a way of protecting him in the aftermath of
Amy's disappearance.
This is also a detail he has shared on podcasts.
His memory might have morphed over time to create a resemblance that was not there.
(24:44):
Finally, there seems to be a high likelihood the police would have investigated the park
boss after that arrest.
I think the story explains James' lifelong commitment to this case far better than it
explains Amy's abduction and murder.
And yet there are only a handful of parks in Bay Village anyway, and many of them are
(25:06):
close to Bay Middle School.
Do you think there is a possibility of park boss being a suspect in Amy's case?
The next theory is perhaps the wildest theory of all, and yet may explain some of the major
issues that police face as they try to work on this case.
(25:27):
One interesting aspect of the Amy Mahalovitch case is that some of the suspects alibi for
one another, which is one reason why police have had such a hard time finding the final
puzzle piece that can lead to an arrest.
Why would the suspects cover for one another like this?
A older case from Michigan may provide the answer.
(25:48):
During the late 1970s, a pedophile ring formed in the Cass Corridor of Detroit.
It started with pedophiles targeting underprivileged kids, luring them with cash and a series of
manipulations to sexually assault them at parties hosted in the basement of a shop owned
(26:09):
by a man named Bobby Moore.
Bobby wasn't just hosting some sort of sick social club.
He was making money off the scheme, and the ring soon grew.
Soon the kids were taken to bigger houses, where multiple predators would assault them.
Everyone who showed up would bring one kid.
The ring fell apart after police began taking interest in the Oakland County child killer
(26:33):
case.
Most of the pedophiles associated with the ring fled to different areas.
In 2005, police pulled over a man named Ted Lambergine, a man who had been a member of
that ring.
Lambergine lived in Paramahites, just 10 miles from Amy's location.
Lambergine had links to both the shopping center man and the Sceve Science teacher.
(26:57):
There are hints he may have been involved with other suspects in this case.
Suspects neither the police nor the media have ever named.
A ring sounds sensational, but it could explain a few details, such as why we have three cars
of interest, why two of the strongest suspects seem to have remarkably similar answers, why
the potential blue body dump car is so different from the gold thread car we know Amy was in,
(27:22):
at some point.
How the shopping center person seems like their behavior is such a good fit for the
case.
But why does the science teacher seem like the person who might have been able to put
Amy at ease?
Perhaps the idea was to get multiple girls.
Perhaps the pedophile ring was shocked when 50 FBI agents flooded the area almost the
(27:47):
very next day, and so the group scattered.
Do you think Amy's murder pointed to a much bigger and broader confederation of individuals?
If so, we're looking at the tip of an evil iceberg that has stretched across the decades.
Could law enforcement be moving as slowly because they're hoping to unravel the whole
(28:08):
thing for good?
Detectives have never stopped working this case.
They have continued to take advantage of evolving DNA technology, have continued to conduct
interviews.
They have also continued to increase the reward for information, leading to the arrest of
Amy's killer.
(28:29):
Meanwhile, Bay Village is a community forever altered and tainted.
Twelve years after Amy's murder, in 2001, Margaret Mihalovic died.
The official cause, complications from Lupus.
But those close to her believe she ultimately died of a broken heart.
She never recovered from Amy's loss.
(28:52):
Members of the community haven't forgotten either.
They speak of how, now they take a harder look at anything out of the ordinary and memorize
license plate numbers out of habit.
They live with guilt, the questions wondering if they could have done anything differently
that day to save a little girl's life.
(29:13):
If you are someone who has substantial information about this case, I urge you to reach out to
the Bay Village Police Department.
More information could be the last puzzle piece law enforcement needs to blow this case
wide open.
If you have insights to share, please let me know in the comments below.
(29:33):
Amy's father and brother are still seeking closure in her murder.
Please help if you can.
Here at Odd Mysteries Stories, I do hope that Amy and Margaret rest in peace.
Knowing their story hasn't ended and isn't forgotten.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this story.
If you did, please leave me a review.
(29:54):
Download and share this podcast with your friends.
Can you imagine how Amy's family feels?
Her life taken from them when she was so young?
It's such a sad story of a young lady who tried her best to do something good for her
mom, only to have her life ended by some truly devious person.
While there is a short list of suspects, is there one that stands out the most for you?
(30:19):
Who is that in your opinion?
Child predators are the absolute worst in my opinion.
Now if you found this story intriguing, wait till you hear the story of two young people
in Southern Oklahoma who disappeared and are seemingly cloaked in a veil of silence that
the people of two counties are under.
(30:40):
The story of Molly Miller and Colt Haines intrigues and baffles, even the most talented
investigators.
Find that story next on our podcast channel.
Can I ask a favor of you?
I'm trying to grow my podcast so if you enjoyed this story, please consider following my podcast.
If you really enjoyed my podcast, I hope you'll consider buying me a cup of coffee at my Patreon
(31:03):
site.
While I enjoy what I do, a good cup of Joe sure does keep me motivated to bring you more
true unsolved crime stories.
Thank you.
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