Amy Mihaljevic was a sweet 10-year-old girl from Bay Village, Ohio, who loved animals. On Oct. 27, 1989, she was seen at the Bay Village Square Shopping Center seemingly waiting for someone. That was the last time she was seen alive.
Amy came from a close-knit family that consisted of her father, Mark, her mother, Margaret, and an older brother named Jason. As latchkey kids, it was common for the Mihaljevic siblings to ride their bikes to and from school as both parents worked, and there were a few hours when they were left unsupervised at home, as was the norm back then. However, the kids made it a point to call their mother daily to reassure her that they got home safely.
Just before her disappearance, Amy received a call from an unknown man claiming to be her mother’s co-worker, telling her that her mother had received a promotion at work. The man said that he wanted to help Amy purchase a surprise gift for her mother at the local shopping center.
The day of the abduction
Oct. 27, 1989, was a regular day for the Mihaljevic family. The two children headed to school and the parents went to work. Amy told a friend her plans to go to the shopping center after school. Coincidentally, a police officer visited Amy’s school that day to talk about stranger danger.
Amy’s classes finished by 2:05 pm, and she walked to the shopping center less than half a mile away. Her brother, Jason, had plans to follow after his classes finished an hour after Amy’s, but he ultimately decided to head home instead. According to reports, Amy was abducted sometime between 2:30 and 3:30 pm.
Witnesses said they saw Amy that afternoon standing in front of the shopping center when a man in his 30s approached her and placed his hand on her shoulder. They then walked to the parking lot together. To the people watching, nothing seemed amiss. The man could have simply been the girl’s father, as she didn’t pull away or seem distressed.
That afternoon, Margaret received a phone call from Jason just after 3:00 pm saying that Amy wasn’t home. She wasn’t too alarmed, as Amy told her about auditioning to join a choral group and may have still been at school. Unbeknownst to her, that was just an excuse Amy told her so she could go to the shopping center after school and get her a surprise gift.
At 3:30 pm, Margaret received another call, this time from Amy. She asked her daughter how she was doing and how the audition went, to which Amy answered it went okay. Margaret assumed that her daughter was safely at home. The only thing unusual about the call was Amy’s one-word answers, which was unlike her chatty nature. Margaret may have had a gut feeling that something was wrong, as she left work earlier than usual that day and headed home. Upon arriving, Jason told her that Amy hadn’t arrived yet.
The search for Amy
Margaret headed to Amy’s school and found her daughter’s bike. The school had already been closed for the day, and there was no sign of Amy. She then headed to the Bay Village Police Department to file a missing person’s report, and by 5:15 pm, a description of the missing girl and information about her disappearance had been disseminated.
Amy’s father, Mark, arrived home from work to the news of his daughter’s disappearance and headed back out to look for her. Groups of search parties were formed, and the absence of daylight didn’t stop them from trying to locate the missing girl. Meanwhile, Margaret returned back home and called friends and family to check whether they knew where her daughter could be.
Soon, the FBI joined in the search. Through the investigation, authorities learned about the phone call that Amy received from the unknown individual. This information led them to believe that Amy wasn’t randomly abducted. Rather, she was targeted. Time was of the essence as in most child abduction cases, victims are killed within three to 24 hours after they’re taken.
For weeks, several law enforcement agencies, as well as members of the community, banded together to find Amy or any information that could lead to her whereabouts. It was more than three months after she was abducted when her body was finally found.
The investigation
On Feb. 8, 1990, a jogger in Ashland County, some 50 miles away from Bay Village, discovered Amy’s body in a field close to the road. It was evident that she had been deceased for a while, most likely several hours after her abduction. She suffered from stab wounds and blunt force trauma to the head. It was later discovered that she had consumed a meal shortly before her death.
Investigators concluded that the location where she was found wasn’t where she was killed. Also at the scene was a curtain, as well as a blanket. Amy was still wearing the clothes she wore on the day she disappeared, but some items were missing. The turquoise horse head earrings, black boots, and white windbreaker that she wore to school were never found. Her backpack was also never located.
The tragic end of the young girl’s life was devastating to her family as well as the investigators. FBI Special Agent Gary Belluomini said that working on the case was difficult. “It was an emotional rollercoaster. It was draining. We wanted this guy so bad.” Despite the leads and many interviews conducted, Amy’s killer had not been found.
Decades after Amy’s abduction and murder, authorities are still working on the case. In 2016, a press conference was held wherein the curtain and blanket found at the scene were shown to the public in hopes that someone would recognize the items and provide tips that could lead to Amy’s killer.
Amy’s case today
Detective Jay Elish of the Bay Village Police Department said Amy’s murder was never considered a cold case, as there was always someone working on it. Elish himself has been on the case for more than 20 years. With advancements in technology, they are hoping to come up with a profile for Amy’s killer through DNA as of Oct. 2023. Hair strands were found on the blanket and curtain, and they must determine whether they belong to Amy, her family members, or the killer.
Furthermore, they are re-examining Amy’s clothing and trying to obtain DNA samples from them. This was done before, but with advancements in DNA testing, they might be able to find something they hadn’t before. Tips are still coming in, Amy’s father, Mark, believes that information from someone will be the key to solving the case. “You don’t do something like that and keep it a secret for 30 years without telling somebody else about it,” Mark said in 2019.
Amy’s case remains open, and the FBI is offering a $25,000 reward to anyone who could provide information that leads to an arrest.
