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To date, no arrests have been made in Amy Mihaljevic's kidnapping and murder, leaving the case unsolved for over three decades. The 10-year-old fifth grader was taken from the Bay Village Square Shopping Center in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 27, 1989. Her decomposing remains were located in a wheat field the following February.
Despite crucial evidence being found near Amy's body, not much progress has been made in the case. Detectives eventually discovered that the girl had received strange calls from an unknown male before the kidnapping and was likely lured to the mall. Two of her classmates spotted her with a white man, possibly in his 30s back then.
Over the years, several potential suspects have been named in the slaying, including a critical tip from a woman who identified her ex-boyfriend as Amy's killer in January 2019. The woman claimed they lived not far from the shopping center. Other links have been made between the man and the kidnapping, but he has yet to be charged. His identity remains hidden.
Dateline: Unforgettable on Oxygen will revisit Amy Mihaljevic's kidnapping and murder in an episode titled What Happened to Amy?, set to air on the channel at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. The official synopsis states:
"For more than 30 years, Ohio investigators have searched for answers in the murder of 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic; the details of the case still haunt Josh Mankiewicz and investigators, who ask for helping solving the crime."
In early 2019, police received a tip from a woman who implicated her ex-boyfriend in Amy Mihaljevic's murder
According to News 5 Cleveland, in January 2019, almost thirty years after 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic was kidnapped from Bay Village Square Shopping Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and eventually murdered, a woman came forward, identifying her ex-boyfriend as the potential killer.
The fifth grader was taken from the mall on October 27, 1989. Her decomposing remains were discovered the following February in an Ashland County wheat field about 50 miles from the shopping center where the girl was last seen. She died of a stab wound to the left side of her neck.
According to several reports, Amy was lured to the mall by an unknown caller who convinced her to meet him there to help the man buy a gift for his mother. Police learned that two other girls, who visited the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center just like Amy, had received similar calls around the same time.
In fact, two of Amy's classmates saw a white male, probably in his 30s, approach the 10-year-old at the mall. The man then put his hand on her shoulder and led the girl through the parking lot. That was the last time she was seen alive.
When Amy Mihaljevic's body was discovered on February 8, 1990, officials determined that she had been killed and that her body was dumped in the field a few days after the kidnapping.
Police also believe the killer collected trophies from the victim, including her turquoise horse-head earrings, black ankle boots, and a black leather binder with "Buick, Best in Class" written on the front clasp. All of these items were reported missing. They also found a white blanket and a thick olive-green curtain about 300 yards away from where the girl's remains were found.
Hence, all these years later, when the woman tipped the police about her ex-boyfriend, they discovered that back then, the man worked in Bay Village at the time and even had a niece in the same grade as Amy.
The suspect reportedly made incriminating statements and was identified by witnesses as Amy Mihaljevic's killer
The News 5 Cleveland report mentioned that the woman informed authorities that she, as this man's live-in girlfriend, resided with him less than a mile and a half from the shopping center where Amy Mihaljevic was last seen alive talking to an unknown male. She further claimed that he did not return home that night, indicating that "it was unlike [the man] to disappear and not come home overnight."
The tipster revealed that her former boyfriend, whose name is yet to be revealed, called her sometime around 10:00 that same night to inquire if there was any news coverage of Amy's disappearance.
Following the tip, detectives started looking into the potential suspect and alleged that his appearance at the time of the incident was "consistent with one of two major suspect composites obtained via witness interviews."
Afterward, in May 2020, two witnesses who claimed they saw Amy Mihaljevic talking with a man at the shopping center the day she was taken picked the suspect's picture from a photo line-up.
The outlet further reported that police alleged that the gold fibers found on Amy's clothing matched the tan interior of the gold Oldsmobile the suspect drove back in 1989 and 1990.
Police reports claim that the man in question was interviewed in November 2019 and reportedly "made very suspicious statements." A few incriminating comments include how the years 1989 and 1990 were a "dark period" in his life and that he may have met the youngster's mother, Margaret, in a bar.
Moreover, this man even agreed to the possibility of his DNA being found on the olive-green curtain found near the victim's body but clarified that he "did not put it there." Police also seized evidence during a search of his house.
The suspect's identity and other details about the evidence are yet to be disclosed.
Oxygen's Dateline: Unforgettable will further delve into Amy Mihaljevic's unsolved case on Wednesday.
