Murder

of Amy
Mihaljevic
CASE DATE:
OCTOBER 27, 1989
 WHAT
KIDNAPPED AND MURDERED

WHEN
October 21, 1989

WHERE
Bay Village, of Northeast Ohio in the
midwestern region of the United States.
 WHO

Amy Mihaljevic

WHY?

Blood believed to be that of Mihaljevic was

found in her underwear indicating she
may have been raped or sexually abused.
 Born Amy Renee Mihaljevic

December 11, 1978

Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.

Disappeared October 27, 1989

Bay Village, Ohio, U.S.
Died c. October 27, 1989 (aged 10)

Victim
Cause of death Homicide by stabbing
Body discovered February 8, 1990
Ruggles Township, 

Profile Resting place

Ashland County, Ohio
Highland Memorial Park, 
New Berlin, Waukesha County, 
Wisconsin, U.S.
Nationality American
Citizenship United States
Occupation Student
Known for Murder victim
The 10-year old Bay Village girl 
was abducted from the Bay Village Square Shopping Center on
October 27, 1989.
Police said they believe someone called Mihaljevic and convinced
her to meet at a nearby shopping center so the two of them could
buy a gift for her mother, who had just received a promotion at
Trading Times Magazine.
The case generated thousands of leads. Dozens of suspects were
asked to take lie-detector tests, but no one has ever been charged
with the crime. Law enforcement continues to pursue leads and
monitor suspects to the present day. 20,000 interviews have taken
place during the investigation.
For more than 31 years, her killer has remained a mystery.
But 5 On Your Side Investigators discovered court documents filed last
fall that show that in January 2019 a woman came forward and identified
her ex-boyfriend as a suspect in Mihaljevic’s murder.

According to a sworn affidavit from a Bay Village detective, the woman

told police at the time of Amy’s disappearance, the man and his former
girlfriend lived less than a mile and a half from the shopping center where
Mihaljevic was last seen alive talking to an unidentified man.

In the affidavit, police said the man worked in Bay Village at the time
and had family living there, including a niece in the same grade as
Mihaljevic.

Court records show police also said the woman told investigators that
the man did not come home the night Amy was abducted.
 Police said the woman “indicated it was unlike [the man] to disappear and
not come home overnight.

 Investigators said the woman stated that her former boyfriend did call her
around 10 p.m. the night of the abduction to ask if she was aware of the
news coverage of Amy’s disappearance

 According to investigators, the man’s appearance in late 1989 was

“consistent with one of two major suspect composites obtained via witness
interviews.”

 In the affidavit, investigators said in May 2020 two witnesses who saw
Mihaljevic talking with a man at the shopping center the day of her
abduction, picked the man in question’s picture out of photo line-ups as the
person they recalled seeing Amy Mihaljevic taking to the day she was last
seen alive.
 Two 10-year-old classmates of Amy said they saw
her talking with a man before she disappeared.
The girls gave police a description, which was
then turned into a composite sketch. That sketch
would later circulate throughout the community
thousands of times.

 Amy’s disappearance from Bay Village set the

entire community on edge. When parents took
their children trick-or-treating that Halloween
weekend

 Law enforcement believe it's quite possible that

Amy knew her abductor. Friends and family said
she was too smart to go with a stranger willingly
 2021 Case Update
On the 31st anniversary of the discovery of Mihaljevic's remains, a major development in the case
was announced. A publicly unidentified man, age 64, was implicated by a former girlfriend, with
whom he was involved at the time of the kidnapping and murder. She alleged that he was
uncharacteristically absent from their residence, located in close proximity to the abduction site,
when the victim first disappeared. The man called her late that evening, inquiring if she had seen
media releases about the abduction. He was employed in the same city, and his niece was in the
same grade as Mihaljevic.

Police interviews with the man included "suspicious statements", including the possibility he had
met Amy Mihaljevic's mother, Margaret, before. His DNA was obtained without protest, and he later
failed a polygraph test. A warrant to search a storage facility led to authorities confiscating certain
items of interest.