Amy Mihaljevic /// Part 2 /// 309 | Forensic Files

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[Music] crime all right Captain I want to get into the composite sketch es the sketches that were made of our suspect
in the Amy mahalic abduction which turns to murder so we have an interesting situation here in this case and I've
seen it from time to time in some other cases but I want to point out that I find this to be very rare it's very rare
that this occurrence happens so in this case in Amy's case shortly after she is abducted there is a
composite SK that is released to the public via newspapers and this is kind of the best
way to describe this sketch what we would later learn is that early on when this composite was
released this is based off of two separate eyewitness accounts two of Amy's peers so two children I believe
both of them were 11 years old that saw a man approach Amy and then lead her away initially what they did is they
collected all that information from both of these eyewitnesses and they made one
single composite drawing based off of that information later what happens is we have the FBI releases two composite
sketches based on two eyewitnesses of the suspect wanted in the October 27th disappearance of 10-year-old Amy
mahalic we went through the brief description in yesterday's show but the suspect was described as 30 to 35 years
old between 5'8 and 5' 10 in tall of medium build with dark hair possibly curly hair with a bald spot on top in
the rear like top rear of the head with a trace of a beard growth and possibly wearing round glasses and a tan jacket
so what we need to point out here is that we have two young individuals giving this eyewitness account and both
of them are not spoton with each other right so we have one that says yes wearing glasses another that says no one
that says a trace of a beard one that says wearing a tan jacket so that's why I think they did their due diligence
here they could have just rock and rolled with that one composite drawing that they had from the get-go but I
think that would have been irresponsible yeah but it's not like the deli murders
where drawing one and drawing two are are almost completely different these are pretty similar similar in likeness
and and to be honest with you if that's why I think the first one is just kind of a mash of the the two eyewitness
accounts because actually if we want to label these composite sketch one two and
three they're all somewhat similar but to be clear these eyewitnesses are not saying this is more than one man that
they saw with Amy that day at the shopping plaza right this is just two different individuals giving what they
believe that they saw from their Vantage points on that afternoon so I think the
key thing to do here is to really kind of hone in on the similarities between the three composite sketches to really
hone in on the things that that are all the same right because that to me would point out the truths to these eyewitness
accounts where some of these items are speculative one thing I think you should really hone in on is the age right so 30
to 35 years of age now of course age is always very hard to detect especially from
11-year-old children that are not they're not up front and center looking at this guy you know they're a little
bit of ways away from Amy when this happens right but I would guess that they would guess older if the gentleman
looked older the they would guess you know what I mean like when you're a kid you you almost think all adults are
older than they are yeah yeah I agree with that but I think the interesting thought there for me has always been the
the one girl Maddie who reports this man that she saw talking to Amy she makes the assumption that it's Amy's father
now Maddie does not know Amy's father she's not saying or ever has said that was Mark halic that was there that day
at the shopping plaza that Amy left with she's never that's not the story at all
what she's saying at the time is the man to me as a child didn't look at a place
Amy didn't behave strangely when he walked up to her he spoke to her and then they walked away she just made the
assumption that it must be Amy's father but I want to carry that thought and that assumption one step further where
we have two eyewitnesses who say the man was probably between roughly between 30
to 35 years of age well keep in mind Amy's 10 all right I don't know Mark Mahal's age but my situation my father's
like 25 years older than me so that would fall into that that range right to he's of the right age to to make the
assumption that it could be her father mhm so we're not talking about had any of these kids thought that they
saw like you said a much older man or a much younger man I don't think Maddie would have ever made that assumption so
I feel like there's a lot of Truth and there's a lot of weight to that thought that this individual is very likely 30
to 35 years of age now Amy was missing for just over 100 days before her body was found this length of time has caused
much debate about when Amy was killed and when she was dumped there in that field now thank
God that stranger to child abductions are extremely rare the ones that end in Murder typically end in Murder within
just a couple of hours to about 48 hours after the abduction but we must keep in
mind that this stranger to Child Abduction the case of Amy mahalic is very much unlike the others that are out
there almost all stranger to child abductions are simply put crimes of opportunity some sicko drives around
looking for an opportunity looking for a small victim that fits whatever criteria
that they are looking for probably preferably alone and then the result is either talking that child into their
vehicle or dragging that child into their vehicle none of that happened here now citizens in the area of where
Amy's body was found people who drove that that County Road people who walked jogged lived near County Road
1181 when her body was found they were adamant that Amy must have been dumped in that field very recently shortly
before she was found their thought is that how could all these people travel this road or people live in this area
and not have seen the body that was just simply 18 ft or so from the road itself
right we do have sheriffs and and detectives and investigators who have said look it would not have been it
would not have been incredibly hard to see her body but if you were driving on that road you would have to be looking
really in that spot at the right time to see her the the land right because the landscape is such that if if you do like
an overhead look of of that day of the that portion of the of this case's crime scene you you wonder how the hell was
she not located much earlier yeah but I think what they're trying to get to is the idea that that you would spot
something from the road you just wouldn't know what that something was well Janet seabold who found her I
believe her initial reaction or her initial thought to when she spotted something in the field was I think she
said that she thought it was just like a pile of snow like there was nothing discernable
about it to her immediately but I I I would love for Janet seol to go further on record about
that day I will say this in her defense from everything I could find she's been extremely traumatized by this event in
her life and I would love to know more in detail of what she was thinking and in every little minute detail of her
thoughts along the way from the time of this thing caught my eye to I moved closer and realized it was a body but
you said you also said it's what 50 some miles from the mall yeah 48.6 miles according to the FBI's website and I was
telling you because I was doing some traveling this last weekend it was frustrating traveling because it
was like you have 52 miles to go an hour and 10 minutes you know where normally if you're on the freeway that you know
you got 60 minutes to go it's going to take you an hour so is a little bit longer than you're used to because
they're back roads and and I would assume you know but this is an hour or so away and that really starts making
you question yes the calls are coming within a certain area code but does that mean
anything or does that just mean that this murderer lives in that area but works uh or Works in that area lives
somewhere else uh did he know these back roads did he know the location in which she was
dropped that's always been an interesting angle for me you know I I I said a long time ago when we first
covered this case what was that two two and a half years ago when we spoke to James rener about feel was like five
years ago at the time I was working a a job where it required me to drive all over the state of Ohio so I got sent to
Bay Village a few times for work and the job was such that I would leave I never
overnighted anywhere I would leave from Columbus in the morning do whatever jobs
they sent me out on and return to Columbus before the end of the day so on one of these trips to Bay Village
I ended up finishing up quite early and I thought okay well I'm going to take a roundabout way of getting back to
Columbus and my my choice of Route was to go from the shopping center to that County Road right 1181 where her body
was found and so I drove that and I'm clocking the miles as I went through there and
it took me 55 minutes to get there which is it which based off of the speed limit
is actually faster in travel than if I would have obeyed the speed limit okay so I think that if you follow the speed
limit it's about a little over an hour hour and six or an hour and 10 something like that I wasn't going incredibly fast
but to your point the thing that that really started to get to me about 30 40 minutes into the drive and I'm not I'm
still miles away from the location at this point I kept thinking man I feel like
I've this is a a long trip from point A to point B and I don't have any in my car that's going to make the
trip feel longer I don't have alive victim or a dead victim in my in my vehicle and so I think you're right
there on something and I think that there is a lot of Truth and weight to what you've just said there's got to be
some kind of connection or reason to be traveling in this direction now for no reason at all would we ever think that
she went immediately from the shopping center to directly to this area where she was later found right because we
have investigators saying that there is no evidence no evidence whatsoever to suggest that she was killed in that
location so she was assaulted and killed elsewhere could it have been in a van or
a vehicle that's not out of the realm of possibility personally looking at this case as long
as I have I've always kind of believed that the Friday her being abducted on a Friday was is significant right like I
said if they worked in that area you make the call Thursday while you're at work right cuz the call came in on the
Thursday well we don't know for certain when the call came in but it could have coming in Thursday Wednesday Tuesday
Monday right but it's coming during the week during work and then Friday got heading back to where I'm where I live
and so I'm going to take her on the way well and think about this I I think it's probably working there is not out
of the a possibility I think it might be more likely that the person was living or staying somewhere in that area or at
least that would cause them to travel that direction you know what I mean from Bay Village so yeah also makes you
wonder too because there is this Gap from the abduction time to where they find her and that makes me question and and
have always questioned did this person because there was so much attention in that area did they feel the
heat and then did they did they end up moving mhm that could be very likely because
the problem there is you have these composite sketches out and really what the police were getting once they
released the composite sketch they were getting all kinds of tips they were getting all kinds of calls the problem
with those calls is they're all look alike calls well why do you think that so and so is a good suspect well he
looks like you're drawing oh well what else well that's it he looks like the sketch That You
released and we have police on record saying when we get these tips we need more than just a name we need we need
you know we're getting so many of them right we need reasons to prioritize certain tips over others we need we need
a car description even though there was none from the eyewitnesses we need a color of a car we need but on top of
that give us give us a reason why other than he looks like the sketch well and that's the same with when you look at
like the Dior case right everybody that saw a a young blond-haired boy called mhm and and it's like well that's not
enough we need we need you know 0.1 23 for us to be able to track down all these leads
mhm yeah and the thing too back to the Friday I think that the Friday her being abducted on a Friday is significant and
here's why one thing we need to focus in on is the abductor chose that day Amy didn't choose that day the abductor
chose that day can you meet me at the shopping center on Friday I'll pick you up then and we can go shopping for a
gift for your mother and I say that that is significant because we have to keep in
mind when this person is trying to convince his victim to meet him somewhere he is designing all this this
is all by his design this is all his modus operandi yeah you wonder if he works a half day on a Friday or if it's
easier for him to take a half day because it it seems like a very odd time she's going to get there about
3:00 yep she got there approximately two she was seen with this man around 245 yeah and I know the song the lyrics go
working 925 what a way to make a Liv so you would just assume that this you know or
do they have a job where they're able to leave for a while like do they make deliveries or
something well I think possibly the reason for the Friday more so than others could be what he does not have to
do or be accounted for after the time of the abduction right okay so if it is a sexually motivated crime which you and I
both believe it to be then that would require his motivation requires him to not be accounted for after the
abduction takes place yeah I mean he can't go back to work with a giant boner well that no that's not what I
mean it's it's somebody was not where they were supposed to be right well why why could that that does not mean that
they simply put if there if someone is where they are not where they are supposed to
be then that and that's a red flag immediately makes them a suspect yeah oh you had all these obligations and all
this stuff that was going on and boom this kid is abducted and then nobody hears from you you drop off of the
planet for 16 24 72 hours right and if you don't know how this abduction is going
to go down then if you have to work you know you don't do the abduction on a Thursday knowing that you have to work
on the Friday knowing that if something goes wrong and you show up to work late you see what I'm saying because
we've seen that with several cases where people that have become number one suspects were showing up to work late
the next day or calling off the next day well and then this leads us to what ends
up being a fourth composite sketch drawing of uh possible suspect because this is an interesting tip that comes
in there is a woman that that called in and said hey I saw somebody standing by a vehicle around
5506 p.m. near the spot where Amy's body was found and I saw this individual standing at the rear of their vehicle
with the it was like a hatchback type vehicle with the hatch open and this was the night before her body was found so
this individual is calling in a tip and this kind of goes along with some of the
locals thoughts of well if was in that field for this for a 100 days we would have seen her well before then so she
couldn't have been she had have been placed there shortly before she was found and now this tip comes in saying
look I saw this individual the night before yeah and who was she found by right a runner mhm right so you're
you're going to tell me that this I'm assuming she's an avid Runner well she says she was on her daily early morning
job right she would have saw her and and that makes the most sense well but I want to argue a few different points on
this I'm actually not in agreeance with this with this tip one or with the thought that she was not in that field
for a long period of time because of a couple things one she's found on February 8th okay um it's pretty cold in
northeaster or northeastern Ohio right in January and February and December so how daily is this daily early morning
jog is this you know she's out jogging on a day that was particularly warm for early
February so you know Janet that's that's again other parts that need to be talked
about with Janet seaboldt who ultimately found Amy mahalik body were you out jogging the day before
did you jog the whole week before and so on and so forth because I I get what they're saying and I can agree with some
of that but I can also see a situation where she's not found for this amount of time keep in mind we had that plant
growth that would suggest that she had been in that field for a good amount of time now the composite that goes out of
this man seen by the hatchback vehicle the night before her body is found the woman said that she saw a 25 to 35y old
white man about 6t tall with a thin face and very thin complexion or very light complexion standing behind a dark blue
hatchback car around 6 p.m. the hatch was open and the man had his hands on the car's back bumper so they released a
completely different sketch this individual does not look anything like the first three composite
sketches that were released but here's here's the big but this information does not make its
way to investigators for months and months and months after Amy was found so I don't question what this woman
believes that she saw what my first question would be is why do you believe that you saw this the night before her
body was found when asked why she didn't come forward with this information sooner
because I think it was like December so we have what 10 months after the body's found before she comes forward mhm when
asked why she didn't come forward sooner she simply says I didn't know that this
information was useful there's a chance she she may not have fully known where the body was
found until a later date and then said aha aha got him I got some information but again the first thing I would want
to know from that witness as an investigator is tell me why you are certain that it was February 7th that
you saw this man yeah I have a hard time with uh Witnesses coming forward so far
after the fact well a lot of people can't tell you what they had for dinner last week so now was there something
significant about that day can can you pull out your daily planner or your calendar and
say oh I had this erand to do and I marked it on my calendar and that's the only time I've ever been on on Route
1181 and so it must have been February 7th when I saw that individual or was that day your birthday or something of
significance for you to really know and remember remember that it was February 7th so I question not what she believes
she saw but I question when she may have saw this there's a chance she could have
saw this individual in March or January or what have you and just has the day wrong it's only significant this
eyewitness account if in fact it was shortly before Amy's body was found the other thing I want to point out here too
is sunset that time of year in Ohio is between 5:30 and 5:50 p.m. if she saw this individual around 6:00 p.m. out on
a County Road it's going to be quite dark out there it's going to be very dark out there I can't speak to what
lights may have been on on this individual's hatchback vehicle but just pointing that out there here's where I
think there is another possibility that the killer the Amy killer once again gets lucky that there's this bad tip
that comes in very late in the game of an individual that looks nothing like the individual that was spotted that day
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instance where the show that you and I love so much M Hunter creeps into another yet another one of our cases
okay and the reason why that happens so often one is our love of the show two more importantly is John Douglas and
Robert K wrestler the two individuals that the main characters are based off of and based off of their careers they
worked and were involved in so many cases now the FBI itself was very involved in Amy's case immediately there
have been some people that have questioned that and thought that maybe that means that there was different
motive for her abduction I want everybody to keep in mind yes the the FBI becomes involved
when crimes occur in cross state lines that happens that didn't happen in this case as far as we know she was likely
not only abducted and dumped in Ohio but likely killed in Ohio as well the thought here though is that you need to
keep in mind that the FBI becomes involved when it's clear that it is a kidnapping case Okay where there is
abduction involved so the FBI was involved in this case very quickly and even the local authorities as soon as
Margaret mahalic reported Amy is missing they hit Jump Street right they went right in and said this is an abduction
this child is missing this child didn't run away we they went looking for her and looking for this man very quickly so
through the course of this with the FBI involvement working with local law enforcement they're trying to
find this individual now this type of incident happens from time to time and I find this fascinating and very
interesting so we have two special agents okay we have special agent John Dunn and Dick Ren all right these two
are working with local authorities on the Amy mahalic case Robert K wrestler visits Ohio for some type of seminar or
some kind of conference at the American Academy of forensic science sciences and
this was in Cincinnati so when he is in Ohio these other special agents reach out to the great and very knowledgeable
Robert K wrestler and they say hey would you mind taking a look at this case while you're in Ohio and wrestler
actually has ties to the city of Cleveland now when you graduate from the FBI Academy and you go on to work uh in
the field this is the way John Douglas describes it I find this quite quite funny he says that when he went to go
work in the field the first thing that the FBI asked you they said well what field office would you like to be
stationed at and he says what you do is you tell them the one you don't want to be stationed at because they
automatically will not put you at the one that you choose right they don't give you your top pick yeah so for
whatever reason wrestler did work at the Cleveland field office for the FBI so he's a great guy he says of course I'll
come up there and I will help you guys out I believe he worked with one or both of these agents on some other case
earlier in his career before Amy's abduction so he's doing them a favor he drives up to the area now I want
everybody to keep in mind wrestler is really only involved in this case for a very short window of time a very brief
period of time he's out doing his work at this American Academy of forensic sciences and basically drives up to Bay
Village for a weekend now while he is up there one thing that is significant that
occurs is the three of these individuals these three FBI agents they put together
a profile of the abductor of Amy mahalic now I want you to keep in mind this takes place in January of
1990 so this is before her body is found wrestler says in his book whoever fights
monsters I wanted the police to look for a man in his late 20s or early 30s who was introverted and a loner relatively
unsuccessful in life unmarried not overly educated but not stupid this would be a man with no military service
but with a propensity for spending a lot of time around kids his smoothness in conning Amy into the car argued for his
knowing something about children and the way their minds work he says I thought it likely that a person who preferred
children's company would not have put himself in a situation such as the military where male bonding is part of
the experience it might just be children of both sexes he was after but it was more
likely he sought out only girls in either case he would be uncomfortable with male and female adults wrestler
felt strongly that Amy's abduction was his first offense because there was no record of any similar abductions in the
area and because the abductor had exposed himself to so much danger by his phone call and by making the abduction
in such a public place as the parking lot where many people could see him wrestler thought that the abductor might
have conned Amy into his car taking her to his home under the pretext of getting
money or a greeting card of some such there he would spend time with her maybe play with her until she became
frightened and started to resist at which point he might have been convinced that he had to kill her wrestler told
authorities to keep an eye out for a person who might try to inject himself into the investigation but now isn't
there some belief that she actually made the call to her mother while in custody
of this murderer well I think that the way that the timeline works out that it has to have worked out that way I think
that because she was spotted at 2:45 and then that's the time when we have witnesses saying that she's leaving
the parking lot with this man leaving the Baskin Robbins area with this man right
245 well we have Jason her older brother who says he arrived at home around 3: at
approximately 3:00 p.m. and he called his mom and said look Amy's not here according to Margaret mahalic Amy called
after Jason called so that meaning that the call took place shortly after Jason called Jason called shortly after 3:00
p.m. which of course is 15 minutes after she was last seen at the Baskin Robins that's a very troubling thing because if
you really break down that time and in actually the shortness of time let's say at the at the end of the
extreme I would say you're probably looking at a 315 320 call from Amy to Margaret
mahalic that means the abductor one has her and two she's not very far away when
that call is placed yeah it also makes me think on the level that that he didn't
know the family because there's so much room for error there I'm going to let her call her mother and if she does
know this person let's say but you know his name is Rick or Tim or whatever that
what if she slips up and says I'm with Rick no and I agree with that I've always kind of belied believe that this
individual the abductor and the killer somehow knew something about Amy or something about Amy's family but the
two Amy and him didn't know each other by appearance or by the sound of their voices I've always just kind of felt
that in my gut I got I got some things to base that off of but it's not hardcore proof
evidence of such I've also wondered regarding this phone call okay so this phone call Margaret says you know hey
Amy sounded rushed she wasn't very talkative I almost wonder if look Amy yes she got tricked and she got fooled
into getting into this guy's vehicle and got tricked into meeting this guy at the
shopping plaza but we have to keep in mind our victim is 10 years old it's not incredibly difficult to trick a child
and that does not really suggest her level of intelligence in fact Amy was considered by all to be very intelligent
she just made a mistake what I think happened here is I think she was on to him I think she had figured out
relatively quickly this is not what it was made out to be I don't think I'm going shopping with
this guy I don't know the level that she thought at the time of that phone call of what her danger level was but I think
she was on to something that this is not what it's what what I was told this was
going to be that's not what seems to be happening here and I wonder if at some point she says to the
abductor as a threat of a way of trying to get herself out of his vehicle look my parents are going to be
looking for me every day when I get home from school I call my mom I have to call
my mother almost as a threat to him of you're going to get caught for this or or you know you need to let me go to
which he's just he could just be reacting to that threat and saying all right we need to buy some more time
maybe I let her make that call but I believe her to be under my control so much that I don't believe that she is
going to give a description of me or more importantly like you said if she did know the individual give his name I
think he felt no threat of her giving his name meaning she didn't know it during that phone call yeah I agree but
I also think that there is a possibility that he did know her and he just felt like the
communication with her was good enough and she felt comfortable enough and they had this ruse of hey call your mom to
let her know you're okay cuz I care about you but make sure you don't tell her you're with me because we're going
to we're surprising her with a with a gift that that's she could still be playing along and still think that
whatever still think that that shopping trip is going to happen yeah I mean this
but there's also the possibility that he has her under 100% control meaning he could have a gun on her or the threat
level is such no but there there was no you know the the mother I think would sense that and maybe I'm wrong cuz you
know well she she did say no no you're not but she she did say she thought the call was strange that she said it was
short it was short and that she thought that Amy's mannerisms were were odd okay
okay so that that would lead more to the idea that well let me let me throw this
idea at you okay while not too hard while while the crispy Colonel is just in the garage throwing things at the
wall to see what sticks let me throw this at you you don't even have to have a gun on the child let's play out this
scenario what if she's detected that some something is not right with the situation I've got to call my mom now
think about this presentation what if this offender then goes on a different angle and portrays himself as some kind
of authority figure and says look little girl you've done something that you shouldn't have done you know better
you're not supposed to meet strangers somewhere you know better than that I'm I'm starting to think that you learned
your lesson if you don't you know let's go ahead and make this call to your mom you don't have to tell her what's
going on because you don't want to get in trouble I think you've learned your lesson let's go ahead and call your mom
you tell her that you're fine and I'm going to take you back to your bike at the
school that's a whole different mind play right there I don't know that he would have been able to come up with
that on the fly but we're also talking about an individual that has spent some time in probably consider considerate am
amount of time focusing in on how to trick these young girls and calling different ones and trying to basically
procure themselves a victim of some sort so I I've always really kind of felt that it's very likely somebody that is a
stranger to Amy or that that doesn't mean that it he's a stranger completely to her family I feel that there is a way
that this guy knew that he was attracted to Amy I don't think he was just cold calling numbers and hoping that some
girl answers the phone I 100% agree with that yeah I think that he already knew somehow that he was attracted to Amy and
she was somewhat targeted I think the other girls that received phone calls were probably targeted as well so I the
interesting thing that's where we differ because I I think the amount of calls that were connected were are very
small right no no we don't differ there I feel 100% the same as you I don't think that for anybody that has said
that there were 10 or 20 or 15 or 25 calls whatever number you want to throw out there there may have been that
amount of people that came forward to authorities and said I received some strange call from some creep I believe
that that maybe that number of people came forward I just think that there's probably only one or two calls like the
police believe that are in fact believed to be connected to Amy's situation yeah
so I've always fell and I do know that that others feel this way so this is not like a mindblowing experience that that
we're all having here today but I've always felt that if you could figure out how this individual knew Amy or knew of
Amy and had some of her information but she did not know him that's your connection that's your way
of finding this guy because unfortunately we sit here and this year on October 27th of this year we're going
to hit the 30-year anniversary of the day that Amy mahalic was abducted and I also probably believe that he took her
on a Friday I think she she was killed by the end of the weekend and very likely dumped in that field sometime
late Sunday night or early Monday morning I think that the Friday is significant to him to him not to the
victim but to him and he chose that Friday for a reason for a reason that he didn't have to be accounted for for a
good amount of time afterwards and I'm kind of putting that as a a kind of a cut off for this
individual on when he decides that he's got to get rid of this problem that he has burdened himself with
uhuh so I I I've always really felt that if you could find the connection on how
he would have had her information or known something about her you could finally trace him because as I as I was
I started down the road and I I started down the road and I I sidetracked myself and he swallowed a
bug yeah what do I do what do I do um the thing is 30 years later the composite sketches have not worked we
had a lot of tips of people calling in and saying okay I know somebody that looks like this guy or I know some
weirdo that looks like this guy the items that were not found with her the day that she was found in the field have
not solved this crime the blanket the curtain here we are 3 years later have not solved this crime if somebody
somewhere can figure out how this individual knew her but she did not know him that might be the first big lead we
could get in in many many years the sad thing about our production our little garage production here today
Captain is there is so much to cover with Amy's case yeah like like yelling at you we didn't even get to any
suspects we got this could have been like a four parter six parter uh but first of all I want to tell people we we
did well you did an interview it's it's our one of our best episodes I'm not actually on the episode but uh you did
an interview in a discussion with James rener on the Amy mivic case that was done in March 22nd of 2016 that's
episode 22 you can find that on the Stitcher app for free just download the Stitcher app and then on the left hand
side you can scroll down the the years so you want to go to 2016 and he'll talk about his
suspects but I mean he names I'm going off a memory here but but he names what three potential I think you told him to
give his top three which were not his top three in in the book he wrote about Amy right and so there like I said
there's another two episodes of going through the suspects and and we will get to that at some point I mean we're not
going to be able because we're at crime conon we're not going to be able to get to that next week but maybe in the next
month or so we can revisit well in in that episode rener says that Dean rle is one of those three
Suspects when I ask him for three and anybody that's seen the lake eie murders documentary knows that that Dean R lead
kind of uh takes up a decent portion of that documentary yeah it Dean rle is certainly an interesting
suspect um but in regards to suspects a bit of an issue I had with trying to present suspects here
today is early on in this investigation we have the then police chief of Bay Village say that this is before the
bodies even found he says we have about 20 suspects that look good that that look good enough that they warranted
further looking into and they were in the process of looking into to those individuals when Robert K westler came
up to the Cleveland area and offered his expertise and helped put together that profile that we read today he says that
of the suspects that the police had at that time now this is in January of 1990 he says four or five of them look
good they they look good for our profile that we put together so 20 per the Bay Village Police Chief four or five from
Robert K wrestler now I'm a huge fan of Robert wrestlers I'm a huge fan of all of his books in this book it's a bit
disappointing because he does only there's only about five or six pages that are dedicated to Amy's
case where I find the disappointment is he really honed in on one suspect in particular named Billy strunak yeah and
later Billy strunck commits suicide so Billy's not here to this day to defend himself or to uh tell us that he's
guilty of something for for all the good you do to True Crime authors promoting books
you sure are are very opinionated about their work well I'm I'm uh I'm a Critic of not just the writing but I'm a Critic
of some of the cases look we're I'm not just a Critic of the writing well the handling of some of the cases and I
can't wait till your book comes out and I'm I'm not an expert and I'm dumber than most but here's here's where I'm
disappointed is when when he finishes with Amy's case in his book he basically throws this out there and
says I believe that Billy strunak killed Amy mahalic and it will never be solved
because he committed suicide he's dead there's never been any similar crimes in that area ever since and that's he he
sells it like it's proof enough for him which is fine and good and again I'm a big fan of wrestlers big fan of his work
big fan of his books but two things that I wish would have happened and you're a
real kiss ass too one I I don't think he should have put his stamp on that Mark so much and
two mind you this profile was conducted in January of 1990 it was conducted before her body was found I would ask
wrestler if he were sitting here in the garage would you have added or adapted your profile based off of information
that was learned from the crime scene from the dump site and from her body and autopsy would you have amended your
profile and if if he says yes there's chances now that Billy strunak doesn't fit so well into that profile and we all
know that profiles don't necessarily solve crimes they simply are a tool that some used to try to uh kind of shrink
down the suspect pool so to speak so that you know know who you should be spotlighting rather than others so
there's a lot of homework to do one listen to our episode Amy mahalic episode number 22 and then watch the
lake Yi murders that's a fascinating docu docu series that that was two parts right uh three three parts yeah because
but don't watch the first one CU you're not in the first one and that's why you do watch the first one it's the best of
the three the best part was I was watching and I I watched it part one and I went well he
got cut out he got cut out and well then then episode two comes in and then your
you know your your ugly face hits the screen I mean scared the I literally [ __ ] my pants and then you were in it a
lot in the second one and in the third one but it it it was put together very well um and it kept my attention the
whole time so not not only are you encouraging everyone to watch the Lake Erie murders you're encouraging them to
have a clean pair of drawers close by or start off with dirty drawers you know why why dirty more clean drawers well we
I tell we joke but I um this is this has been a frustrating week for me I thought
revisiting Amy's case would be something that I would look forward to because I am so passionate about this case but it
all it did for me was kind of stir up monsters and questions and anger that I've had about this case over the years
for the last week this is a case that we will revisit again at some point as we said we didn't get to suspects yet and
there are so many to talk about I almost like in this case people don't understand how that just the the sheer
size of this case because I liken it to like Deli West Memphis 3 even Jack the Ripper to the point where you get
involved in this thing and unfortunately you realize that there between you know
armchair chair sleuth and web sleuths and all the people out there that have looked into this case and provided some
insight or theories and thoughts when you really get in here you startop start figuring out there are so many suspects
to explore and it's just the sheer size of this thing and it doesn't help that it's
been almost 30 years with no [Music] answers and if you're looking for more garage True Crime garage get the
Stitcher app it's free we have our old episodes on there and our other great show that everybody loves off the record
on Stitcher premium check that out and we are going to fire up the old flying garage ship and head on down to New
Orleans so everybody that's going to Crime con this year we are looking forward to seeing each and every one of
you there safe travels friends all right until next week be good be kind and don't
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Amy Mihaljevic /// Part 2 /// 309

Part 2 of 2

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This week Nic and the Captain revisit one of Northeast Ohio’s coldest cases. Join us for an in-depth review and discussion of the abduction of 10 year old Amy Mihaljevic. Beer of the Week - Pink Drink by Hi-Wire Brewing Garage Grade - 3 & 3 Quarter Bottle Caps out of 5

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses the abduction and murder of Amy Mahalic, focusing on eyewitness accounts and investigative details.

Key points

Quality Sleep with Ashley. Ashley offers top mattress brands at winning prices, helping children in need.
Rosetta Stone Holiday Deal. Get 50% off a lifetime membership for unlimited access to 25 languages.
True Crime Garage Introduction. Welcome to True Crime Garage, where hosts Nick and the Captain discuss true crime stories.
Composite Sketches in Amy's Case. Discussion on the composite sketches released after Amy's abduction, highlighting eyewitness accounts.
The Eyewitness Account. A witness claims to have seen a man near the crime scene, but why did she wait months to report it?
FBI's Involvement. The FBI quickly steps in when Amy is reported missing, indicating the seriousness of the case.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I feel like he's being held hostage in the garage.

Listener's humorous comment about the show

3:07WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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