Amy Mihaljevic Update ////// 463 | Forensic Files

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GameChanger [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] one of the high priority leads the FBI
is checking an area man resembling the drawing of the suspect he left his job last Friday has not returned but
authorities will not comment further on that Amy disappeared from the shopping center a week ago today and today FBI
agents and Bay Village Police were back in the center talking with people who might have been here then Amy reportedly
left Bay square with a man she believed to be a friend sometime between 1: and 400 p.m. last Friday the shopping center
was busy but few who were here remembered anything unusual about the man and the girl what went on uh was a
ploy that was developed and carried through and it looked like a natural uh action going on it didn't look out of
the ordinary at all today in that same 1 to 400 p.m. time frame officers were trying to jog memories of Shoppers to
possibly recall something from a week ago that they did not consider important then okay I'll be glad police want
anyone else who was here last Friday afternoon to call them regardless of whether they believe they saw anything
police also are seeking other children who might have been contacted by phone as Amy was by a man as a friend seeking
the child's help in buying a gift for a parent you have had some of those yes we
have how many I aware of at least three perhaps more the sounds of rural Ashland County
warn of a passing train a tragedy averted the sites along County Road 1181 warn of a tragedy committed white
ribbons have been strung in memory of Amy mahalic Amy's body was discovered right alongside 1181 last week the
ground has been scraped by investigators for soil sample analysis another portion
is covered with flowers left by shocked residents who now have more personal reasons to help in finding Amy's killer
cuz he was bent down so I couldn't see him that well Larry Schuster has told the FBI an amazing story on the day
Amy's body was found Shuster says he saw a suspicious looking stranger drive back
and forth near the discovery site and he claims the driver looked very much like
the police composite sketch of Amy's abductor as I was leaving coming up towards 224 that's when I seen him going
back down again back up I think he was coming up this way to see what was going on and see if anybody found him found
the girl Amy mahalic is one girl this community will never forget as a card on the flowers proclaims from the people of
New London Ohio we're sorry Amy there is not only a sense of pity being shown by
the people of Ashland County but also a sense of precaution as well even though many neighbors tell me in their opinion
Amy was probably killed someplace else they say they plan to play it safe just in case her abductor is still in the
area this is the land on which Kenneth Meer spent much of his life as a grain farmer and a frequent Hunter he says he
now has frequent thoughts about Amy I told my wife the other day I said you know you see this on TV all the time
where they go out in in the country and find a body I said but you never figure it's going to happen right in your back
door Myers claims children are being watched more closely as well as property while the community awaits the arrest of
Amy mahalic killer in Ashland County Jack Marshall reporting for the 10:00 news uh I thank one and all for your
support your love and your concern without which I would not have been able to make it through this past year a year
ago today just across the street from the tree and the granite marker Amy was abducted from a Bay Village shopping
center a little more than 3 months later her body was found let's fill the void that her passing has left with positive
thoughts with a smile on our face and say she blessed our life for a while unfortunately she is gone but now we
must live on City and Civic leaders and law enforcement officials spoke of love and Community togetherness and the Amy
fund and the continuing search for the child's killer we're not going to give up until uh we see this thing through uh
Amy has touched our lives uh she will Live Forever The Monument says that Amy lives on in our hearts Amy pulled a
community together as a family and we still are a family supporting each other loving each other we know that Amy is in
God's love and care and his love and care are with us there was mourning and there were
drawn faces and there were some tears but this was not a cereem of Sorrow put a smile
on thank you for coming in Bay Village John hington Channel 3 [Music] News Friday October 27th
1989 Bay Village Ohio this should have been just a normal typical Friday the kids go off to school
the parents go to work when everyone gets home we can start our weekend but on this Friday not everyone
will come home 10-year-old Amy mahalic went to school she was in the fifth grade at Bay
Village Middle School after school she walked with friends to the Bay Village Shopping
Plaza Amy was last seen that day by two of her peers they would later report that they
saw Amy mahalic standing outside of the Baskin Robins ice cream shop Amy was approached by a man in his
early 30s standing about 5' 8 to 5' 10 in tall with dark hair and maybe a bald spot on
the top of his head one witness said the man was wearing a tan jacket it might have been
wearing glasses but could not be sure the man walked right up to Amy leaned down and he said something to
her he placed his hand on Amy's back and led her away this man walked right up to her
spoke to her and then took her no one who saw the man with Amy knew who he was and to this day we don't know who he
is but we do know that he is a very very evil man [Music] yesterday February 8th marked 31 years
ago that the body of Amy mahalic was found after she had been missing for several months and we were sitting there
captain on the 31y year anniversary you sent me a text in the evening and said hey you probably already heard this but
there's supposed to be an Amy update and it might come today and I text back saying I've not heard anything what's up
well we end up hearing that there was in fact going to be an update and of course
then we're sitting on the edges of our seats wondering did they finally make an arrest in this case and it seems like
with a lot of these major cases around the anniversaries we will receive an update but sometimes it's update of no
real significance a lot of times it's just that we're still working the case we're still asking the public for their
help their assistance please call in email us a tip now with Amy's case we've seen updates throughout the years and
many people many of our listeners have been following this case for a long time and anybody that lives in Ohio knows
this case this was a national case it was on America's Most Wanted and it's been featured throughout the years in
several different venues now in 2006 we had the update of new information that came out telling us that several other
young girls in the area came forward announcing that they had received phone calls as well this was information that
was known to the police but withheld from the public for many years and then in 2013 we get the update that Phil torney
retired FBI investigator was going to return from retirement simply to work on Amy's case periodically right then in
2016 we had one of the biggest updates in this case was the blanket and the curtain that was found located near
Amy's body where her body was found and that there were fibers and hairs and such on these items that have connected
them to Amy's case right and that was big news that they did a press conference and everything and you and I
talked about what they found what they released that day to the public we've talked about that a lot but the the
update that came out yesterday I think could be more substantial and more significant to the case maybe possibly
the biggest update that we've seen 31 years well not only a big update but I I also believe the information that
they're giving is is quite a bit and even though the clip is only roughly 5 minutes long there's some major major
points within that clip and if this is the information that is being released to the public how much more information
does law enforcement have okay Captain let's all sit and listen together to this update this is coming from News 5
out of Cleveland and let's discuss what they are telling us 31 years later well 31 years ago today the body of a missing
girl from Bay Village was found in a farm field in Ashlin County now more than three decades later investigators
have yet to charge anyone in the kidnapping and killing of Amy mahalic but the five on your side investigators
recently uncovered newly filed court records showing investigators focusing in on a potential suspect investigator
Scott null has more of what he's discovered in a story you will only see here on News
5 these are the sworn statements from the lead investigator with Bay Village Police in them he says a woman came
forward 2 years ago and identified her former boyfriend as a suspect in Amy Mahal's murder it's the case that
shocked a community there has been panic and paranoia 10-year-old Amy mahalic kidnapped October 27th 1989 say lots and
lots of prayers for Amy Renee Mahal despite thousands of tips prayers from the community Mahal and a nationwide
search on February 8th 1990 the search for Amy turned into the search for her killer Mahal's body found in a rural
Ashland County Farm field 50 Mi away from the Bay Village Square shopping center where she was last seen talking
to the man seen here in FBI composite sketches it's believed the man in this composite sketch kidnapped the
10-year-old girl from the Bay Village shopping center but who is he five on your side investigators discovered
police now following up on a tip they received in January 2019 according to newly filed court documents a woman told
police she suspects her ex-boyfriend is Amy's killer we're not naming him because he's not been charged with any
crime but according to an affidavit filed last fall the woman told investigators she lived with the man
less than a mile and a half from the shopping center where Amy was last seen police say the man had family in Bay
Village including a niece in the same grade as mahalic and the night Amy disappeared court records show the woman
told police the man never came home however the woman told police she did hear from the man that evening a phone
call asking if she was aware of the news coverage on Amy's disappearance and police say there's more you been having
this on television for 3 months and then you wake up in the morning and find it's
about 3 00 yard to find a body about 300 yard from your house police say they found gold fibers on Amy's clothing
after her body was discovered the detective told a kyoga County judge the now 64-year-old man drove a goldcolored
Oldsmobile with a tan interior at the time and police say his former girlfriend recalls traveling to Ashland
County with the man we've also learned on the day Amy's body was discovered an FBI agent was assigned to record all
cars and license plates passing through a nearby intersection police say around 5:00 p.m. that evening the agent
recorded the man's gold Oldsmobile driving by according to the detective his investigation has not been able to
show any reason why the man should have been there that day we don't have like one suspect we're like yeah this is the
guy but the same token we have such a vast amount of information I think it only going to take a couple pieces of
information to tie all that together and actually solve it just days after bay Village's former police chief told that
to news 5 investigators say the man in question walked into the police department and talked to investigators
over the course of 2 Days in a sworn affidavit the detective said the man quote made very suspicious statements
including that 1989 and 1990 was a dark period in his life according to court documents the man initially told
investigators Amy was never in his car but when asked again if it was possible investigators say the man said okay but
I don't know what the situation would have been the detective wrote the man also agreed it was possible his DNA
would be on a curtain found near Amy's body and that his DNA would be on Amy's body quote if somebody planted it on her
investigators say the man agreed to a DNA swab and also a polygraph test police say the result of that test was
deception indicated they also say the man did not show up the next day to sign paperwork allowing them to search a
storage unit instead according to the detective police got a warrant search the storage units where quote officers
seized evidence leading up to the 30th anniversary of his daughter's murder Mahal's father told us he's still
hopeful Amy's case will be solved it's something that you can never stop thinking about a case that after 31
years could be heating up police telling a judge that in May two witnesses picked
the Man's picture out of photo lineups as the man they remember seeing Amy talking to the day she disappeared so
what else do we know about this man police say he's currently homeless and living in his car we tried calling and
texting him to ask about this case we never got a response we also Tracked Down the woman who came forward with
this information she referred us to investigators but the Bay Village detective quoted in these court
documents told us he wouldn't comment on what we found in Bay Village I'm five on
your side investigator Scott null if you have information about the murder of Amy mahalic the FBI is
offering a reward of a to $25,000 for tips that lead to the arrest and conviction in her death anyone with
information is asked to call this number 1 1800 call [Music] FBI this show is sponsored by better
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all right so there's some major points there let me go over what I have we have a woman comes forward to say that she
thinks her ex-boyfriend possibly was involved or responsible for the death of Amy mahalic he lived across the street
from the shopping center or lived within less than a mile from the shopping Center had family in that area his
nieces were in the same grade as Amy was not home the night that Amy was kidnapped MH calls her the night that
Amy was kidnapped and ask her are you seeing these news reports about Amy mahalic drives a gold car possible gold
fibers found on her found on the curtains once they find her body in Ashlin which I believe is 50 m miles
away or so or 50 minutes away roughly it's it's 48 and change miles away so they have a FBI agent set up to track
cars in that area and guess whose car was tracked the suspects so then he is interviewed by law enforcement he talks
about 1989 and 1990 being a dark period in his life then basically agrees I guess they're questioning him saying
well look is there any possible way that Amy could have been in your car and he says no no no no okay well maybe but I
don't know how that would have happened then goes on to say look my DNA could be
on the curtains that you found near her body where she was dumped and yes uh they collect DNA evidence from him
basically says if there's DNA from him on Amy's body then that would had to come uh from somebody planting it he
takes a life detector again a lot of people iffy about lie detectors I view them as a barometer he failed the lie
detector that gives us a starting point I think now you have two eyewitnesses that come forward and pick this
individual out of a lineup as the guy that they saw with Amy mahalic the day she was kidnapped at the strip mall did
I miss anything I don't I don't see anything that you missed and uh maybe we heard a couple things slightly different
but I think we can go through these items one at a time because I think what we have here Captain there's some things
that we can easily pick up on from what they are saying what they are releasing but I also think that there might be
some things that we can infer from what they're not saying right reading between
the lines and applying what we know about the case to what they are now telling us it's easy to listen to this
clip and go well this might be the biggest update to date yeah it's shocking I'm not going to lie to you man
when you text me yesterday I thought oh here we go again it's going to be something that is nothing often in Amy's
case what my experience has been following this case for so long is that when something new comes out it's
usually something that you can't put any weight to it's something that you have to take with a grain of salt it's
someone that's all of a sudden realizing something remembering something or connecting some dots over something that
happened 20 25 30 years ago mhm and you go okay well they're they're remembering
this now all of a sudden there in lies my biggest question in this information why if we're just hearing about this
from what they told us January 2019 this woman comes forward and says I believe my ex-boyfriend could have been
involved in the Abduction of Amy mahalic right why why 29 years later is there is
there a reason for that now what I what I will say reading between the lines here there has to be something very
important in her statements to police M because they got a job to do not just in
Amy's case in other cases they have a a public to protect on The Daily there must have been something in there
because we can tell by other things that are stated in that news report that police have spent a lot of time effort
and resources on looking into this tip yeah normally I'd say oh here's this woman coming forward about ex-boyfriend
is this some kind of Revenge so much time has passed I believe or what my gut is telling me is that she found out
something about this individual probably in 2018 maybe 2019 that made her go light bulb maybe
she suspected it for years but there was something that triggered her to go I have to go to the police now we're going
off a memory here today Captain we didn't know until last night that there was going to be an update and an update
this big and so no time to go through all of our notes and all of everything we've reported in the past on this case
so forgive me if we if we stray or get something wrong here but this is a very important update this is very important
and like I said there's got to be something in her statement to police that made them really dive in and
investigate this this tip so thoroughly now some people out there listening are going to go well duh Nick it's because
she said he didn't come home that night and I did speak with him that night because he called me to ask me if I had
seen the news coverage or heard the news coverage about Amy having gone missing or the Abduction of this child that
cannot be the answer that's not why they dove into this thing so deeply so let's
move past that and I say that because I'm awfully curious about that part of this tip because from my understanding
that news coverage did not come out until 10:30 11:00 at night she went missing right after school right so now
we have a big window of time all already that's elapsed before I I couldn't imagine he's calling her asking her if
she's seen the news coverage but heck Captain maybe that is the tip maybe that is the iceberg because maybe she's
saying well it hadn't even come on the news yet right but then that's when you have to take another step back and go
okay well then again why 29 years later that's something that should have been that should have clued you in
immediately that night the next day that you are pounding on the door pounding on
the desk at Police Headquarters saying this guy's involved he's telling me about it before the public even knew
that she was abducted right but we don't know the character of this individual so
again it's could be something that she suspected for a while but then found out some new information and that was the
trigger to go hey got to go to law enforcement but this news report is perfect cuz one they set it up woman
comes forward to say that her exboyfriend could have been involved in the murder of Amy mahalic and then they
connect some dots okay one he lived less than a mile away from the shopping center okay so that's a good location
that means that individual should be looked at I I have in my notes Captain not to cut you off but I have in my
notes a mile and a half less than a mile and a half from the shopping plaza yeah
but very close that's walking distance or that' be quick to if he took her from the shopping center back to his place we
have a caller telling Amy to meet him at the shopping center so just anybody in that location that connects them to the
case but also we have the fact that he has nieces in the same grade as Amy so how could he have got Amy's number he
could have got it from one of his nieces he could have had some kind of obsession
with Amy mahalic could have got information from from his nieces and the nieces aren't
going to question why is my uncle asking me about one of my classmates they could
have just been walking together at some point but then he's not home the night that she's kidnapped and then he makes
the call hey have you seen this footage so right there that is enough of a connection to the case to at least put
him on a suspect list yeah and let's go ahead and take it a step further with all the other items that they found it
makes him even a a much better suspect he's from what little we know already to me he's as good as any suspect that has
been discussed before in the past and I know on our show we've talked about several we went through at least five
that I can think of in and five in really good detail we planned on discussing five more at some point I'm
kind of guessing who this possibly could be because he is not named and rightfully so not named in this news
article or in the news coverage but I can't believe that he was anybody that was already on my
radar right and maybe not on anyone else's either unless there's a chance his name was already in the case File
somewhere or he was already on police's radar and that was enough to get a tip to get another person to come forward
and bring up his name again was enough for them to really dive in deep now if he lived less than a mile and a half
from the shopping plaza that would mean let's pretend that he is the perpetrator
okay that's one thing we really need to point out here there's not been an arrest made yet this guy's not been
brought up up on charges yet so it's 5050 at this point if this is even our guy or not but let's say it is so that
means he would have known a good deal more about the area than than I had suspected
right what I've always thought is that this person knew that there is a direct link between the shopping plaza and Amy
school they they need to know enough that this would be a place that Amy would feel comfortable going to on her
own to get her to meet him there and then abduct her from that location Amy situation is very much an abduction that
took place before Amy even realized she had been abducted right it was a ruse he
tricked her into going to the plaza tricked her into his vehicle and at some point she realized what was going on
we're not going shopping like this guy told me we're not going where he said we were going so he picked the location
that she would have been comfortable enough to leave her school at the end of the day go to willingly buy her self we
always kind of knew that but what's interesting here is if he lived that close this was not something he just
picked up and passing he would have known that the police department the Bay Village Police Department is located in
that exact area it's it's practically right next to the plaza so that's very very bizarre to in my opinion to to
know that and go all right I'm going to go into to the belly of the Beast to make this abduction I'm going to do this
in the backyard of the police department so we have the girlfriend that comes forward saying she believes possibly her
ex-boyfriend could be involved that seems to have taken place in January of 2019 then in may we have two witnesses
and you have to believe Captain they were the two witnesses that were at the plaza that day right that said they saw
a man talking with Amy I like the fact that they picked this individual out of a photo lineup yes picked this guy out
of a photo lineup and of course they probably figured out a way to get some old photos of this guy so they're
showing these Witnesses pictures of what this guy looked like in 89 or 90 well and we haven't really had that
communication from law enforcement I mean some of the major suspects you take like Dean RKO for example none of those
eyewitnesses ever came came forward and said yeah you know what now that I'm thinking about it it was Dean runko I
saw right that never came out and said that so now you have I I just find that incredible and could you imagine these
eyewitnesses that have lived with this horror not being a to answer certain questions that you know could solve this
case for law enforcement for Amy's family and to finally all these years later to be looking at a photo and go
that's the guy and I finally can give law enforcement answers I mean they had to feel good
about that yes and so we have the two witnesses picked this guy out of a photo lineup like you said we've not had any
obvious statements from police in the past saying we have people who have identified Dean RL as someone seen at
the plaza that day the best we have on RL is that a vehicle that was very similar to his if not identical was
spotted behind I believe it was behind the plaza parked there that day that vehicle would have been a fairly common
vehicle for the time right so you can't say it was in fact Dean rles you can just say it it does not eliminate him
that's what's great about this update though this is different as you're pointing out yeah well yeah but I mean
has there been talk about the gold fibers being fibers that they believe came from automobile yes and that's part
of the problem with rle is that the vehicle he had at the time would have had an interior that that it would have
been possible for those fibers to come from now again not a uncommon vehicle right other vehicles have similar fibers
no one's saying that they are an exact match and fiber analysis is really up to the Judgment of the of the person giving
you the analysis it's not an exact science but this gold old Oldsmobile vehicle with tan interior as they say in
this new update in the new news article this does not eliminate this guy either you would expect to find similar fibers
in that vehicle and then what we have here is a bit of an interrogation right because police say this guy in his favor
in his favor he willingly walks into the police department and sits down and talks with detectives he's there to ask
them some questions I'm sure but also to Proclaim his innocence to tell them why
he's not involved and this is all just a big misunderstanding right but what's interesting here is what kind of
trickles out from that interrogation I do want to say this going into it I don't find really
anything that this guy says in their release to be suspect I I don't think it it doesn't make make me go okay draw a
circle around this guy underline his name he's the guy that did it because the release says is that okay he showed
some signs of deception in the polygraph yeah and that could just be nerves here's the thing man if somebody knocked
on my door 29 30 31 years after the fact of some Cold Case homicide MH and let's
say I had nothing to do with it I didn't even know who this person was I'm not going to lie captain I would be nervous
as hell going what do these guys got that has put me in this chair today with these wires hooked up to me answering
questions well again I I also think we we have evidence now that he's living in his car look a lot of people that deal
with homelessness have mental health issues drug addiction issues obviously that would be happening when he's being
interrogated by the the police so him being deceptive on the polygraph again it could be nerves it
could be you the guy has a drinking problem it could be the guy has a drug problem the guy has some mental health
issues and those can stop you from passing a polygraph test so I I don't put a lot of weight into that I also
don't put a lot of weight into well 89 and 90 were dark periods of my life we don't know what was happening in his
life or did family members pass away in in his life I don't even find it that incriminating for him to say okay maybe
Amy was in my car but I don't know how that would have happened makes makes me wonder if he
ever gave his niece's rides to school or ever picked them up from school ever drove them to a friend's house ever
drove his nieces and some of their friends around or if he loaned his car out at any time and that there in lies
some of the the issue so that stuff that comes out makes him sound very suspicious very guilty but let's keep in
mind that sounds to me like they this was a thorough interrogation and I'm using that word I'm picking I'm choosing
that word interrogation over interview because I think when he walked in and said I agree to sit down with the
detectives and talk I'm here you don't have to come and find me I'm happy to talk with Detectives at some point if
you like this guy or if you think that he's done something this meeting this interview
flips from an interview to an interrogation and I think that's what happened at some point or no it's
sometimes it's not even flipped it's just from the word jump and we've seen this in other cases where they're going
to press and press and press so did you pick up Amy at the plaza that day no was Amy mahalic ever in your vehicle
no right is there any reason that we would think that she was in your vehicle is there any reason why we would find
evidence that she would have been in your vehicle at some point you press and press and press to the point where he's
going to break a little bit and say he he's either going to confess and tell you something that he was lying about
before or he's left with no other choice to say okay I'm not saying that it is 100% impossible right that she would
have ever have been in my vehicle at any time I'm just saying I I don't know what the situation would
be that she would have been in my vehicle right and law enforcement could be going hey
look douche canoe right douche bger we have fibers that match the same fibers of the car that you owned at that time
and we have eyewitnesses that can prove that you own that car at that time or we
have pictures of you with that car well they can go back and check his his license and registration too if if he
registered the vehicle in his name then there's no disputing that he owned a vehicle that making model that year at
that time right and sometimes the questioning becomes not good questioning Daman
eckl's questioning right where they'd ask you well H how would you explain that if if they matched okay if you if
that is the questioning then the answer could be well I don't know if if she was
ever in my car I don't know why she would be so that that answer sounds pretty bad but in context not so much
but here's my issue one but what about the DNA on the curtains there's two questions they ask him about DNA on the
curtains and DNA on Amy mahalic body the answer for the DNA on Amy Mahal's body is somebody would had to plant it there
that again makes me think that they're asking him questions that he's going well I don't know but I guess if it was
on her body somebody had to plant it there but when they ask about the curtains it doesn't seem like he said
well they had to plant it on the curtains he's saying it's possible my DNA might be on the curtains maybe
that's just the way I'm taking it from the report but it's almost like he's willing to admit that his DNA might be
on those curtains but if it's on Amy it was plan yeah again it goes back to the question that we've seen in the past and
and you referenced exactly what I was thinking of was the West Memphis 3 case where when that case broke and they were
interviewing people in the neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods especially
when they started talking to um you know this was going on before Damen Eckles was question this
these were questions that they were giving to everybody and or at least the majority
of the people that they spoke with and these questions were provided to West Memphis by the FBI okay here's the I
don't remember the exact number for whatever reason 9 or 12 Pops in my head but here's the 9 or 12 questions that we
the FBI if we were conducting a door-to-door and question what we what we would be asking the people and one of
those questions was can you explain why we would find your fingerprints at the crime scene well the innocent answer is
you would not find my fingerprints at the crime scene right the innocent answer or the intelligent answer right
now the confused answer or guilty answer is you try to explain it away either you're guilty you did it you now have to
explain away why your finger prints are there or if you're just a confused individual confused by the question you
need a lawyer and you're you're the one that's trying to explain away they never
said we found your fingerprints right at the crime scene we're just asking why can you explain why we might find your
fingerprints at the at the crime scene this is an this is like the oldest trick in the book by investigators it's I've
seen it in in very lowlevel crimes too this is actually something that I used when when I worked security I I had
somebody that took out a fence took out the whole side of of a big expensive fence that we had on one of our
properties MH I knew who did it and I could tell by the marks on his truck and the marks on on the fence itself they
lined up perfectly however on my surveillance footage of that spot there was a wall blocking it blocking the
camera from that particular view that showed his truck taking out that whole row of fence mhm but I knew he did it
and so I just said to him he refused to admit refused to admit and then finally I said to him well why would I then
explain to me why I would have footage camera footage and I pointed to the camera and he looked up and he said oh
crap there's a camera right there I was driving in this area I never told him I had actual footage of it I just said
explain why I would have footage of right of you of you taking out my events now that's the same thing that they're
doing here they're saying okay why would we find your DNA on the curtain why would we find your DNA on Amy and he's
probably starting off going my that's not my DNA I don't know what you're talking about I was never
there I've never seen that curtain before in my life those questions then turn to at some point going okay so sir
you are telling us that it is 100% impossible that we would find your DNA on that
curtain it's impossible to shove a Cadillac up your nose it's 100% impossible that we would find your DNA
on this dead victim yeah but again at some point he's he's breaking a little bit or he's smart enough to go I'm not
saying it's impossible I'm just saying I didn't put it there I'm just saying I cannot tell
you why you would find it there because I don't believe that you will find it there again I don't know the notes that
the news has but the way they make it come across is he's going and DNA on the curtains possible DNA on her somebody
would had to plant that so that's we have all these things that I go good suspect we have somebody coming forward
I think there's a reason she came forward there was a there was a light bulb moment there could have been a
conversation this guy could have called her and said something and it was just enough for her to go I knew it I got to
go to a law law enforcement so I like that I like the fact that he would have been familiar with this area I've always
thought again like you said to do this right underneath the noses of the police department to me that's either somebody
is very Brazen or they have a knowledge of that area now we have the connection with his nieces and Amy being in the
same grade he could get information from them he could get information from the school because if he's not that far away
from the plaza he's not that far away from the school mhm and I know from picking up nieces and nephews I've gone
in and talked to the people in the offices I probably could have got information oh my niece and nephew are
going to Amy's house on Thursday could you give me her number so I could call her parents to make sure that's okay
well it wasn't uncommon for her to to ride her bike to and from school so one could simply follow her home right and
then look up the address look up the address the other thing that people do not as much nowadays but a lot of times
back then in the 80s and and early 90s people would put their last name on their mailbox yeah well here's here's
the other thing I wonder how close were his nieces to Amy police would know that
obviously we don't know that from this report but also when they say and I think this is a little bit of a tell and
maybe I'm reaching but when they go he had family in the area yeah okay you already told us that his nieces were
connected to her but why are you bringing up well his family was in Bay Village I wonder if there's a connection
between his family and the mahalic uh and that might be something that we hear about lat later again all
these things are like great indicators that this individual should be on our list but then you have again the FBI
agent in Ashlin if I'm getting the information correct from the report they made it seem like okay once her body was
found we had FBI agents in the vicinity mhm and so we started just writing down license plate numbers knowing that
somebody might come back to the scene to see what is going on and this individual
was 50 mil away from Bay Village and his car is reported to be at that four-way stop okay to me that's the got him yeah
that's by far in a way the most damning portion of this release to me well cuz they never State oh by the way he had uh
work in Ashlin County or by the way he had family there they go out of their way to say we cannot find any reason why
he would have been in that area at that time on that day and then on top of that
his ex-girlfriend's telling them something again look we've had reports where they come out and go we got this
curtain and we think it was handmade and does anybody recognize that and that's it that's one piece of information
everybody take a picture uh there's $225,000 reward from the FBI we're talking about 12 of 14 little bits of
information and and this is a department that has held back things for years I also think another thing that is like
okay car in the area but when the ex-girlfriend confirms oh yeah we traveled to Ashland
County again what does that mean I think there's more information there like well
we traveled there for this reason reason but law enforcement isn't giving us that
reason does that make sense yeah I mean he could have had family in the area or or made up any reason at all to to bring
his girlfriend with him to that area right but um you know that's why when I spoke with with Kelsey
German um from the Libyan Abbey case the deli double homicide case when I spoke with Kelsey German she is the older
sister of one of the victims she was involved in the searches before the bodies were located and I knew that to
be the case she was involved in the searches the night before and the morning of I specifically asked her one
of the one of the biggest questions I had for her was do you remember now mind you it might be a little different for
Kelsey situation because she is a direct family member a sister of one of the victims sister of one of the people
they're searching for but I asked her I said I know you were part of the search parties do you recall law enforcement
making you sign any kind of signin sheet and provide any type of identification before they allowed you
to go out on these searches and she said Nick I do not recall that taking place that does not mean it did not happen
right it doesn't mean that there wasn't a sign in she for everybody else or she just doesn't
remember but what I said to her and I didn't go into too much detail with this but these
guys often want to know what law enforcement knows because they want to know how close these guys are to
catching the perpetrator they they want to know should I flee the area has it gotten too
hot here too hot in the house that I need to just get out of Dodge at this point and I told her I said you know I
wouldn't be surprised if the bridge guy was in the search parties and I hope that law
enforcement collected those names and checked IDs and that at least his name is on a list somewhere now with this
case this dude there's no getting around it even if he's innocent this guy we know for a
fact his vehicle was spotted license plate written down by FBI agent in the area at the four-way stop nearest the
body recovery site on the day at 5:00 p.m. when her body was discovered now what's interesting about that is that
this was again this case was big news big news so much so in the area that even though 50 mil away 4850 miles away
from where Amy was abducted you talk to those Sheriff deputies and you review the old
newspaper articles the sheriff's deputies all said the same thing when we got the call and what was described to
us that we were responding to out on that country road I was pretty convinced on the drive there we were going to find
Amy mahalo's body 48 mil away from where she was abducted right that's how big of
a news it was everybody was looking for this girl for months and so the the police law enforcement aren't dumb you
know I know I know that some cases get bungled some cases get screwed up not in all cases are they dumb all right this
is a case where they weren't we had the FBI we had other people involved very early on in this case from the first
weekend and what did they do strategically they know this is going to get released there's going to be a big
news releases about this they were smart enough to say you know what this may be
a big huge waste of time or it could be something that turns out to be extremely
valuable later let's put some guy have him jot down all the license plates all the vehicle descriptions that that come
through this four-way stop all day long and you know what they spotted this dude's vehicle yeah around the five o00
hour in this area now how do you explain that away again maybe he did in the interrogation but they're not again
releasing that information but like I said a lot of other updates in many cases are one piece of evidence or
one item to discuss here we have 14 or more so what else does law enforcement know and I also feel like if this is
nothing that cops would not go and have an update because this is just really setting yourself up for failure to get
the community excited that there's finally going to be an arrest that there's finally going to be Justice for
this girl for her family but a couple things that lead me to be you know suspicious of this is he did give his
DNA yeah and so why hasn't that been tested or were the items that was tested against is there something that's um
causing it to be inconclusive so they need to build a bigger case the other thing which I don't think is that
damning which they you know start going uhuh he he was supposed to show up so we
could go through his items in the storage unit and he never came in well that could be simply he again has a drug
problem a drinking problem mental health issues whatever reason he's on the streets now this could have caused him
or prevented him from going back to law enforcement and going here's my key to search my
stuff but to search his stuff they go okay well he he was supposed to give us permission he didn't so now we have to
get a warrant it's not the easiest thing to get that warrant but they got it fast
and it could be a couple things one it's just been a cold case for so long that any judge is going to go hey any lead
that we get especially a new lead a viable lead I'm going to sign it off or is it that there was so much uh
circumstantial evidence that they went yes yeah go go search this I think that's the answer Captain I think that
that's what you have because if you if you go through the timeline of that very brief
uh news release what we hear is this tip comes forward January of 2019 from the exgirlfriend then in May two witnesses
picked this guy out of a photo lineup and then it's not until last fall that they have the conversation with this guy
now again in his defense I I'll go to bat for him briefly and say what looks good for this guy to being innocent he
willingly walks into the police department agrees to sit down and and chat with with
detectives it sounds to me and I again I'm trying to read between the lines here because it's not a incredibly
detailed report which the news can only give what they have right and it sounds to me like he offered up his DNA that he
agreed to a DNA swab that day at that meeting now and then it goes on to say the next day he was supposed to come in
and sign right a search warrant for us to go look at his um what was it like a self storage unit yeah we want to search
your storage unit come in and sign this waiver for us he does not show up for that now now you're going in front of a
judge and now what you're saying Captain is you're going okay look okay we I understand we got this tip but we've
we've had a thousand bad tips obviously thousand tips that led nowhere so you're
not getting a warrant just on the tip but judge we got a tip and then we were able to go back and confirm through
State records through County records that this guy registered a vehicle in his name that matches that would have an
interior that would line up with the fibers that we found at the body recovery site oh we also have two
witnesses that picked them out of a photo lineup so what you have here here Captain is a lot of dominoes start
falling in the favor of police getting this actual warrant and judge we talked to him just yesterday failed the
polygraph oh and he said that it wouldn't be impossible that we would find his DNA at the crime scene at the
body recovery site yeah we we checked the FBI records we we know that his vehicle was in the area the day that we
recovered her body that's the biggest one right there you go oh man you are Skelly wag you you a dirty son of a
[ __ ] you a dirty son of a [ __ ] uh no but and so you get the warrant and then
you go and you search the the storage unit and then what's their statement in that news release it says evidence
collected now let's let's dive into that for a second because it can't be anything that's super damning super
against this guy because because they would have arrested him they would have went and found this dude and locked him
up and we would have already been he hearing about charges filed in a in a trial date set but that that doesn't
mean it's not evidence that's not supporting their case if they're collecting anything whatever they
collected is supporting their case against the son of a [ __ ] I agree what I'm what I'm saying is that it could
not I would be shocked if they found any of Amy's missing items in his storage unit because I think if they found any
of those items and can could confirm that they were from Amy and I don't even know that you have to confirm
that they're from Amy because the items that were missing you know when they found her she's found fully clothed but
some of her items that she left with school at the end of her school day and it was never seen for a couple of months
until her body was found right those items that are missing are quite unique yes they're they're not they're not one
of a kind but there's also not thousands of them out there yeah I think like you
said there would be an arrest what I think is interesting that what we are hearing or maybe not so much Hearing in
this uh news release I think is better to say it is things that are not surprising to me um one we hear that
this man is 64 years old today right okay so 31 years ago would make him 32 33 years of age at the time of her
abduction you know I've always thought this guy's in his mid-30s and I went off of that idea simply because of what the
two eyewitnesses said I thought Amy was talking to her dad right and we know it was not Mark mahalic that she was
talking to what what I gather from that statement of the eyewitnesses that day at the plaza they are children these
Witnesses they are kids that are roughly Amy's age saying I thought she was talking to her dad well why would a kid
think that they're thinking that because the man looked to be about the age one would expect her father to be right or
these Witnesses have fathers about the same age meaning this guy was in that age group and so that's not so
surprising to me early 30s 32 33 the other thing too is what what is not said is a direct connection to the mahalic
family as you kind of were pointing out earlier family in the area I think that's a tell you had family in the Bay
Village area what's that matter you know cuz we already talked about the nieces I
I I I think there's something more to that again like I said we've seen in tons of cases one item discussed on
anniversaries we're talking about 14 freaking items that means there there there could be so much more to this and
maybe that's just me being hopeful but I also think it seems like at some point like you said they they contact this
individual and he goes in willingly to talk to the police maybe nervous maybe has some issues but if
he's living in his car in North East Ohio is that what they said he's he's living I know they said he's living in
his car but did they say he's living in his car in Northeast Ohio no they just he could be homeless anywhere yeah yeah
yeah right technically that's the definition right um no they didn't say they didn't say he was even in
Ohio um so but if he let's just say he's living in Northeast Ohio that's some rough weather to be
living in your car and the other thing too here's what I was wondering he could just be down on his luck a little bit of
a loner cuz most adults do not go homeless they normally have some kind of support
system normally they get turned away because of you know mental health issues or or drug addictions I was uh talking
to investigator last night about this this and you know 64 he could be collecting Social Security but I believe
that he would be eligible for his full amount when he's 65 so maybe his whole thought was like well I'm going to be
homeless for a little bit but eventually I'm going to get my check and once I start getting my Social Security then
I'm I'll be able to get an apartment or something but they also don't State whether this guy had a criminal
history they didn't say that he didn't have any prior arrest we don't know if this guy is a a sex
offender you we we just don't know and I I I believe that again and this is just
based off of how many cases that we've done updates on and the updates just aren't that much of information this
seems like a lot of information and I just don't think they would give that to the public if they
weren't close right and and maybe it's a couple things we're close so now we need
people to go uh and it sucks cuz you don't want to release the guy's name because technically he's just a
suspect and he hasn't been charged but if they released a picture of this guy or they released something
else that might jog somebody else's memory because maybe he confessed to somebody years ago so I think there's
going to be more tips that come in but I think they're building a case against this guy well I think what's going on
here a couple things and you really hit on a lot so let let me kind of go into a
few of these things here first I and I can't speak to how it is everywhere but I know from growing up born and raised
in Columbus here in Columbus for the most part if you're homeless you're kind of homeless by choice and what I mean by
that is look I understand everybody falls on Hard Times we're not always in control of every minute it of of every
day of our lives however here in Columbus multiple shelters that one could go to to stay the night you can
you can sleep here for night after night you can eat here day after day night after
night however our shelter has rules it has a curfew and the people that don't stay at those shelters are people that
do not want to or cannot follow those rules or obey that curfew yeah but a lot of these uh food banks and stuff I mean
he he could technically be living off some of the systems in place for the homeless like as far as food banks maybe
even going to YMCA or a shelter where you can take baths or take showers but again like you said I'm not choosing to
stay there because if I just stay in my car overnight I don't have to follow those rules what if he is living in one
of those uh deck out $100,000 Mercedes Sprinter vans that has like the bed and TV and stuff in it I don't think so and
and this guy's like man yall yall done me dirty you said I'm sleeping sleeping in my vehicle made me sound like I'm
homeless when really I got this decked out vehic I I'm with you I don't think that's the case but that that funny
thought popped in my mind well here's what makes me wonder this individual is not going to hear whenever
he hears about this upate cuz he will hear it yeah guess what cuz he wants to hear
it because this individual is talking about um the coverage of her the day she went missing this guy's following the
case so he's going to hear this what I'm afraid of is suicide the guy taking his own life and
they don't have enough pieces of the puzzle to completely convict him well it also sounds sounds like he's slightly
Off the Grid anyway I mean even though they were able to locate him um it did say that the that News 5 Cleveland did
try to contact this individual so they must have his phone number to which he's not respond yeah suicide would be
terrible because if in fact he was the guy that did it we may never know well unless he wrote a note that would leave
enough evidence for for the police to close the case or if the DNA could connect them at some Point yeah because
we know he gave the swab the other thing too that you have to worry about is the
guy fleeing the area and then now it's it's not a matter of suicide but it makes him that much more difficult to
locate when you do you said building a case against this guy once you have built your case and you're ready to
charge him now you got to go find the dude well one of the things about the DNA was I was going oh okay well she
comes in in January and then they get DNA okay well they should have this tested by now but well but keep in mind
the DNA would have come from last fall right and then plus with all the stuff with Co I think all the tests and
everything everything has been on hold and they they could actually have some kind of match and then they they want to
retest it to confirm the match but that might be something that they have to do through the court system which has also
been tied up because of Co and I I want everybody to be very very clear about this I think that if DNA connected him
to that curtain or to her actual body or articles of clothing on her person he'd
be arrested he's arrested and we would already have a trial date so what I want to say here is this update following
this update it's very clear they are asking the public once again for their help as they would do on any anniversary
of the abduction date body recovery date or just when we need the Public's help any update you're going to get please
call call in give us a tip we need your help we need some more information I want everybody do not say if you know
something at all do not say to yourself I'm not going to report this or I'm not going to tell this to somebody else or
talk to somebody about this and I mean law enforcement when I say somebody because they've got this guy's DNA so it
can't be him that's not what they are saying no nobody is saying that it's very likely let's pretend is him they
just need a little bit more they need a little bit more DNA didn't connect them for whatever reason we need a little bit
more and let's take this a little step further here the interesting words towards the end of that news coverage
and applaud news5 good work I I applaud them fantastic job by News 5 giving us probably the biggest update in the Amy
mahalic case that we've had in 31 years towards the end there they say what we found what we found found what News 5
found that they found the court records we found documents and court records that has spawned this news release that
has spawned us asking Bay Village Police Department for more information right that has spawned us reaching out to this
lady who provided the tip to which the lady just refers them rightfully so back to law enforcement this news coverage
comes out on February 8th 2021 one 31 days 31 years to the day that her body's recovered that's not a coincidence come
on I wasn't born 10 minutes ago it's a boy this is the police gave this to News 5 that's that look crispy Colonel humble
opinion dumb guy in a garage don't believe everything I'm saying not but my guess here is this was given to News 5
purposely on the date of the anniversary of the body recovery because there's tidbits of information in there that
people that know this individual or suspect this individual can start connecting the dots mentally and they
can pick up the phone they can email they're we're not going to tell you this guy's name we're not going to show you
his picture because he's not been charge with anything we're doing right by him however we will say he's 64 years old
he's homeless he has a cell phone he's living in his car maybe a house phone I'm just joking so there are
things that okay now people can go all right do I do I know do I know somebody that's 64 living in their car that that
is was living in Bay Village a mile a mile and a half from the shopping plaza in
1989 right there's where they go on to say had family living in the area that they're speaking to this Man's family by
saying that yeah or look look we've seen the FBI suggest to law enforcement you got
all this stuff on this guy put it out to the public cuz it's not going to affect
your case and it's going to put pressure it's almost like having a press conference where the deputy says we know
who you are and we're on to you MH it's almost the same thing by putting out this much information in a news coverage
it's almost the same thing and maybe they want to let's see how he reacts and for all we know they're planning on
pulling him in today and discussing this with him today and asking him some more
questions or basically telling him hey we don't have a 100% match on the DNA but we got enough that we can take you
to trial and to see see if they can get a confession out of this guy that might be what they're intending to do I don't
think law enforcement or even news even if they stumbled upon this information are going to release something like this
that is going to give so so much hope to the community and possibly so much hope
to her family the biggest things here my biggest takeaways if I if I had to pick two is
his car is in ashin county and we know that from the FBI and the two eyewitnesses picking
them out of a photo lineup those are the two biggest things I take away from this
news report so what we can pull from this news release and what we can really ask the public for their help with is to
think long and think hard can you anybody out there in listener land can you think of a man or maybe you knew a
man that was 32 33 years roughly at the time of Amy's abduction at the time of Amy being found that would own or drive
a vehicle a gold Oldsmobile with a tan interior where you picked up by some guy that beh behaved strangely were you
abducted by someone and just were too embarrassed to come forward do you know this guy in any
shape or form or fashion and keep in mind look her body is found on Township Road 1181 in ashin county in Fe uary 8th
of 1990 this is near New London Ohio her body was dressed in her clothing the clothing that she was seen wearing the
last time that she was seen but there were items that were missing from Amy when she was recovered a turquoise horse
earring black ankle boots and a black leather binder and it was believed and and remains so to this day that her
abductor kept these items or forgot or failed to dump them with the body for some reason
so are you somebody out there that received one of these items from someone matching that age descri description
matching somebody that owned that type of vehicle at some point that's what we need that's what that's what they're
hoping for amongst other things in this if in fact they did purposely leak it it's because they want some more
information as Captain said they're building a case against this guy and you could help maybe you could help solve
one of the biggest unsolved cases in the state of Ohio now remember there's still
a reward out there for information leading to an arrest and conviction a reward of up to
$25,000 and if you have any tips at all of course you can reach out to the Bay Village Police Department or the FB FBI
by calling 1 1800 call FBI and just a word to the suspect if if he is listening this could all be over with
you could turn yourself in you can confess to the crime you could give law enforcement the evidence they need to
convict you well and if you want leniency the time is now if you're the suspect if you've done this the time is
now to get any kind of leniency at all because once they've built a solid case against you judges are way too smart to
show any leniency to a guy that they've already built a case against right so your time's running out your time the
clock is ticking you need to just turn yourself in [Music] today a little bit of a different episode this
week but one of the things that we always said we would do is to give updates on cases we wouldn't just do
coverage shine light on a case and move away from it we we want all these cases to move forward to progress when there's
updates we're going to let you know and most of the time you can find those updates on our other show it's
everybody's second favorite podcast out there because this one number one podcast in the world True
Crime garage number two podcast in the world off the Record which is available only on Stitcher premium check it out go
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Amy Mihaljevic Update ////// 463

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Nic and the Captain discuss: Amy Mihaljevic case updates, released Feb 8th 2021. Court Records were discovered by News 5 Cleveland.

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Brief Summary

New evidence in Amy Mahalic's case points to a potential suspect linked to her abduction and murder.

Key points

The Disappearance of Amy Mahalics. 10-year-old Amy Mahalics was last seen on October 27, 1989, after school. Her case shocked the community and remains unsolved.
New Developments in Amy's Case. After 31 years, investigators focus on a potential suspect linked to Amy's murder. Eyewitnesses have identified him as the man last seen with her.
A New Tip Emerges. A woman claims her ex-boyfriend might be involved in Amy's abduction after 29 years.
Witnesses Identify Suspect. Two witnesses pick a man out of a photo lineup, claiming he spoke with Amy.
Interrogation Insights. The suspect willingly speaks to police, raising questions about his innocence.
DNA Evidence Discussion. The impossibility of finding DNA on the victim raises questions about the case.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Amy has touched our lives; she will live forever.

Community's remembrance of Amy Mahalics impact.

6:35WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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