Off The Record /// Amy Mihaljevic | Forensic Files

on episode 2 of off the Record we're going to continue our conversation about the Amy mihalovic case we covered the
Amy mahalovic case in episode number 22 so if you haven't heard that you might want to listen to that before you check
out this episode an FBI agent is going to come into town to help out with the case he's going to do a suspect profile
and let's just pick it up there thanks for joining us cheers mates [Applause] [Music]
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] so when after the profile is made and I don't believe that this profile was ever
released to the public if it was I couldn't find it anywhere right I believe that this was just something
that that wrestler did with the local FBI agents to come up with something to direct it a little bit and you got to
keep in mind too this is just wrestler going I'm only here for a day or two what help can I do while I'm here so
similar to the Mind Hunter though yeah and so he has very little knowledge of the case other than what they can tell
him at the time and so they go okay well this guy matches your profile and and wrestler
says all right well I'm here let's go talk to this guy so they show up unannounced to his apartment and they
talk to him now keep in mind at this time Amy's body has not been found yet and wrestler firmly believed that
that whoever took Amy would probably have some kind of trophy or maybe even the body they've not
discovered the body yet so while they're there he invites them in and the FBI agents talk to him okay
so quick side note so have you ever lived in efficiency no neither have I I've thought about it a couple times I
just I don't think I have the mental character to be okay with that I don't think anybody should ever live in
efficiency really some of them are horrible some of them aren't that bad yeah you
have two rooms you have the crapper and you have the everything else room yeah but it would be different I mean but you
sometimes you see these downtown condos that that are large you know and essentially that's efficiency
kitchen and your everything is in one room but some of these efficiencies I've been in I've been like Cracker Jack
boxes so they go inside this Cracker Jack box well and they talk to him and he answers their questions
he does excuse himself at one point to go to the restroom and to beat off I doubt I doubt it with with three FBI
agents it is efficiency that he goes to the restroom to jack off while these guys are here you never know man anyway
while he's in the restroom they Snoop around his apartment to look for anything they can find that might show
signs of Amy having been in that apartment they don't find anything right and they were they were ready to if they
would have found any hint at all they were ready to come storming in there with everybody and tear the place apart
were they outside or was that just on call uh no there was they had no backup with
them at the time right right so it would it would have been hey we need to go get
a search warrant and then bring all these people in he doesn't give them anything
incriminating he doesn't say anything incriminating um I believe one of the agents thought
that maybe he seemed to be a little nervous I don't know that means anything the guy's an introvert and a loner you
said that's who you were looking for anyway but there's three guys there's three law
enforcement there was at least two FBI agents if not three of them that went into this and that would be in this
demands oh yeah you know yeah well and like I told um I told James this I said I said
this guy strewnack going to the restroom when the officers are there it's a sign of one of two things in my
mind the problem is the two things that it's a potential sign of are complete opposites they're
180 from each other it's it's either a these guys made him so nervous that he had to just get out of the room for any
length of time at all or B the guy just had to go to the restroom and he has nothing to hide so he didn't mind
leaving the room and letting these guys be unattended in his apartment right and but it could be somewhat of a
mixture because one they show up unannounced so it wasn't like they're like hey we're
coming over because if look if somebody came over or called me and said hey I'm coming over gonna hang out in the garage
for an you know an hour at one o'clock probably try to use the restroom before they showed up
you know that's just me yeah but but but this guy's what I'm saying is they show up unannounced so we
we have no we have no idea I mean for all we know he peed right before they got there maybe he had to pee maybe he
didn't but I also don't I don't think you can rule out that that means he has nothing to hide because he just has
nothing to hide in this environment no that's exactly what I mean in this exact environment he has nothing to hide right
okay I think that look we're talking about child murder here I think that that the individual would
be nervous enough that if if if they had anything to hide I don't think they're leaving the room
if if he volunteered at the center to keep an ear to the ground to have an idea of what's going on in the
investigation he's not letting seasoned FBI agents hang out unattended in his apartment
right I just don't agree I don't think that's happening so I I don't know that going if if something happened there if
something happened with Amy in his apartment I don't know man because I this is not I think personally I think
that with with some of these guys with most of these guys there's a lot of times you hear them say as soon as I
committed the murder I fully expected the FBI and the police to show up at my door 10 minutes after I
killed the person that's just where their mind goes to yeah they feel like hey this is so
obvious that it was me that did this there's no way that they're not showing up immediately to to slap cuffs on me
right um anyway this doesn't lead to them arresting him what it leads to is that
they eventually find Amy's body and that would be in February of 1990. so what happens with Billy strunek is
he commits suicide he he is he ingests some stuff called dried gas and apparently I think he the way that
the story works is that he mixed it with like a soda or something dried gas never
heard of it it's called called dried gas I think it's some kind of additive that you add
to your gasoline or to your vehicle mm-hmm anyway it's a horrible way to to die uh he ingests this I believe he mixed it
with something to so he could choke it down but he did this on February 19 1990. so
shortly after her body is found this puts him into a coma you know this he's poisoned himself and now he's in a coma
and he ends up dying on the 21st of 1990. so just a couple days later okay so the body was found
February what early February I don't have early February and then then late February I believe he was dead 13
days after her body was found okay that's I mean that it's suspicious but but on one hand I mean just to play
Devil's Advocate on one hand you have this individual probably a lonely individual
he um he had some skin disorder too and I don't I don't don't ask me to name it I don't know what it was but I recall
that maybe that led to him being a loner or being uncomfortable around people right but at some point
you know because I listen to a lot of these self-help type you know or better yourself type podcast or or books and
all that stuff and one of the things they suggest and I'm sure this was suggested back in the 80s
too was you know to build a life around you or also people that you know I started listening a lot of this stuff
because I was living in a city in a different state no friends or family so you just kind of go back to your place
every every day and it just you get to the point where if you don't start doing something you know that this
is just going to keep getting worse you know the depression or whatever it's happening
and and so just plain devil that Advocate This Guy's in those late 20s he has okay job at best he lives in an
efficiency we both said that's probably not the best place you'd want to live because when you go home you don't even
have like a different room well I I you know I know I'm not trying to put anybody down that's just my opinion I
don't care for efficiency some people have no choice I mean if they're cheaper than other apartments for a reason you
know you have less room you have less space you have less amenities um well I had a I had a good producer
friend that lived in one for a while but it's like living in a hotel room to me yeah well his whole thing was he
um probably less than a year because I remember this pretty clearly because he he couldn't take it anymore I was like
Oh I thought you liked your apartment he's like I like the complex I like what I'm paying but it got to the point
because he he told me when he moved into the efficiency like all I need is my bed
my TV like and a little kitchenette that's all I use within a year he's breaking his lease
for paying more so he can go into at least a one bedroom right because he needed the separation so you have this
guy living in this situation and he put some time and effort into Amy so just playing Devil's Advocate it could it's
very possible if this guy is on the edge thinking the world is bad place thinking
that there's not a lot of Hope for him or possibly the world and then this girl that you've been
searching for trying to help find that you put a lot of time and effort into and probably have some personal
stake now personal stake that you made up in your own head she's now found dead and
you know he did give her mother a pennant saying this is one's for you and one for Amy when she comes home and this
guy might have just been a nice guy that was a little socially awkward and they find her body and he kills
himself because he just can't take it anymore because the world sucks just just playing that Devil's Advocate oh I'm not
saying that he killed himself because the body was found I'm not saying that at all I think I
what I'm just bringing up a portion of the story that we've never talked about and one that I find to be very
interesting that you have this guy that is deemed by local law enforcement to be
one of their top suspects now match that with he fits the profile of a well-known FBI profiler
that's from out of town that comes in and offers up a profile right and then you have a situation where he commits
suicide just days you know more a little over a week after the body is found the
the thing here is uh where you have you have a couple of things just like the going to the bathroom incident where
where I said that could point to him being either completely innocent or he's so
damn nervous because he's guilty of something he's got to get out of the room same with volunteering volunteering does
not mean you're guilty guess what I firmly believe and here's an interesting thing the quick side note but one thing
that uh has been kind of the chatter amongst a few people in in the Amy case right now is what if more than one
person was involved now but but hear me out I should I shouldn't went off on that side note
hear me out if okay what I mean by that volunteering at the Amy Center doesn't mean that you're guilty of anything
because there was probably 50 or 100 volunteers and guess what all of them probably more yeah right all
of them maybe maybe only one was guilty of killing her if anybody you know I I there's a good chance that whoever did
this didn't volunteer and didn't want to be anywhere near that that Amy Center so
it's your expert opinion that not all 100 volunteers killed her at the same time that's your ex what are
you drinking beer right I don't know what it is I just grabbed something out of the fridge
it's purple um is it a white wheat Okay so okay so I thought I thought we're I thought you're going to tell me about
Renner and eating lunch with them well yeah this is uh I went up there and this was one of the things that occurred
no because I spent a few days looking at the Amy case and this was one thing that
I thought uh when we covered it was a part a portion of the story that I wanted to tell
about Amy but we never we never got to it it didn't fit um that episode all right so what does
this have to do with uh you were hanging out with Renner well okay so there's more there's a
little more to this story here Captain so because I do want to hear about you and the documentary part too
yeah I'm not certain how much I can talk about that legally right now okay um because I did sign papers that um
are you allowed to talk about signing the paper I don't know what kind of pin did you use so I but anyway okay so what
does this have to do with Renner well you know I kind of pride myself on this is one thing that that we have to do on
the show from time to time you know when we look into people's investigations we keep in mind that they're not always
telling us everything as they're giving us bits of information right so so oftentimes you and I have to kind of
read between the lines or peace stories together from multiple sources right so what happened was this was
half of the story I told you yeah is in Robert ressler's book about suspect bill right about Billy
streuneck about writing the profile this and that Billy streuneck is mentioned in James
renner's book Amy as well however he doesn't mention that they did the profile he doesn't mention in detail how
the FBI went and spoke with this man he just says that local and law enforcement
spoke to the guy he was considered a suspect he killed himself so now so I kind of pieced two and two
together because wrestler's book does not name this guy by his real name he just says there was a suspect in in
this area that that we liked now so I I put two and two together that that I I figured out his name from renner's book
to to figure out exactly who Robert wrestler was talking about but why do you think they didn't put his name in
the other book because he's never been convicted of of so they can just leave the name out and
and that's kind of something that you do sometimes when we're discussing cases too sometimes there's a suspect that we
know the name of and you'll leave the name out so it's kind of a author's I guess right or author's style well and
oh okay and so you it's weird because then some people would say well why did Brenner put the name in his book but but
wrestler didn't is Renner being more but Renner being rude or or you know breaking any rules here's the other
thing wrestler was writing his book from memory from from a life that he lived there's a chance that when he was
telling that portion of his life that that it was only a day or two of his life right he may not have recalled the
suspect's name it may not have been a courtesy it may not have been a courtesy to Bill Billy streuneck it may have just
been we had a suspect you know I don't know his name but we're not going to say that in my book
but what this has to do with Renner is this was um so let me go through this story a little
bit more before I get to Renner in wrestler's book I found this and I'm a huge Robert
wrestler fan so I don't you know don't don't miscon misconstrued that at all I I anything that Robert Robert wrestler
puts out I'm going to read damn people keep knocking on stop knocking on the garage door but the
portion I didn't care for in wrestler's book was this it you know and I'm so passionate about this Amy case is that
he States look this guy I think was our guy and while I cannot say 100 that he was
the guy that killed Amy mihalovic because he was not convicted in the court of law right however after this
guy killed himself it's now been two years and there's never been another similar crime in that area
I I find that a little disconcerting that he said it that way it almost implies like nobody else needs to look
into this case it's it's kind of solved in in the the K the killer killed himself
[Music] but okay tell me if I'm wrong but the way it also makes it sound like on some level he's saying that
this was not the only crime not only do I think this guy was our guy because once he died there was no
similar cases it almost sounds like there possibly was other cases that they no no no no no no
what he what I think he means is that whoever would have done this crime would have reoffended right would not have
stopped and Amy's case is very unique when you talk about child abduction for one simple fact that her killer
called her at home and she didn't know who he was that's that's a very strange thing for an abductor to do that's not
something that happens very often and I think what he is saying and when he says
this is that this person would have offended again and since his ruse worked the first time
he probably would have went back to that same method and tried it again and it might it might have had to have been in
a different area right but he's saying that he believes they would have saw a similar Mo elsewhere and because that
didn't happen and because the guy that he feels did it killed himself then the secrets are taken to the Grave you know
that this case will never know the truth about what really happened to Amy because the guy that did it's dead Okay
question about the case after she went missing before the body was found because there was a gap in time do we
have any record or any knowledge of anybody else being called because I know that in this case so Amy
was called to meet at a strip mall and and that's where she met this guy and there was some possible eyewitnesses
that saw a girl and a guy at the strip mall and and there was some eyewitnesses that
once the body was found there was people that came forward or maybe before the body was found came forward and said I
received calls like this other girls came forward so we have calls beforehand then we have
her going missing do we have any calls after she goes missing no one reported being called after she went missing okay
so but this FBI profiler is saying well this FBI agent is saying that whoever committed this crime
probably would have tried to use the same methods again he doesn't outwardly say
that but I believe that's what he means by stating the guy that I the guy that we think did
it killed himself and since that time since I the time of me writing this book and after that dude killed himself
there's been no similar crimes to report right so but he probably would have tried this
again so this could be something that and I I don't have any I know where I'm trying to say but I can't find the
stupid words um but this is something that could have probably maybe even took the individual
maybe a year or a couple years to even try again possibly right right and that's why I think that it was
I I hate I hate to say this because I have so much respect for Robert wrestler but I I think it was in I think it was
poor judgment that he used to include that portion in his book I think he could have told that story without
saying he makes it sound like it's a solved case that's not solved that gives a false sense to the public
if anything I want people to read that portion of his book and be inspired to look into the Amy case rather than if I
didn't know the case I would just go well that's one that they've already pretty much solved there's no point in
looking into that one but so here's the thing well it's kind of like with West Memphis
Three it's like you know the West Memphis Three get out and it's kind of almost like it's a
closed case and it's just infuriating because if you're sitting there going wait a second
if if we're letting them out because we don't think they did it that means somebody else did
drives me freaking nuts I think it would have been a better statement to say we may never know who did this rather
than say we may never know who did this because this guy killed himself and he took his
secrets to the Grave trivia DNA evidence on her I'm going to use renner's exact words
because we were talking this was one thing that we spoke about um at moose knuckle
um now this one's something we spoke about in Bay Village actually and he's his exact words were
they've always been they being law enforcement they've always been real cagey on the idea if they have DNA or not of
the suspect hmm and he's he's true he's he's true in that statement right I found newspaper
articles where you have one officer saying we have DNA a DNA profile of this guy
there's other articles where they'll say we don't and then there's other articles
where you'll have a different law enforcement officer that will say um I can't answer that question
you know so they've they've kind of been all over the map they've been very unclear about whether and fact that they
have DNA now the reason why I bring this story up is not only did I want to include this when we covered it but
furthermore his death was ruled as suicide now in renner's book in the short version that
he gives of it he states that a suicide note was found crumbled up in the waste paper basket
please tell me you know what it said according to renner's book the FBI confiscated that that note and according
to his book it made no reference to Amy or to the case at all it doesn't mean anything though
no it doesn't no it doesn't clear him or anything like that right right no but but what I what I uh the reason why I
bring this up is because I asked render I said well how can you say I kind of put him on the spot I said if
if the FBI confiscated that note and they they took it how can you say that it didn't say anything about Amy
and well good right but you see what I'm saying he's he's kind of giving his account of
what was in that suicide note without having seen it right but that's something Renner kind of does I mean
he's a he's a great storyteller I think that's an unfair statement that makes it sound like in a true crime
that he's just going to make up things rather than research though no I don't mean it in that scenario I mean I think
well when you when you say when I when I ask him how could you know that and you
you followed up with well he's a Storyteller it sounds like you're like okay well I'll research everything and
if there's any gaps I'll just fill them in with with well I'm not saying he's doing it consciously
I just think sometimes he is um I think sometimes and this is probably coming from like some of the mara Mari
case but I think sometimes there's gaps and evidence and he speculates a lot um to fill in those gaps but I think in
his mind since he's reviewed it so much that you know well I have a and b I just don't
have what's in between and he fills in the Gap and then to him I don't think he's
I don't think there's any malice behind it I just think that's just kind of the way his brain operates
is that he's telling us this is speculation or that's a great question Here's my thought on it right right he's
not to to say that someone's a Storyteller makes it sound like they're just gonna write whatever they want and
try to pass it off as the truth yeah I didn't mean in that context so the way that this story goes
is as soon they don't find out that this dude killed himself until a couple days
later this is law enforcement they don't find that find out that he killed himself until a couple days after his
death so the FBI and the police they go to his apartment and they're going to ransack the place
they're going to look for anything to connect them to Amy's case right or any other case the problem is the family's
already cleaned out his apartment by the time that they get there great so where
this statement comes from of the suicide note the quote-unquote suicide note makes no mention of
of Amy or the case is that is a statement when when he asked law enforcement about the suicide note can I
see the suicide note he was told by them no you can't see it but it makes no reference to Amy or to Amy's case so
that was that was a statement that was given to him by somebody else and he believed it was given to him by a person
who had read or seen the note now there are some family members of Billy streuneck that believe that he
committed this crime really but they don't they don't give any reasons why do they give you which member like mother
father I think it might be a cousin I think there's a cousin on record saying I think the cousin says something kind of
nonchalantly like yeah everyone in the family thinks he did it or something like that right right now here's the
thing so it could be a situation where the family actually thinks he did it but they're not going to come out and say it
protecting them in death if that makes sense well I don't know I mean you have one family member saying yeah we all
think he did it right but I'm on the record everybody else oh yeah yeah everybody else so so you had one person
that broke protocol and said hey hey just to let you know we all think he did it we're just not talking about that
public but again cleaning out the apartment can go either way it's just a family either a it's just a family doing
its family duties right or B they believe they need to hide something I I don't think it points to anything in
particular I just found it odd and I wanted to I wanted to ask him how can you say that it the note didn't have
anything to do with Amy right but saying the FBI confiscated the note in in I've
never seen it so he was able to clear that up real real good I thought and the the funny thing here is
you have local law enforcement that actually don't believe that Billy streuneck killed Amy mihalovic so you
have an FBI agent that pops into town for two days and in his according to the four or five
pages he wrote about it in his book he makes it sound like it's it's open and shut case open and shut case and then
you have local law enforcement that would later tell people investigating look Billy strunek had a lot of reasons
to kill himself even if you don't have Amy in the equation well right and that's what I was kind of
saying it's like we don't know what his mental health was but we do know that and and I'm serious
about this because I've been there and and not so much on a depression thing but on a loneliness thing and okay
that might sound silly like well you're lonely so therefore you're depressed but
it was almost like a different animal trying to deal with just being lonely and and like just couldn't get out of that
state because because I was not I wasn't around anybody there was no quick fix there was no just call your
father and go visit your father go visit your mom go call your brothers you know
I mean call your sister you know I mean there's none of that so it's just like and and maybe this guy was a little
socially awkward and therefore he's doesn't have a great relationship with his family he's going back to his
efficiency every night and that could I mean they're they're all there needs to be is
a couple reasons so when they say there's more than enough reasons it's like again and like I said
if if on some level I don't want to feel bad for this guy but it's like on some level it's like if
the guy could have been in his efficiency I'm just I'm just speaking hypotheticals here but he could have
been in his efficiency watching the TV saw that this girl went missing he felt really bad about it he tried to get
involved he tried to be nice to their family he's so socially awkward that then the FBI shows up at his house
that could have bothered him and then the girl is found and that could have been that's it and
so it could have been it could be directly related to her death without him being guilty without him
being guilty is what I'm saying because you know it's um I mean look I I I I don't want to go off
on too much of a tangent I want to stay on your story but it's like yeah I remember listening to this podcast one
time and it said go join groups you know and and by joining activities that that would be a good way to make
friends you know especially in a town where you don't know anybody well man like the first like three or
four times you go to like an event like I went to spin class or CrossFit class or or just any exercise class because I
was that really the only thing to do in that town or like you'd go to like the coffee shop
and you would end up talking to the uh the Barista guy and he's like hey by the way I played piano and you're like [ __ ]
I mean music I'm a musician and then you're sitting there you feel like such a dork because you're
just like what are you going to do ask the guy for his number so you can hang out
you know what I mean and and so I just know so all I'm saying is it's very likely that if he thought of this
organization as a way to um and and I was in a very lonely state if I would have went uh to a spin class and
walked in and heard people calling me a weirdo like oh man he I that would have crushed me you know well he he was
ultimately asked to um I don't know if he was asked or told that he couldn't volunteer there anymore
right and that would be enough and I'm telling you because I was in that state and if I would have walked in to a spin
class and heard some of the people that I tried to make small conversation with just just to say I mean I didn't even
just say hi I mean first couple times have gone it's like you just wouldn't put your head down and do the class you
know but to like then you know like after Clash or like walking down you'd be like that's that was really tough
class today because you don't know to say you know I mean and so if this guy was in that state that I know I was in
and they would if they would have came to me and said you can't come to spin class anymore because you're looking at
the girls butts a little too long or whatever I that would have crushed me well this
one I don't know if it would have thrown me over the edge but I was pretty close
this was a place that was asking for volunteers that's I mean probably why he just went out there and showed up and
volunteered his time [Music] [Applause]

True Crime Garage /// Off The Record /// Amy Mihaljevic Episode #2 Nic and the Captain discuss: James Renner and the Amy Mihaljevic case. Released: 5-7-2018

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

Brief Summary

The episode discusses the Amy Mihalovic case, focusing on FBI agent Ressler's investigation and suspect Billy Streunack's suicide after Amy's body was found.

Key points

The FBI Profile. An FBI agent creates a suspect profile for the Amy Mihalovic case.
The Suspect's Nervousness. During an unannounced visit, the suspect's behavior raises questions for the FBI agents.
A Tragic End. The main suspect commits suicide shortly after Amy's body is found.
Unanswered Questions. The discussion reveals lingering doubts about the case and the suspect's innocence.
The Suicide Note Mystery. A suicide note was found, but did it mention Amy?
Family Secrets. Some family members believe Billy committed the crime, but why stay silent?

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is just something that that wrestler did with the local FBI agents.

Discussing the profile made by the FBI agent.

1:03WatchJan 28, 2023

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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