True Crime Garage /// Off The Record /// Amy Mihaljevic Pt. 2 | Forensic Files

today on off the record this is part three of our discussion about Amy mihalovic that is episode number 22 on
True Crime garage if you haven't checked that out do so today we're talking about
how one of the suspects possibly committed suicide let's pick it up there thanks for joining us cheers mates
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] the other strange thing regarding this
Billy strunek is their there's not 100 percent conclusive evidence that this was
a suicide I believe on his death certificate it does state that his death was caused by Suicide however when he
was receiving medical attention for the poisoning for poisoning himself let's say
um he denied poisoning himself he he also did not tell the medical professionals what he had
ingested so there's some thought out there that that this wasn't technically a suicide that it might be a poisoning
okay let's rewind for a second though because you said he takes this poison and then he was in a coma but at some
point it's implying that he was talking to medical staff he was talking to them before the coma he was he didn't ingest
this stuff and then he's found like blacked out somewhere I'm falling you know he ingested this stuff and then he
went about his day like he left his apartment and and went about his day and so a lot of people have called into
question if in fact this is a suicide because I gotta believe that most of the time if
somebody poisons themselves they don't just go about their day they stay and wait for the poison to take effect yeah
yeah so and he's saying that he wasn't poisoned he's saying he didn't poison himself I
don't know that he he directly said those words because I don't have you know I don't have anything other than
third hand knowledge of the conversation but I would imagine you know if you show up in there and
your insides are burning and you describe it like that I'm sure one of the first thing the the medical
professionals are going to ask you is well what have you eaten today what have you drank today did you did you ingest
something that you shouldn't have or 30 package 30 packages of ketchup but you know what I mean and I so so in a way
you can say that's a denial if if he did take that knowingly and then said no I just you know I had a Coca-Cola or
something and so he went about his day um that would he went about his day and I
think he was at work and he was complaining about not feeling well and he he was taken to the hospital
and it was there that he fell into this coma and he eventually died um it was about two days after it's
weird though because a couple thoughts on that one is did he ingest this stuff and did it hurt didn't did it not do
what he thought I would do right away and then did he think wow this could get really bad and nobody's going to come
looking for me and that's going to be depressing in itself so I'll just go to work and if
something bad happens then happens there man I don't want to speculate too much I'm just saying that I mean this
this is a case it's just so fascinating well it's weird because yeah I mean it's
like well if he went to work what's the point in that is that to make a scene but then you would think he would want
to tell people that he ingested something but then it's like well if I tell them what I took maybe they solved
the problem and I don't die right maybe he was really set on dying the other issue though is what was in that note
this is a note that is deemed by some to be a quote-unquote suicide note it could just be a journal
but but we don't know what that said you know did it did it say I took this dried
gas to kill myself that's a lot different than if it's just some kind of Randall random scribblings of something
and it's generally it's generally believed by his family that he did commit suicide
um they may have more they obviously would have more in sight insight to it than we would but we don't you know
that's not if they're wrong about that then maybe they're wrong about the idea that we all believe he killed her
I don't know it's it's a very fascinating part of the story well one thing that I've always firmly believed
in and we didn't I didn't give my theory on um on what I think happened well that that
that case we covered it way different because it was just we we invited Renner down from Cleveland
to to Columbus and my favorite part about it is one he doesn't he didn't know who the hell we were and the fact
that he would drive two and a half hours on a whim basically and he didn't know if he's showing up
to some dude's house or or what and and we even told him like it's a professional
studio like we I mean we were super amateur at that point right and so our thought was like man let's not
invite him to the garage it's kind of smelly and I don't know about that but it's also a
comfort level it's also a comfort level right right okay so like when I when I went up to um and I think the best way
to to describe this Amy mahalovic project I think what I can say what I can say is
that I'm helping them with the project and it's it's been an ongoing thing that's been phone calls and things like
that but you're recording on the audio no but when I when I went up to Cleveland
uh to to help them with this project I'm having lunch with Renner and we're talking I said uh real quick was he
eating oh we we both had a sandwich of some kind I mean it was lunch time so it was regular
lunch stuff I didn't pay attention to what he ordered I didn't pay attention to what
he ordered so um I figured him to be like a soup and salad guy it was not soup and salad because you're
a soup and salad guy but I had a sandwich yeah but you are a soup and salad guy I do like soup and salad I've
gone to lunch with you many times and you ordered the soup and salad I'm like who does this
I had sandwiched in it and and chips and I think he had some kind of sandwich and
chips and no beer but that's because you were recording later had to drive two and a half hours at
some point but good job Detective so I said to him I said I said he goes hey can you drive around do you want to
you want to go to Bay Village which we were like we were like four minutes from Bayville yeah I've been there a bunch
because we used to play in Lakewood um once a month for years and then we'd also play in West uh West Park which is
right beside Lakewood right so well I've been there a bunch to help them out with this project I had
to go to Lakewood and he says hey let's go up to do you want to do you have time to go up to Bay
Village and I thought well this is perfect because we'll talk about Amy's case a little bit more and that's where
I asked him about the uh strewnack suicide and about the note and anyway I said yeah I said but I only have about
an hour to do that because I have to go to Lakewood to help them with this Amy project and he goes oh yeah where are
you going in Lakewood and I'm like I'm not really certain I have the address here so I looked up the
address he goes is that a is that like a hotel or some kind of meeting Center or hotel motel Holiday
Inn Business Center or something like that and I said no I think it's a house and he goes
okay that's weird and I didn't think I didn't put any thought into it so so you're gonna
you're hanging out with Brenner you're driving at this point you're driving what you're talking about
though no this was at lunch at lunch because he's asking me if I want to go to Bay Village I said I only have an
hour so you got to go to Lakewood and you gotta meet and you're gonna meet at a house
yes and he says that's weird yeah but but until he asked me that question I was unaware that it was a house I had the
address I never I didn't Google it until he asked me that question right right so so
it's a house right and he says that's weird and I would have been fine had he not said that's
weird because here here I'm thinking this is Renner he goes up and knocks on suspect's doors right right in the
middle of the night and he's telling me hey that's weird and I wanted to be like
hey you kind of come with me yeah are you going to this place with me or because
he's helped them with this project too so I just assumed when I told him it was a house that he would go oh yeah yeah
over on blah blah blah and instead he goes well that's weird so you might not be able to talk about this but
does the house have anything to do with the case no it didn't and and I I actually asked them that when I when I
got close I called my contact just to make sure your agent no the I called my agent no I called my contact with the
project just to make sure I had the right address told my agent that sandwich was really good thanks for the
comp well I I don't know whose house I'm showing up to right right and so but I did ask them when I got there I said is
does this House have any significance to it and they're like no it's just uh have
you seen Amy's house we rented the house yeah so actually James and I went to Amy's house after lunch
say that's that's fascinating which I I had been to I had been to Amy Street before but I didn't know which one was
her house before when I'd been there and I had been to her street I had been to her school I've been to the shopping
plaza and so while I was there he goes let's drive around Bay Village let's talk
about the Amy case I thought this is I would love to this did you guys hold hands there was no hands being held
right but he had a nice musk about him I don't know I didn't didn't smell the man I
never smelled him once well we started off we went to there's a there's a memorial for Amy and a park there and
one of the the city parks in Bay Village right and so we first went there and then we drove from
we drove from her school to the shopping plaza which would have been the same route that she took from school to the
shopping plaza the day that she was abducted and then we drove to her house and he pointed out which house it was
now I I think I I think I impressed him a little bit with my knowledge because I
knew about which house it was but I wasn't positive I said it we turned onto our street and I said I know her home's
one of the ones on the end here but I don't know which one it is well you should be impressed by you anyways
because I mean he's covered how many cases extensively a bunch yeah but but well not a ton though right I
mean I well I don't know two major books right I don't know about his newspaper days right right right but
um he's I would when you say extensively I he's wrote extensively to my knowledge
of about marmara case I would say 15 to 20 cases depending on how you look at it okay
more than I thought depending on how you look at it because when you talk about a
Serial offender there's multiple cases involved within that but the fact that you remember anything about the Me cases
fascinated me because we've covered over 100 cases now well and that was what was
funny was I said to him I go I said last time I was here was about three years ago and he goes oh
really I didn't realize it was that long ago and I said I said yeah that was right around the same time that I
cornered you in the parking lot asking you questions about Amy's case and he goes he looks at me he goes my how
things have changed yeah now he's wanting to talk to me about the Amy case yeah now you're stuck in the car with
him but the so then we took the route from her house to the school because remember she would
have rode her bike to school that day this is I mean it's sad really on some level you know what I mean well then
it's extremely sad no I mean like did you feel any of that when you were like taking the
I've I felt that for five or six years about this case no no I know that but I'm just saying like when you're driving
that did you feel anything and uh the only thing here's why I say that is because
you know I've been like I've visited like Motown [Music] and um hitsville and I just feel like that some areas
whatever your connection is with it that I think there's some kind of energy that
comes out on the universe where some kid could ride his bike the same path as Amy um
a thousand times but he doesn't know the Amy Story and there's no personal connection so he won't feel that energy
right but somebody like you or Runner that has dove into this case over and over and over and over again
that if they take that path that they'll pick up on some kind of energy that's I
mean I know that's kind of hippity-dippity stuff and no no not at all and and that's why I started off the
story by saying once I got past Route 1181. okay so now you don't drive directly past
where her body was found but I know the exit to get off on to to make my way to jog over to that that right right so as
soon as I drive past that exit that was when I felt the the anger and the sadness and everything all at once where
I said you know I know that I feel strongly that some point between here and where I'm going to end up
later today there could still be a child killer living somewhere along this route
yeah and I I felt it as soon as I got to pass that exit which is about 50 miles away from Bay Village where she lived so
I drive with that for the for the full 50 miles until I get to to see you know have lunch with him and then we go and
we drive that route we also went to Holly Hill Farms which was the riding stable where she used to ride horses and
and that was actually the center of the investigation for the first few weeks that she was missing they really
believed that somebody that worked there had abducted her and taken her to this writing stable now you know
unbeknownst to both Renner and I um we got to where the stable would have been where the farm would have been and
it's it's no longer there they've sold off the land and it's now a uh they're they've bulldozed it over and they're
currently building houses there I've been looking for houses lately and I keep finding houses that have Stables
have you seen this no it's fascinating to me I'm like I I over 10 at least over 10 houses that
have some kind of riding stable like where they just have stables for horses it's fascinating to me okay so anyways
it's not there anymore now other question for you so this is a case that you've read about
now I can't remember but you were into the case before you actually read the book by James yeah because I I had a
little knowledge of it when I was a kid when it happened and then I kind of fell
out of it and then grew up grew into all this true crime uh hobby about reading about true crime and
stuff like that and it wasn't until I got older that I became fascinated with unsolved Ohio cases right and I started
look I I just Googled the name one day to see if it had ever been solved and it hadn't I hadn't looked at it in in years
and at that time there was no book out you know Renner had not wrote his book yet right but once you read the
book then everything that's in the book as far as like talking about houses and schools and stuff like that then you
okay so you read the book and and like I'm assuming there wasn't a bunch of pictures
could be wrong uh there's some pictures I mean it's a typical True Crime book the old school
format where you would you know you would see pictures in the center of the book
um to give you some kind of idea but but I'm just saying that you probably it's probably a lot easier for you to imagine
what some of these scenes look like because it's Ohio and we're only two hours from this if it was a crime that
took place in California that schools would probably look different the houses normally look a little different well
yeah before I had ever been there before I had ever been there I had a general idea of the distance between
where she was last seen and where her body was found right you know so it's easier to paint that picture now uh
years ago I happened to it sounds creepy that I had been there and visited some of these places years ago but I had to
be in town for something else I had time to I had time to to likely excuse creeper why A Time to Kill
which is terrible word to say in this situation but um so I drove by some of those places when
I had been up there before but I kind of did double double duty when I was up there because I went over by
um many years ago not only did I drive the Amy stuff involved in her case but I also went over by Sam Shepard's old
house and and over by the uh the hospital that he worked at yeah most people know that's Loosely that story
from The Fugitive strange enough though two of Ohio's most UNF most famous unsolved crimes happened in Bay
Village you have Amy The Disappearance of murder of Amy mihalovic and you also have the murder of Maryland Shepard well
there was a third crime that happened in Bay Village what's that you probably don't even know about
I mean you you want to stand on a pedestal hold your American flag with your golden
gold medal of True Crime but I bet you don't know what the third crime is the Abbott and Bay Village is
the third most popular case now it's a soft case in Ohio in Ohio one captain got a speeding ticket one time in Bay
Village from Bay Village I think it was Bayville Bayville you don't even know if
it was well I remember I had to go to was it Portage important I had to go to some here's
what I remember about it I'm going on the I'm driving the coast big houses you know what I'm talking
about it's right on the water oh yeah yeah big house it's huge houses old houses these
are Mansions right I get to the uh station to pay my ticket I pay the ticket there's something
really cheap 50 bucks but you couldn't mail it in something stupid right so I pay this 50 ticket
on the way in to the police department mansion mansion mansion oh my God I'd love to live there oh my God I love to
live here I know I think it was Bay Village because because the police station in Bay Village is not surrounded
by mansions okay so it's close it's in the area but but I was but the ticket happened in Bay
Village okay I pay wherever I paid but then maybe you had to pay to the county there maybe I did I don't know how that
works Portage County something like that okay so I go pay then I leave the police station you know
how like you you start wondering did I enter from the right or did I on the left right or left so I ended up turning
the wrong way and I was instantly in the ghetto it went from mansion mansion mansion to
Police Department separating The Mansions from the ghetto and it was um but I always loved Cleveland
well that's that's kind of like how it is here in spots too I mean we have like you go to Bexley there's some big ass
beautiful houses there and then you go like a block over and you're like these people were robbing from those big ass
beautiful houses that are a block away yeah when people ask me uh I'd go uh I because I stayed in Bexley a bunch
and um back in the day because that's where my college was for a little bit but they um they'd always ask me well
where do you oh that's awesome you stay in Bexley no you must be loaded yeah no they go oh that place is awesome but you
know uh a couple blocks away is not so nice and I'm like yeah that's where I live I I live in that part you probably
don't remember this oh no I would actually you probably do you probably do but we had a
conversation many moons ago my friend when we were in our early 20s and we we for a brief period of time we shared an
apartment and I said you know the apartment we lived in was in my name uh because I had asked you to move in I'm
like hey I'm having trouble making rent I have an extra room do you can you help
me out you didn't charge me that much but but I guess that was enough to help you out yeah so you charged me three
hundred dollars so we're living together in the end of the lease was coming up and I said to
you I said well I'm considering looking for a different place I was because the rent at that apartment that we were
staying in was so high you could rent a house for about that of that price and you go oh cool well yeah I would
love to get a room with you at the house depending on where it is of course you know because you got to drive right and
I go you go well where are you thinking about and I said well I'm going to go look at this one place I called the the
landlord already and it's um it's over on this stream which was right by Bexley the place that we just
referenced with the big ass houses and you go wait a second that street I'm not living on that street and I go why
and you said uh because you know the crime rate over there you know the amount of theft and and
home break-ins going on and I said to you I go it's a high crime area I go but those people aren't breaking into any
homes on that street they're going two blocks over oh no well because my my college was right in the middle and they
had a crime chart for some reason in the hallway so is this like a remote it was like
this weird reminder that you are here and crime doesn't happen here yeah and this is this is the nice area that's
very it was very strange yeah uh male student rape victims is up 80 percent by two fingered Tommy
so um okay so you could then film some stuff with these people yeah and you're six hours oh my God it was six
hours of filming we we had um which was which was it sounds fantastic it was it doesn't sound fantastic no no
because I think I've done filming before I think when people not you but I think when other
people hear that they're like oh you were probably like walking around and going to places of significance
regarding the crime and it's you know you talking to uh law enforcement no this was what it was it was me it was
your buddy your old buddy the colonel sitting in a chair in a dark room surrounded by about
seven or eight people that were not going they were not involved in the filming as far as being filmed they were
doing the film right so their cameraman that's kind of dark room Spotlight on me
and then they're like okay now talk why all of us stare at you right oh you sit in this dark room
there's a couple things that you're not really that comfortable with because I mean that would be one of them
because I I know you pretty well so I remember when when we're shooting the you know quote unquote little teaser
reel uh to kind of shop around the the Brian Shafer docu-series or whatever it was
every time they would like film you like I get to see how nervous you looked and uh
I I don't know did you did you feel that when I was being filmed no I didn't feel that when you were
being filmed but you and I kind of operate in two different ways like I I like to have notes and I like to have
things to refer to I should have notes and and you you don't necessarily need that
um I I don't need that for our show no no but when so when when they're filming you talking you're just talking
because you just talk the problem with filming me is like okay well you can film me but I need a stack
of papers sitting next to me right and if you take away that stack of papers uh what it's probably that you just use it
as a crutch on some level it's kind of like if you learn a piece of music that sometimes like if you take
away that sheet it's like it goes all the way but if you take a couple seconds to kind of regroup you're going to be
able to play it from memory well I I know most of the cases by memory let's say 50 the problem is that you need to
have specific names of people specific places dates and times and things and just pull a runner if you don't know it
just make it up just if he hears this he was not gonna he doesn't listen to us no way he's he
likes you just I think he likes you he didn't ask me about podcast information well
but I I you know but again I think he's a really nice guy I was going up there talented writer I was going up there
anyway and I think the way that the conversation went like this it sounded to me
I hate to put words in someone's mouth but it sounded to me like it he was like hey can we get together
and talk about podcasts where do you want to do it okay now if I would have said hey we
have to do it in Columbus he would have come down he would have met with the both of us but I kind of I was nice to
him because I know he's drove down here a few times I'm like look you happen to start this conversation up and guess
what within the next week or two I'm going to be in your neck of the woods anyway so let's just make it happen the
highlight of my day was driving around with James Renner and talking about the case
it wasn't moose knuckles no we can't even remember you can't remember the sandwich I told you the
place was called something like Moosehead Saloon yeah that's probably pretty accurate
that's probably somebody yeah okay so no so so overall it was a good experience and and you you can't even say that when
it comes out oh I don't I don't they're not done filming yet so I don't think they know
when it's coming out but that I mean because like we've said multiple times on the show it's like
I think about that it's like even what Renner said like you're driving around with Renner
you you used to follow the guy out to the parking lot now you're hanging out with him
in a car he's asking you for podcast advice you are also a a case that you just it's your red light case one of your red
light cases yeah yeah and and some of my top one of my top five and these people
thought of you enough as a true crime expert on that case yeah right but to be involved in such a thing I
mean that's yeah that's pretty crazy I think that puts me on a level that I'm not really on here's here's kind of the
mental the psych the psychology behind it I think me and Amy are almost the same age like we're we're
within months of each other right yeah she's a little bit older than me I think the I think that the appeal for
them filming here is one okay what's this rare scenario think about this rare scenario we have a guy that that does
True Crime for a living he is born and raised in Ohio still lives in Ohio he knows the case very
well and he's the same age as the victim right you know I mean it's just a lot of
things lining up it gives it gives um it gives credibility to why they would want to talk to me
you know because I I can I can somewhat relate to the case in in the sense even if I didn't know about the case I can
relate to it in the sense that I was in the same grade as her at the same age as
her yeah when this happened when it went down right but you're you also have an audience now and and and just because
you have an audience doesn't make you an expert but I'd argue all of the three or
four people hello hey everybody Tom Justin Jerry there's a lot of Tommy's two fingers today
um no but I think Justin Justice is over in the corner and Justin's driving his little green Ford pickup truck
foreign [Music] [Applause]

True Crime Garage /// Off The Record /// Amy Mihaljevic Episode #3

Nic and the Captain discuss: James Renner and the Amy Mihaljevic case. Released: 5-14-18

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

Brief Summary

The episode examines Billy Strunek's suspicious death and its connection to the Amy Mihalovic case.

Key points

The Mysterious Death of Billy Strunek. Exploring the ambiguity surrounding Billy Strunek's death, which may not be a suicide after all.
The Significance of the Note. The note left by Strunek raises questions about his intentions and mental state before his death.
Driving the Route of Tragedy. A reflective drive along the route Amy took before her abduction brings emotional weight.
Filming Experience. A tense filming session in a dark room with a crew.
Driving with James Renner. A memorable day spent discussing a true crime case with James Renner.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Did he think nobody's going to come looking for me?

Speculating on the suspect's mindset before his death.

3:35WatchJan 30, 2023

Tension

55/ 100Some tension

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