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Amy Mihaljevic - Suspects /// Part 1 /// 345

November 21, 2022 / 56:10

This episode covers the unsolved case of Amy Mihalovic, discussing key suspects and the timeline of events surrounding her abduction and murder. The hosts, Nick and the Captain, reference previous episodes and interviews, including insights from James Renner, who authored a book on the case.

Amy Mihalovic was abducted at a shopping plaza in Bay Village, Ohio, on October 27, 1989. The episode highlights the calm manner in which she left with her abductor, who was witnessed by classmates. The hosts discuss the investigation, which involved extensive searches and interviews with over 14,000 people.

Two main suspects are examined: Billy Strunek, who died by suicide shortly after Amy's disappearance, and Harold Bound, who worked at a stable where Amy rode horses. Strunek's involvement is debated, with some investigators believing he had the capacity to commit the crime, while others disagree.

The episode also discusses the complexities of eyewitness accounts, particularly regarding composite sketches of the suspect and the lack of a clear vehicle description. The hosts emphasize the ongoing mystery and the community's efforts to keep Amy's memory alive.

Listeners are encouraged to engage with the show and support future episodes through donations. The episode concludes with a reminder of the importance of community and remembrance in the face of tragedy.

TLDR

The episode discusses the unsolved abduction and murder of Amy Mihalovic, focusing on key suspects and investigation details.

Episode

56:10
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foreign [Music] foreign garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host
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Nick and with me as always is a man who when he left for college told his dad okay you're the man of the house now he
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is the captain boy how he cried it's good to be seen and it's good to see you thanks for listening thanks for
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telling a friend [Music] ah this is great stuff Captain today we are very happy to be featuring scissor
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kick by Kings County Brewers Collective Casey BC this is a double dry hopped up IPA garage grade four and a half bottle
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that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
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[Music] [Music] foreign [Music] Ty leads the FBI is checking an area man resembling the drawing of the suspect he
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left his job last Friday has not returned but authorities will not comment further on that Amy disappeared
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from the shopping center a week ago today and today FBI agents in Bay Village Police were back in the center
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talking with people who might have been here then Amy reportedly left Bay square with a
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man she believed to be a friend sometime between 1 and 4 P.M last Friday the shopping center was busy but few who
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were here remembered anything unusual about the man and the girl what went on uh was a ploy that was developed and
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carried through and it looked like a natural action going on it didn't look out of the ordinary at all today in that
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same one to four pm time frame officers were trying to jog memories of Shoppers to possibly recall something from a week
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ago that they did not consider important then [Music] police want anyone else who was here
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last Friday afternoon to call them regardless of whether they believed they saw anything police also are seeking
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other children who might have been contacted by phone as Amy was by a man as a friend seeking the child's help in
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buying a gift for a parent you have had some of those yes we have how many uh I'm aware of at least three perhaps more
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John Harrington Channel 3 News [Music] foreign [Music] this year in episodes 308 and 309 titled Amy mihalovic that
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was from June of this year we were able to do a detailed timeline of this case this is an unsolved abduction assault
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and murder case of a 10 year old girl ten-year-old Amy mihalovic this weekend unfortunately will Mark a sad
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anniversary it will now be 30 years to the day that Amy was abducted taken from a small Shopping Plaza
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that was just walking distance from her Middle School the abduction was not a violent one Amy
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did not scream this was not a snatch and grab situation a man calmly walked up to her and she
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left with this grown man this was witnessed by two of her classmates now for anyone who is unfamiliar with
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this case Don't Panic you don't have to go back and listen to episodes 308 and 309 before listening to this week's
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coverage we are covering this case in a way that these are pretty much stand-alone portions of what is a very
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very big story so what is now a 30-year timeline of a very big case you get that in depth in
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those episodes for those that don't know our setup Captain you can listen to True
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Crime garage for free on anywhere that you listen to podcasts you can get episodes from the last six months or so
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now we have been doing this great show thanks to all of the wonderful listeners out there for four years
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so the older episodes you can listen to those for free when you download the free Stitcher app go to our website to
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learn more yeah some would say four years too long now I say all that Captain to point out that we did an
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in-depth interview with James Renner the only person who has authored a book that
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is devoted solely to Amy's case that was way back in March of 2016 episode 22. the purpose of this week is to discuss
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some of the suspects in this case now the information you are going to hear today comes from many sources this
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being in Ohio case the two of us have been watching this case for a very long time but one source that we will use
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often is Cleveland magazine this here is from their coverage on the 10-year anniversary which says the Amy
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mihalovic case became the most intense search for a child in local history involving every conceivable law
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enforcement agency and an army of volunteers federal state county and local law enforcement Personnel logged more than
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60 thousand official hours and thousands more off the clock hundreds of promising tips were tracked
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down and dismissed fourteen thousand people interviewed a hundred and twenty potential suspects investigated in
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question intensely eight thousand leads pursued and abandoned the story was featured in
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major newspapers and on national TV shows like America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries two million copies of
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the Amy poster were distributed that is in all 50 states and in Europe and all the way to Australia
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before we get to the suspects first let's get into some of the known and possible movements of the Killer we've
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talked at length about the phone call or calls to Amy's home setting up the Meetup at the plaza I do want to mention
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it sounds to me that police and FBI lean toward the idea that there was more than
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one call to Amy at home but regardless there was at least one we have talked extensively about the
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abductor choosing Friday as the meeting up day let's get into the other phone call the
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call from Amy to Margaret so for those not super familiar with the case the way this works is Margaret is at work Jason
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Amy's brother arrives home from school he calls his mother at work like he does every day on a typical day Amy would
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arrive home before Jason and Amy would call Margaret at work each day when she arrived home as well on this day Jason
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is the only one to call and he points out to his mother that Amy is not home this is not of great concern as Amy told
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her mother there was a choir try out that day at school okay then there was a second call on
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this call Again Margaret and Jason they determined that Amy is still not home now Margaret is a little panicked and
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she's going to leave work early but then and this is according to Cleveland magazine article at 3 40 p.m
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Margaret gets the call that she needed it's Amy calling to say everything is fine Margaret asked how the tryout went
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Amy said okay Margaret asks she said she had the impression that Amy was calling
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from home so they talked briefly and then bye bye see you soon that was the last time Margaret ever spoke to Amy
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now before we get into the experts and what they say about this last call I want to address this first
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for so many years in fact up until the last 18 or 24 months it has always just been accepted and understood that this
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call was made after Amy was in the company of her abductor now all of a sudden after all this time
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people are starting to call that into question I get it it's interesting to ponder but it seems extremely unlikely
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and of course we don't know for certain but we do know class got out at 2 10 that day Amy walked with friends and it
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only took a few minutes to get to the shopping plaza and most of the good timelines out there
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say that it was around 3 P.M when a man approached Amy spoke to her and led her away
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so according to the Cleveland magazine timeline we have 40 minutes that's a big discrepancy in time
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so I absolutely believe that Amy was in the company of her abductor by this point
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I think the call was made from a pay phone a motel phone or somewhere the abductor lived or was staying
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the interesting thing here I think is you can put a cap on the distance that they could have been from the plaza at
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the time of this call and the maximum would be a 40-minute drive from the plaza now people who believe that Amy
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would have behaved much differently during that phone call if in the company of her abductor that's fair but it's
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possible that Amy may have been unaware that she was being abducted yeah let's remember this is supposed to be a secret
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shopping trip to get a present for her mother so she wouldn't want to give away the surprise yeah he could have allowed
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her to call and reminding her hey don't you know don't give up on this idea that
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we got this secret shopping trip to do you can't tell your mother this now I've had some people question why I
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think that a pay phone is possible or would have been possible here they point out and this is very obvious but very
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good too they point out if she was afraid if Amy was afraid a pay phone out in the open she could
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have just fled the abductor then and there but you and I captain being Children of
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the 80s we are old enough to remember pay phones quite a bit and use them quite a bit when we were children
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and one thing that I want to point out is something that's kind of Forgotten today that at a lot of gas stations do
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you remember the pull-up pay phone the one that was constructed in a manner that wasn't in a booth but it was out
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and it was in a way that you would just pull up with your vehicle you wouldn't even get out of the vehicle you'd pull
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up and you could punch in the number and make the phone call from sitting inside
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of your vehicle yeah this could have been a situation that he used there what we do know is that a phone call happened
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we can't say for certain if she was quote unquote under his control you know meaning he had a gun or a knife on her
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or he had already expressed a threat to her that would have kept her under his control right but again let's think
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about this logically are you going to take that chance have her under your control she knows
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this is now abduction she knows now that she's in some kind of danger oh let's have her call her mother or do you keep
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playing it cool and yeah let you call your mother before we go shopping right either way we do know that the
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call happened we can only speculate what was going on at the time what the experts say about this phone call Amy
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checking in with her mother in the abductor allowing this call the first lead detective on the case Jim Tompkins
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said quote that's critical it bought him an hour or more precious getaway time for the man
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authorities were calling the unknown mail expert analysts also believe this event
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reveals important details about the unknown mail they are certain he was standing right there and that he may
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have known that Amy was supposed to call now this could be from something he learned from Amy on previous phone calls
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or in conversation on the day of the abduction or even possibly Amy threatening him if in fact by the time
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she figured out that he had abducted her he's she's saying I have to call home Mom and Dad
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will be looking for me you're going to be in trouble so some of the experts believe that he
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stood there and told Amy what to say during that call the late and great FBI agent Robert
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wrestler says it tells us he was executing a bold plot that included Amy her family and the police pointing out
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that the Bay Village Police Department headquarters is right across the street from the shopping plaza he goes on to
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say this is an intelligent man presentable well spoken this is a complicated personal crime
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when Amy's body was found in that field three months after her Abduction the Cuyahoga County coroner and the FBI
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scientists determined that Amy had been deceased for some time most likely the murder had occurred shortly after her
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abduction probably a few days or less she was not killed immediately Amy did eat at least one meal after she was
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taken maybe more her autopsy revealed blunt force trauma to the head and stab wounds to her neck it appears that the
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blunt force trauma on its own was not fatal but the stab wounds were over the years Captain there have been
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thousands of tips and hundreds of suspects and in this sense we are using the term suspects very Loosely some of
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these men were just look-alike suspects these were leads that the police received FBI received because somebody
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looked like one of the composite sketches right and we've seen this with like the Delphi murders somebody goes
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hey look this guy looks just like the sketch or just like the photo but they live in California and you
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can't prove that they were in Indiana at the time so that that's why I don't like
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some of these suspects well and it gets difficult for law enforcement because of
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of two factors one with the Amy case with the Delphi case not a lot to go on so you have to throw that sketch out
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there but they throw that sketch out to the public knowing that we're going to get a wealth of leads that are no good
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yeah you know they they only need the one good one but we're going to get a whole bunch of people coming forward
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saying I know somebody that looks just like this guy in Amy's case and the Amy composite sketches
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we pointed out in our previous episodes technically there were four composite sketches released over a it's a little
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more than a one year time period but there was a sketch released the first weekend and then FBI artists came
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in and did two sketches that appear on the same flyer and that's the one that I refer to as
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like the famous composite drawing where you see the two individuals now it was only one man that abducted her but we
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have two somewhat different looking individuals in that famous composite sketch one two of the eyewitnesses one
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claiming that they saw a man with glasses and one claiming they saw a man without glasses so that's where the
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initial I think confusion started yeah so the first composite drawing is basically a meshing of the two
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eyewitnesses accounts they were like all right we'll take we'll take everything throw it in a blender and boom this is
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the picture that pop that comes out the FBI artist did separate ones so why the reason why you're seeing two different
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composite drawings is one is from one eyewitness and one is from the other eyewitness both of these eyewitnesses
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were children 10 or 11 years old both both of these eyewitnesses were not up front and center when they saw this guy
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they were a distance away 25 30 feet away and saw this man interact with Amy the thing that law enforcement points
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out and has continued to point out over the years is they think that this is a very quote-unquote general description
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of somebody that this this is not somebody that is distinguishable right this is not somebody that would stand
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out in a crowd and that's why you get so many look-alike suspects because this kind of just looks like your average Joe
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right now investigators said that out of all of the potential suspects ever to appear on the radar screen less than two
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dozen remain priorities after acute investigating now early on on the local level there
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was rumored to be two very good suspects in fact these men they were suspects even before Amy's body was found suspect
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number one was Billy strewnick from Fairview Park he injected himself into the search
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efforts he joined the volunteers and helped to search for Amy he was questioned several times this both by
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Bay Village Police Department and the FBI his story was checked and then double checked according to Cleveland
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magazine Billy was found to have serious personal problems both medical and emotional but all unrelated to Amy's
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case months after Amy's disappearance he consumed a lethal amount of ethanol dry
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gas and died three days later right but to be clear they believe this was on purpose and this was technically a
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suicide yes and FBI agent Robert Ressler who was briefly involved in the case questioned this suspect personally
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wrestler maintained that he had a gut feeling that Billy strunek was hiding something
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wrestler later cited this suicide as a possible indication of guilt in wrestlers book whoever fights monsters
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wrestler says streunak was a good candidate to be the one they were calling the unknown male
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now all other investigators insist that he was not the guy Stephen Etter who was a supervisory
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special agent for the national center for the analysis of violent crime said after his death meaning sunak
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we had access to his home and belongings FBI agent dick Wren adds there was not a
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shred of evidence for this or any other crime Etter says that Billy strunek quote
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simply didn't have the capacity to commit this type of crime some in the local community believe he
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still could have been the guy we covered this angle of the investigation in depth on our other show
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off the Record yeah now I have a couple issues with the detectives the investigators saying that they don't
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think Billy was capable of doing this because most people probably wouldn't be capable
00:21:18
of dying from a suicide by ingesting gasoline right gas so that takes a uh determined
00:21:30
individual and I also think this is involvement in the search the involvement in the
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investigation the contact with the mother um and and like you said their big thing
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is well once he died from this suicide and wrestlers saying well I believe he's basically saying right because there's a
00:21:52
suicide he believes that Billy had something to hide it might have been an indication of guilt that he was overcome
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by guilt or he was afraid that he was going to be arrested and people were going to find out what kind of monster
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he was and he's gonna have to spend the rest of his life Behind Bars any number of those reasons or all of them together
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would have been enough for this individual to commit suicide is what wrestler believes right and then so now
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you have these investigators go well he's dead now and so we can investigate this property but we didn't find any
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evidence of any crime I don't know why but my gut has always told me that this crime
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was the first uh uh as far as a killing would go by this individual there might be some inappropriate touching or
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looking or possibly even um exposing themselves to younger individuals but to me this is uh this is a one-time
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thing possibly never going to happen again and and so that would lead me to believe well look at somebody like Billy
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and he makes a really good suspect and then you go well well we investigated his house and his property and and all
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that stuff and we didn't see any sign of a crime well here's what we do now we know that there's a crime scene
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I would call it crime scene where he abducted her even though she went willing I'd still call that a crime
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scene and then we know that she went into a vehicle to me those are the two crime scenes and
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then plus where her body was found those are the three places that we know we don't have much evidence to suggest
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that she went back to his house or or went to anybody's house so I'm just saying that you can be searching in
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this location but it's like again what if like you were saying what if the phone call was made from a
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hotel or a motel and yeah so it's like you wouldn't find any evidence at his place because he never took the victim
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back there so look we we can't we could sit here and spin our tires all day and try to
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figure out why we have the FBI and we have other agencies later saying that he Billy strunek is not our guy they're not
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going to give us all those reasons what I will say though too right but it's not
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as clear that we we don't have like some strain of DNA that we can test to make sure that it's it's Billy or not Billy
00:24:35
right correct there is physical evidence in this case but we do not have we do not have DNA evidence that we can
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test in the sense of of current types of Investigations so but but here's here's the thing we
00:24:50
gotta we got to keep in mind while we're going through these suspects Okay so these same the same investigators or at
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least the same agencies are on record over the years as saying we're not going to 100 percent rule out
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anyone and we hear that like with the Delphi case now we can take that for their word we can
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take that for what that is supposed to mean we don't know exactly what that means behind closed doors and Behind
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these closed-door meetings that they're having regarding the suspects when they say that
00:25:26
look I I think that if we're if we were going to create a top 10 list of of top 10 suspects in this case I didn't just
00:25:34
go through and pick out suspects that were mentioned in the newspaper or mentioned in local rumor or anything
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like that I went through there was there's more than 10 of those I went through and I picked out ones
00:25:47
that I believe should remain on some kind of top 10 list now this is just our own little garage list here but I would
00:25:53
leave Billy strunek on that list until I had further information to lead me to believe that they are in fact right that
00:26:00
he's not their guy they could have come across some things to say that he had a 100 Ironclad Alibi right for that day we
00:26:08
don't we don't know that because that's never been said in the public they also one thing that I do want to to comment
00:26:16
directly on though is where they say we simply don't believe that he had the capacity to commit this type of crime
00:26:24
now you pointed out that he consumed ethanol and and killed himself and that takes a certain something I
00:26:32
guess but it takes us something well but what what they may mean here in this is
00:26:39
not so much that he couldn't have physically committed this type of crime they may firmly believe that he was of
00:26:46
an emotional state or he was he had these personal problems they may fully believe that he could have
00:26:54
physically committed this type of crime he wouldn't have been able to not crack or not tell someone or not come for you
00:27:01
see what I mean like that right not only did this crime happen but the person as
00:27:06
far as we know has also never confided in anyone never confessed to it never never had a mental break and just and
00:27:13
just came clean or or freaked out so that might be what in fact that they mean on this and again though
00:27:22
um yes there there is a crime scene that we are unaware of there was a place that
00:27:27
she was killed that's the missing puzzle piece here um but what we have dick Wren saying is
00:27:35
there was not a shred of evidence for this crime or any other crime that they could find at his home or in the
00:27:41
belongings that they were able to view now there is local rumor in the area that
00:27:48
uh and we we have wrestler who's on record saying this I don't know that it's in fact true but
00:27:55
we have local rumor that the family removed his items or had access to his apartment before law enforcement did
00:28:06
after his death because they weren't right they weren't fully aware that he was dead at the you know immediately
00:28:11
after his death it took some time for that word to travel to them before they went in and looked at his apartment
00:28:18
so there's a local rumor that it's like a it's a really good uh Family secret you know a Best Kept
00:28:27
Family secret that Billy streuneck did in fact kill Amy mihalovic and his whole family knows about it and they know
00:28:33
about it because they were able to view all of his belongings but what we would know later is that there are things
00:28:39
missing from the crime scene there were items that Amy had on her person that have never been found never been located
00:28:46
and we know for certain from dick wren's statement that they didn't find those items in the belongings or in the space
00:28:53
that they were able to view regarding Billy strunek right which makes me wonder if the crime scene was a a
00:29:00
vehicle those items could have been left in that vehicle that vehicle could have
00:29:04
been discarded with all those uh items but one of the things I like about Billy is when she went missing he was a
00:29:11
suspect when her body was found he was a suspect and I believe today he's still is a really good suspect
00:29:19
foreign [Music] we're back cheers mates cheers to everyone so suspect number two and in
00:29:47
fact he may have been one of the very first suspects even more so than Billy strunek
00:29:54
he worked at the horse stable where Amy went horseback riding on the weekends some say he looks like the composite
00:30:02
sketch personally I think that is debatable I would say his appearance was vaguely similar to one of the composite
00:30:10
sketches so this is at the Holly Hill Farms riding stable where he works Amy was an
00:30:16
avid horse rider she took lessons for two years and her favorite horse at Holly Hill was named Razzle
00:30:24
Hill Farms which is no longer there but was for many years in fact it was just in the last few years that Holly Hill
00:30:32
closed for Good selling off all of the Farmland to make room for new housing developments
00:30:38
Holly Hill Farms was located on Nagle Road and the old address lists the farm as in Avon Lake but if you look at it on
00:30:48
a map it was very close to where several communities meet you have Avon Lake West
00:30:55
Lake and Bay Village Nagle Road was not far from the train tracks that ran behind the mahalovic
00:31:02
home in fact the night that Amy went missing police and Mark mihalovic and friends were actually looking for Amy
00:31:10
around those train tracks that was one area that they really focused on because Amy would ride her bike there and go
00:31:18
back there and go back there with friends from the neighborhood so that was one area that if you could find her
00:31:25
if there was a reasonable explanation as to why she was missing if she was out on
00:31:30
her own plane they thought they might find her there this the the night that she went missing
00:31:38
now at this time they're still trying to explain away why she is missing right there that no one was aware of the ruse
00:31:47
used by the Predator to lure her to the shopping plaza right that info was not learned by the police department until
00:31:54
Saturday morning that's when the case officially went from a missing person's case to a kidnapping and the FBI was
00:32:01
immediately called in now most of that area back in 1989 was farmland the man that we are talking about the
00:32:11
suspect His Name Was Harold bound he actually lived at the writing Stables where Amy went weekly
00:32:19
this dude jumps on the radar for several reasons first early on investigators were fully focused on the call to Amy's
00:32:28
house the ruse for the Meetup and abduction information in the call again could offer insights to who the
00:32:36
perpetrator was they were working off of the idea at the time that the abductor may have known
00:32:43
Amy Margaret or both persons involved with Holly Hill Stables would have known Amy and Margaret
00:32:52
Margaret actually would ride horses there as well this man Harold bound he was the son of the owners of Holly Hill
00:33:00
according to what I could find he was a Vietnam vet and he lived in an apartment
00:33:06
above the garage at Holly Hill it seems that he was an avid Hunter stories have been told of persons going
00:33:14
to the stables for writing lessons and seeing Harold what they said was he's wandering around
00:33:21
and camouflage with a bow and arrow some I think thought this was weird maybe I mean maybe he was just hunting really
00:33:31
from the stories I could find about his behavior it's really a mixed bag right so some of the girls at Holly Hill said
00:33:38
things like we thought he was creepy even before Amy went missing others said he was strange but thought
00:33:45
that he suffered from PTSD from the war years later his brother Greg would say that Harold was a suspect for a couple
00:33:54
of reasons Greg says law enforcement said that Amy was taken away in a blue pickup truck
00:34:01
the farm owned a blue pickup this from my understanding was a shared farm vehicle and Greg says Harold came
00:34:10
home late on the night that Amy was abducted Harold bounds parents who owned the farm
00:34:15
and lived on the property this kind of adds to to the whole scenario here they were actually out of
00:34:23
town when she was abducted they were down in Florida for that weekend which would make make sense you know parents
00:34:30
are out of town that's where you're staying this is a perfect opportunity right and we both believe that the
00:34:36
abductor picked that Friday for some reason but investigators also said here's a guy
00:34:43
that probably left work and then probably didn't return so but that that would still put him in
00:34:51
that category rights right and to be clear I I Believe In that clip that we heard there's
00:34:58
they're talking about a different individual not herald-bound right right right but the interesting thing here is
00:35:04
if he lives on that property and works there his parents are the owners they're gone they're out of town yeah there
00:35:11
would have been other people in and out of Holly Hill Farm that day that weekend
00:35:17
but he doesn't really does he need to be accounted for no right I mean he he comes and goes as he pleases pretty much
00:35:25
correct now James Renner says when he first he actually interviewed or spoke to Harold on at least two occasions he
00:35:36
says that when first asked Harold says he didn't know Amy from any of the other students at the stable then later Harold
00:35:44
tells Renner a very specific story about a time that he saw Amy at the stable and
00:35:51
asked her a question so this is completely different stories from the same guy about the same situation two
00:35:57
completely different answers one to say I wouldn't have known her from any of the other girls to then go into a very
00:36:03
specific story about a time where he had an interaction with Amy right Harold was questioned by the FBI the day
00:36:12
after Amy was abducted well that's what we say I'm a little unclear here Captain if it was in fact that
00:36:19
Saturday because remember the FBI was called in that Saturday it says that Harold was interviewed the day after she
00:36:26
was abducted but it could have been that Sunday regardless it's going to be that
00:36:30
first weekend he's questioned very early on during this whole situation he's questioned at his apartment and he
00:36:39
did allow the FBI agents and the officers to come into his apartment and he also allowed them to look around
00:36:46
yeah not only look around his apartment but also look around the farm property and inside of his parents home
00:36:53
the FBI agents left and when they left they took nothing with them the fed's questioned Harold bound multiple times
00:37:01
the first week that Amy was missing Harold did not like the treatment from law enforcement that he was getting
00:37:09
so he gathered up some of his things and he went and checked himself into a local
00:37:14
VA Hospital some suspect he was trying to put up a wall between him and law enforcement
00:37:22
right his brother says that Harold believed that they were trying to pin this abduction on him
00:37:29
and he he was he got afraid and so he went and checked himself into this VA Hospital well yeah and think
00:37:36
about this way you're working on this Farm you come back from war you know you're a little off or maybe you don't
00:37:43
know you're a little off you're working around a lot of children and one of them comes up missing and and
00:37:50
maybe and you're kind of considered by at least some of the the students to be the weird guy or the creepy guy right
00:37:57
but how many times you know has a school had a janitor where the guy is nothing but nice but kids create
00:38:06
you know rumors oh that guy's a little strange no he's not being strange he's just saying hello to you or or saying hi
00:38:13
to you uh but but the those uh rumors uh and speculations grow over time too well and that's the thing too that that
00:38:24
I wanted to point out where some of the kids at Holly Hill claimed the guy was creepy or or doing weird things
00:38:32
sometimes things are just weird because you're a child and you don't understand a situation right you know like if you
00:38:40
see this dude that's wandering around and camouflage and he has a bow and arrow and you're like what's that guy
00:38:45
always doing here right and and then but but as an adult somebody would know a couple things one he he lives on the
00:38:52
property so he should be there there's no reason for him not to be there right two he's a hunter
00:38:57
um and this is this is a large property that his parents own this is private land it's Farmland he is
00:39:06
allowed to hunt there right you know so as an adult that doesn't seem so weird as a kid not gonna lie man if I show up
00:39:14
to ride a horse and there's some dude walking around stealth like in the woods and camouflage with a bow and arrow I'm
00:39:20
going I'm staying away from that dude yeah or the fact that every time you show up he's there you go up right well
00:39:27
why is this guy always here why is he always at work oh well he lives there or take just a scenario where a guy comes
00:39:34
in to clean an area and maybe doesn't uh say hello to the kids because he's trying to stay out of the way some kids
00:39:41
will take that as well this guy's being really creepy he didn't say hello you know yeah so where we look at Harold
00:39:51
bound and say does he look guilty does he sound guilty I go with looking guilty I would say no but sounding
00:39:59
guilty I think yes because of the that to me if if in fact that's true that in one conversation he claims to not have
00:40:09
known Amy at all and then another conversation says he had Direct interaction and names her specifically
00:40:16
right but that's that sounds a little weird but that's not coming from law enforcement or investigators yeah from
00:40:23
James Renner and you never know it could have jogged his memory but you also kind
00:40:27
of think well if I lived on a property where a young girl frequented and she went missing and then
00:40:34
was later found dead I don't know that I would forget her so I don't know that I
00:40:38
would need something to jog my memory now Captain I will say this you know back to
00:40:45
the famous composite drawing of of the by the two classmates who say they saw who took Amy in my opinion out of the
00:40:52
two suspects that we have discussed today personally I think that strewnack looks much more like the composite
00:40:59
drawing than this Herald bound right it would be interesting to see if uh the law enforcement did any kind of lineup
00:41:08
with these eyewitnesses so we do have to keep one thing in mind and and remember you were talking to me last
00:41:15
week about misinformation and when there is bad information thrown out there drives me insane in some of these cases
00:41:23
it can hurt the investigation and it makes you wonder specifically in this case is it possible
00:41:30
that the man who took and killed Amy does not look like the composite drawing and therefore
00:41:38
someone who knows something never picked up the phone or never sent an email with
00:41:43
the tip and a name because as uncomfortable as it was to suspect a person close to them maybe even someone
00:41:51
they loved yeah it made it so much easier for that person and so much more convenient when they
00:42:00
looked at that composite and they were able to say to themselves Well it can't be him he doesn't look
00:42:06
like the composite well well back to the truck thing you know eyewitness is saying that maybe she's abducted in this
00:42:13
truck yeah okay so my thought is if you don't have a clear cut eyewitness account of
00:42:21
the vehicle how sure can we be of the eyewitness accounts of the the man they saw with Amy
00:42:29
right and and that that kind of bothers me a little bit yeah and the way that this shopping plaza is kind of divided
00:42:37
up you know there's some stand-alone buildings in the immediate area there's several parking lots in the media area
00:42:45
the thought is there's a couple of ways of thinking of this one as said earlier this was not a
00:42:53
violent abduction this was not a Kicking and Screaming situation nobody that saw
00:42:59
anything that day knew that she was being led away to be abducted so no one saw her get into a
00:43:07
vehicle and the thought is either just no one saw her get into a vehicle or that he potentially parked his vehicle
00:43:14
in an area that would be less visible and led her you know slightly away and then into his vehicle right it makes me
00:43:22
wonder though you're you have this ruse going hey meet me somewhere we're gonna buy a gift for
00:43:30
your mother is it possible you know here's a guy that works at the Stables when Amy sees
00:43:36
me she isn't going to be freaked out because she has seen me before and that makes me wonder you I I get
00:43:45
that the the issue that I've always had with that and the issue that I've always
00:43:49
had with with people presenting a suspect that Amy would have known directly uh personally I think that it's that
00:43:58
it's highly unlikely just in the sense that she's being told that this individual is somebody else on the phone
00:44:05
and to arrive and learn that he is not in fact who he says he was makes it a you know weird from Jump Street right
00:44:14
there right so all right I'm getting off topic here back to Harold bound so law enforcement blocked off naggle road and
00:44:23
they searched that area extensively and they Captain they searched it for days during the search law enforcement found
00:44:30
a pair of sweatpants in the field or a wooded area in that immediate area these pants very well could be the same
00:44:41
ones that Amy was wearing this does not help Harold one bit of course so law enforcement Focus serious
00:44:50
attention on him for months they did intense surveillance exhaustive investigation all of this yielding
00:44:58
nothing Harold took polygraph tests and I want to be clear that's plural tests Harold
00:45:06
Harold requested that he be questioned after they administer truth serum the FBI complied with this
00:45:15
he was subjected to questioning with truth serum pumping through his veins now I can't tell you
00:45:22
if he passed the polygraph test and I can't tell you what the FBI thought about his answers during the truth serum
00:45:29
questioning but I can tell you at some point they were no longer interested in talking to him anymore right which makes
00:45:37
you believe when he's checking into a VA hospital this is all a part of it hey look I'm being accused of something this
00:45:44
is this is heinous I see why an individual would want to do anything you want to give me truth serum you want to
00:45:52
give me a a polygraph test I'm not involved in this I I think and we've talked about this before I think it's
00:46:00
one of the scariest things in the world to think about being accused of a heinous crime
00:46:05
with little to no evidence and how much that can affect these individuals lives can I tell you what the local rumor and
00:46:14
local thought was on Harold bound and his his reaction to the investigation no I'm tired of you talking okay so
00:46:22
the general thought here is that because he served in Vietnam because he served in the war that what he witnessed there
00:46:31
what he experienced there left him mentally unstable and it was it was Harold that that understood this
00:46:40
though he he knew that he wasn't of mind to put up a fight and to Proclaim his innocence in the in the
00:46:49
you know in a sense that that made sense to him I guess and the idea is that he was living at home and he was working
00:46:56
for his parents because of what he suffered in the war that might have been the extent of his capabilities at that
00:47:04
time and then when he became under under Fire and under questioning for this Abduction
00:47:10
of a girl that it that it tipped him and he said this is the only way I know how
00:47:14
to handle this I need to go get checked out and get looked at where some Proclaim that that is a sign of
00:47:22
guilt that he's trying to Shield himself or run away from the problem other others suggests that it's just
00:47:30
he's innocent and doesn't understand how to properly fight this and I don't blame
00:47:35
him I mean you're being talked to by the FBI and multiple agencies and in the end
00:47:41
what we do know took place is he was polygraphed multiple times he was questioned after they administered truth
00:47:48
serum by his own request and at some point law enforcement they've never cleared him but we know that they moved
00:47:55
on from him right so again though I mean can you imagine being accused of a crime like this this
00:48:03
is a heinous crime against this young beautiful girl this uh smart intelligent girl she
00:48:09
has so much promise and and you kind of know her you you at least you might not know her that well but she works where
00:48:18
you uh right she ties to you direct ties to you and the fact that once people didn't I I'm getting flustered and Amy's
00:48:30
mother's mentioned in that phone call on the ruse and he would have likely have known her as well yeah but it's just
00:48:38
once you're accused of this or there's some speculation about you and then you're trying to clear yourself and I'm
00:48:44
sure there's some people in his family that gave him some looks and he knew that they just didn't believe him and I
00:48:51
just think that would crush her spirits yeah I think for for the most part it sounds like his family had his back now
00:48:59
regarding his brothers Greg and his statements that appear in uh renner's book Amy my search for her killer
00:49:09
that statement about the blue pickup truck that law enforcement said to the family that Amy was taken away in a blue
00:49:17
pickup truck that's the only place I've ever seen that statement and in fact I don't know
00:49:23
how Greg came up with that maybe in fact he was told that by law enforcement but
00:49:28
I've also seen public statements from very early on in the investigation where they were outright telling the public we
00:49:36
do not have a description of a vehicle and on top of that when they release these composite drawings and I'm sorry
00:49:43
I'm holding these up and yelled at the captain when they release these composite sketches of of who they think
00:49:49
was at the plaza that day if they had a freaking vehicle description it would have been included on that as you and I
00:49:55
have said many times vehicle description is so much easier a vehicle's easier to
00:50:00
track down than a drawing of a person right and I even have a newspaper article from
00:50:08
very early on shortly after her body was found where the chief of police for Bay
00:50:14
Village is saying I would give anything for even a vague description of a vehicle we don't have that right so I
00:50:23
don't know where that information came from but it doesn't seem to be accurate it may have just been a way of cranking
00:50:29
up the heat and asking some questions and hoping that this dude might crack but the other thing that we might we
00:50:35
need to think about too when we talk about Harold being a good suspect or not being a good suspect you can be a good
00:50:42
suspect in the eyes of law enforcement for a period of time and then thoroughly checked and then no longer
00:50:48
a good suspect in their eyes right so we reference those sweatpants that were found near or on the property of Holly
00:50:57
Hill we we need to think about this portion of the investigation too the pair of
00:51:03
pants that were found on Holly Hill Farm property that made Harold or someone from Holly Hill look like they were
00:51:10
involved we know the the results of the autopsy remember when Amy was found she was
00:51:17
found fully clothed right redressed after death most likely but fully clothed those pants that were found on
00:51:24
that property simply were not hers now dick Wren when asked around the 10-year anniversary about Harold bound
00:51:33
specifically random said he didn't do it I'm as certain as I can be in an uncertain world is his exact quote
00:51:41
in fact yeah back to this blue truck thing for a second you know it's it's heard one time you've seen it no other
00:51:51
time again is it is it something that was brought up by Renner That Was Then Twisted later
00:51:58
it's it's impossible well it was a statement from Harold's brother Greg to Renner right that's what I'm saying but
00:52:05
the statement uh this conversation that happened was there a Twist and Turn to get there you see what I'm saying and
00:52:13
and just because somebody put it in his book does not mean it's 100 accurate this is all I'm
00:52:21
putting out there well yeah and that's why I said we don't know where Greg came up with that information right you know
00:52:27
that I mean he could have he could have it could be total fantasy for all we know and that conversation happened
00:52:35
15 years after the abduction I think a lot of things get changed and distorted and and misremembered
00:52:43
[Music] now from the uh articles that came out around the 10-year anniversary in regards to both of the suspects that
00:52:54
we have discussed so far strewnack and Harold bound this is the the statement that they gave
00:53:02
at the 10-year the 10-year mark it says investigators are virtually unanimous in
00:53:08
the certainty that neither one of these individuals was involved in the abduction or murder of Amy mihalovic
00:53:14
well the other thing that I like about this individual is that there's there was other phone calls
00:53:23
made and there was a a set of girls or or one girl that actually rode horses at those Stables uh so there would be the
00:53:33
connection of the phone calls yes and again it's it's we're unable to determine which in fact phone calls were
00:53:41
connected to Amy's Amy's case [Music] [Music] laughs foreign [Music] I thank one and all for your support
00:54:05
your love and your concern without which I would not have been able to make it through this past year a year ago today
00:54:11
just across the street from the tree on the granite marker Amy was abducted from
00:54:15
a Bay Village shopping center a little more than three months later her body was found let's
00:54:21
fill the void that her passing has left with positive thoughts with a smile on our face and say she blessed our life
00:54:29
for a while unfortunately she is gone but now we must live on City and Civic leaders and law
00:54:38
enforcement officials spoke of love and Community togetherness and the Amy fund and the continuing search for the
00:54:44
child's killer we're not going to give up until we see this thing through Amy has touched Our Lives she will Live
00:54:52
Forever The Monument says that Amy lives on in our hearts Amy pulled a community
00:54:58
together as a family and we still are a family supporting each other loving each
00:55:04
other we know that Amy is in God's love and care and his love and care are with us
00:55:11
there was mourning and there were drawn faces and there were some tears but this
00:55:15
was not a ceremony of Sorrow put a smile on thank you for coming in Bay Village John Harrington Channel 3
00:55:24
News [Music] we want to thank everybody out there for listening for everything true crime go
00:55:35
to True Crime garage.com and until tomorrow be good be kind and don't litter foreign
00:56:04
[Applause] [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most heartbreaking
  • 65
    Most intense
  • 60
    Most emotional

Episode Highlights

  • The Disappearance of Amy Mihalovic
    A detailed timeline of the unsolved abduction and murder case of 10-year-old Amy Mihalovic.
    “This weekend will mark a sad anniversary: 30 years since Amy was abducted.”
    @ 05m 10s
    November 21, 2022
  • The Investigation's Intensity
    The Amy Mihalovic case became the most intense search for a child in local history.
    “Federal, state, county, and local law enforcement logged more than 60,000 official hours.”
    @ 07m 17s
    November 21, 2022
  • The Last Call
    Amy's last call to her mother occurred just before her abduction, raising many questions.
    “That was the last time Margaret ever spoke to Amy.”
    @ 09m 59s
    November 21, 2022
  • The Crime Scene Investigation
    Three key locations are identified as crime scenes in the investigation.
    “Those are the three places that we know.”
    @ 23m 35s
    November 21, 2022
  • The Missing Evidence
    Despite extensive searches, crucial evidence related to Amy's disappearance remains elusive.
    “There are items that Amy had on her person that have never been found.”
    @ 28m 44s
    November 21, 2022
  • Harold Bound: A Suspect Emerges
    Harold Bound, a stable worker, becomes a primary suspect due to his connection to Amy.
    “He worked at the horse stable where Amy went horseback riding on the weekends.”
    @ 29m 47s
    November 21, 2022
  • The Pain of Accusation
    The emotional toll of being accused of a heinous crime is profound.
    “Can you imagine being accused of a crime like this?”
    @ 48m 00s
    November 21, 2022
  • Community Togetherness
    City and Civic leaders spoke of love and unity in the wake of tragedy.
    “Amy pulled a community together as a family and we still are a family.”
    @ 55m 01s
    November 21, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • This was not a snatch and grab situation.
    Amy Mihaljevic - Suspects /// Part 1 /// 345
  • That's critical; it bought him an hour or more precious getaway time.
    Amy Mihaljevic - Suspects /// Part 1 /// 345
  • We don't have much evidence to suggest that she went back to his house.
    Amy Mihaljevic - Suspects /// Part 1 /// 345
  • There was a place that she was killed—that's the missing puzzle piece here.
    Amy Mihaljevic - Suspects /// Part 1 /// 345
  • The man who took and killed Amy does not look like the composite drawing.
    Amy Mihaljevic - Suspects /// Part 1 /// 345
  • This is a heinous crime against this young, beautiful girl.
    Amy Mihaljevic - Suspects /// Part 1 /// 345

Key Moments

  • Shoutouts01:27
  • 30-Year Anniversary05:10
  • Amy's Last Call09:59
  • Crime Scene Analysis23:30
  • Missing Evidence28:41
  • Polygraph Tests45:03
  • Accusation Pain48:00
  • Memorial Reflection54:21

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown