Amy Mihaljevic

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In the fall of nineteen eighty nine, ten year old
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Amy Mahalev went missing after getting a call from an
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unknown man on the family's home phone. Her bike was
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found at her school, but she never came home. Later,
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Amy's body would be found dumped and her community devastated
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by her brutal abduction and murder. Nearly thirty five years later,
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her case remains unsolved and Amy's killer still free. As
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a trigger warner, this episode will describe a brutal assault
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and murder of a child. Please use extra listener discretion
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for this case. Chapter one the call. In early October
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nineteen eighty nine, ten year old Amy Mahalavic was inside
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of her Lynford drive home in Bay Village, Ohio after school.
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When the phone rang, She picked it up, and a
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man on the other end of the line claimed that
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he was friends with Amy's mom, Margaret, and he knew
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that she'd just gotten a big promotion at the magazine
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Company short for Trading Times magazine. Because her mom had
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recently been working a lot of extra hours the magazine,
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Amy likely felt that her mom was indeed getting a promotion,
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so when the man said he needed Amy's help to
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buy her mother's celebration gift, she enthusiastically agreed. It probably
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helped that the man promised to Amy a little gift
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for herself for helping him out, but one condition was
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she'd have to meet up with him at the Base Where,
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a shopping center not far from Amy's home on Friday,
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October twenty seventh. Amy agreed, and since it was supposed
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to be a surprise for her mom, she never said
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anything to her parents. On Friday the twenty seventh, Amy
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was seen leaving school on foot at around two thirty pm.
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Amy and her older brother Jason often walked or biked
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home from school by themselves and then called their parents
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to let them know they'd arrived at home. Jason made
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it home at three o'clock, expecting his sister to be
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close behind him, but by three point fifteen, Amy wasn't there,
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which was incredibly odd. Jason immediately called his mom at work,
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but Margaret wasn't too concern because Amy had said she
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was trying out for a quorl group at school and
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was probably late because of tryouts. Well. Amy's mother would
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later tell the media that she had a very bad feeling.
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Even though she told her son Jason not to worry,
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she hoped deep down that the quarrel tryouts were indeed
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the reason that Amy hadn't gotten home, and to Margaret's relief,
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she received the call from Amy at around three point forty,
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but the usually talkative fifth grader only gave Margaret one
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word answers to the questions of how school had been
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and whether or not Amy had gotten into the choir.
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It seemed weird to Margaret, and after she hung up
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the phone with her daughter, she couldn't let go of
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the nagging feeling that something was very, very wrong. Chapter two,
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Missing Child. Margaret left work immediately, hoping and praying that
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Amy was just in a bad mood or upset about
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a bad quarrel addition, and would be waiting to unleash
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all of her ten year old emotions on Margaret as
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soon as she walked in the door, but only Jason
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was home when she arrived at around four thirty pm.
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Margaret's heart sank when she learned that Amy had never
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come home and the call to her work from Amy
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hadn't been made from the family's home phone. Margaret jumped
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into her car and anxiously drove to Bay Middle School,
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hoping that he was still there. When she arrived at
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the school, she found Amy's bike still chained to the
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bike rack, but there was no sign of Amy. Margaret
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later told the media that seeing the bike alone there
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was all she needed to know that her daughter had
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been abducted. She drove directly to the local police and
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put in a missing person's report for Amy, explaining the
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strange phone call from her daughter and that Amy had
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never made it home from school, though Amy had technically
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only been missing for about an hour based on Margaret's
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last phone call with her, police took the case seriously,
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putting out a police bulletin at five point fifteen pm.
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Learning all surrounding agencies of Amy's potential.
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Abduction tak camby in the corner.
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By six pm, police swarmed the Mahalvik residence just as
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Amy's father, Mark arrived home from work. Upon being told
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that his daughter was missing, Mark took the police over
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every inch of the house and yard, hoping for some
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clue as to where Amy had gone or who might
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have taken her. As words spread through the neighborhood that
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Amy was missing, friends and family joined the search, going
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through the town and even the ravine that bordered the highway,
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but their efforts didn't produce any sign of Amy. By
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the second day of community searching, local police contacted the FBI,
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as well as neighboring police departments and highway patrol, but
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there was still no sign of Amy. Chapter three a
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targeted victim. The lead FBI agent on the case happened
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to be a neighbor of the Mahlavics. Agent Dick Wren,
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lived in Bay Village, not far from Amy's house. He
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had children around Amy's age who went to school with her,
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and he knew the area and the residents there well.
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His familiarity with the town and rapport with the people
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that lived there was a boon for the case, and
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after Wren spoke to one of his neighbors, he got
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a huge clue. The neighbor's daughter was a classmate of
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Amy's and had information that she thought would help. The
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girl told investigators that Amy had been telling friends and
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classmates about the strange man who had called wanting to
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get her mom a promotion present. Based on corroborated stories
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from several of Amy's friends, this man had not just
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called Amy one time, but several times over the course
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of a few weeks, all in an effort to set
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up a meeting to buy this gift. From agent Wren's perspective,
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the gave several insights into who Amy's abductor was. He'd
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known enough about Amy's family to have given specific information
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to make Amy believe him, including knowledge of where her
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parents worked. He also not only knew her phone number,
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which could have been looked up in a directory, but
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he clearly knew the area where she lived to have
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offered up the Bay Square shopping center as a meet
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up spot, which was a walkable distance from her school.
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The fact that he called her multiple times when neither
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of her parents would have been home also meant that
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he knew her patterns and that she and her brother
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walked home from school and would be alone for several
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hours before their parents were turned from work. This hadn't
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been an abduction of opportunity or a random incident. Amy
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had been targeted, lured, and snatched by a very calculated assailant.
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The question was who was he and where had he
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taken Amy? While Agent Wren had no evidence, had he
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at least had a place to start the Bay Square
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shopping Center. Hundreds of shoppers were interviewed to see if
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anyone had seen Amy, and to Agent Wren's great luck,
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many people had. Two of Amy's classmates told Wren that
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they were at the mall in the twenty seventh and
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they saw her waiting on the curb outside one of
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the businesses. After a few minutes, a white male who
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looked about thirty approached her, put his hand on her shoulder,
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and guided her through the parking lot around three o'clock
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in the afternoon. This meant that the call Amy had
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made to her mom at three point forty was after
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she was already with her abductor. Based on knowing the
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kind of perpetrator they were working, with run later told
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the press, we knew if we didn't find her quick,
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it was clear we were dealing with a crisis situation.
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Chapter four Ohio's largest missing person search. Only fifteen hours
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after Amy went missing, flyers with Amy's picture and the
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details of her abduction were hung in hundreds of locations
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around the Bay Village area, and by the next day,
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thousands more had been shipped to every town within the
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three state radius in case the abductor had left the area.
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The entire town of Bay Village mobilized at the police station,
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handing out flashlights for night searches, and over the next
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several days, hundreds of people from the surrounding areas joined
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the search, and search dogs scoured several areas. There were
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so many volunteers the top floor of city Hall was
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converted into a command center to handle the influx of
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the donations that included meals for the volunteers, financial assistance
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for search equipment, and the media, allts wanting to get
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in to cover the case. As the volunteer director, Howard
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Kimball told Cleveland Magazine, people were so good, so amazing.
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A printing company donated all the print work and insisted
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We never mentioned their name, the airlines, the TV station's restaurants.
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You know. We asked for paper, and so much came
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in one day we had to move it to the
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fire station. Volunteers searched for months from the night of
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Amy's abduction, all through the fall and into the winner,
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while federal, state, and local law enforcement clocked over sixty
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thousand hours chasing down eight thousand tips and leads. They
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interviewed thousands of people to build a profile on Amy
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and who her abductor could have been, and they whittled
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down a suspect pull to one hundred and twenty people
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of interest. Between the police and volunteers, two million copies
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of Amy's missing poster were distributed across all fifty United States,
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as well as parts of Europe and Australia. The search
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to bring Amy Mahallavick home is still the largest search
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for any person in in Ohio's history. But unfortunately, for
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all the tenacity of the police and citizen volunteer, Amy's
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story would not have a happy ending. On February eighth,
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nineteen ninety, over three months since Amy had been abducted,
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a woman named Janet Sebeld was jogging around the desolate
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road of County Route eleven eighty one when she noticed
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a little body and seafoam green fabric lying in the
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high dead weeds. As Amy Mahalivic was last seen in
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a seafoam green sweatsuit, and Janet was familiar with that
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detail having seen the story in the news, she was
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pretty sure she had just found Amy. She immediately ran
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to the nearest farmhouse and called nine one one. The
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area quickly swarm with police and FBI, who blocked off
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the road and secured the scene. Though her body was
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very badly decomposed, it was clearer to investigators that the
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remains they had found Raymy Mahalavic's. The search was over,
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but now Bay Village police and the FBI had to
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break the horrible news to them. Halvic's Amy had been found,
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but she wasn't alive. Chapter five. What happened to Amy.
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At the crime scene, which was located about a seventy
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minute drive from the Base Square shopping mall, investigators found
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a beige blanket and a homemade green curtain that looked
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to have been repurposed out of a quilt. Both items
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lay about three hundred feet from Amy's body, and investigator's
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surmised it was possible she'd been wrapped in them when
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her abductor dumped her body while she was dressed. The
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black boots, turquoise horse stud earrings, and white bracelet she
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had last been seen wearing were missing. Her sweatsuit also
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had several gold fibers on them that investigators later determined
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came from the carpet of a GM vehicle produced between
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nineteen seventy five and nineteen seventy eight. As she was
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taken for an autopsy, the gold fibers were bagged for
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later testing, along with the blanket and curtain. Amy's school
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bag was also recovered from the scene, and though her
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books were still inside, several smaller items were found missing,
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as well, as a sleek, black leather folder with a
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brass clasp emblazoned with a Buick logo. The folder was
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a gift from Amy's father, one he had been given
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from his job at the General Motors Company. The fact
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that it would have only been given to employees made
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it a rare folder and something police felt was significant
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in that the inductor had kept it. If they found
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any suspects with that kind of folder, in their possession,
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it would certainly pique their interest. After being taken for
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an autopsy, it was discovered that Amy's underwear had been
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put on inside out and had a bloodstain on them,
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leading the coroner to believe Amy's abductor had sexually assaulted
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her and redressed her. Her cause of death was ruled
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as multiple small stab wounds to the neck that had
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cut the main artery, causing her to bleed to death.
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She also had blunt force trauma to the head, resulting
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in a brain bleed. The autopsy revealed Amy had been
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killed a few hours after she'd been taken, as there
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was undigested Chinese food in her stomach, leading investigators to
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believe that her killer fed her at the mall before
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taking her somewhere to assault and murder her. It was
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estimated that she was dumped on the field off Highway
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eleven eighty one only a few days after being killed.
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The fact that her parents had n't been contacted with ransom,
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and no one interviewed in those critical first days could
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offer up anyone who'd once hurt Amy or the Mallowe family,
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investigators assumed that this was not someone who was close
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to Amy. Her family and instead was a sexual predator.
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But who was this man? It's a question that still
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haunts law enforcement to this day. Chapter six The continued
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search for her child killer. Over the past thirty five years,
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both Bay Village Police and the FBI have worked tirelessly
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to find out who abducted and murdered Amy On on
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that fateful October afternoon eineteen eighty nine. Unfortunately, though they
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were able to whittle the suspect pool down to around
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twenty persons of interest, no conclusive evidence has ever been
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found definitively tying anyone to Amy's murder, but some inclusive
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come out over the years that will hopefully bring Amy's
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killer to justice. One day in two thousand and six,
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investigators found out that Amy hadn't been the only girl
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in the Bay Village area to have received phone calls
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from a strange man. Several girls who lived in North Olmsted,
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a town only a short distance outside of Bay Village,
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had also been targeted by a man on the phone,
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and he told those girls that he needed help buying
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a gift for their parents. Interestingly, several of these girls
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had unlisted phone numbers. Though the running theories that their
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phone numbers had been obtained from the log book of
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the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center, as all the
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girls from North Olmsted who received the calls had visit, visited,
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and signed the guestbook at the center. Likewise, Amy and
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her family were frequent visitors to the nature Center, and
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Amy two had left her phone number in the log
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book at one time. Though this was groundbreaking information, there's
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been no public knowledge about whether or not Amy had
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anything else in common with these girls from North Olmsted.
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This doesn't mean there aren't any additional connections between Amy
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and Halavic and these calls to other girls, but if
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there are other links, they've been kept from the public.
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The FBI also created a profile on the killer, along
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with a sketch based on the eyewitness accounts from Amy's
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classmates who had been to the mall and seen Amy
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that they According to the FBI, Amy's killer was a
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white male between the ages of thirty and thirty five,
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between five foot eight and five foot ten, and of
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medium build at the time she was abducted. This man
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was said to be unremarkable in appearance and would have
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looked presentable but not accomplished a professional based on over
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ten years have acquired evidence. In profiling, the FBI described
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him as socially marginalized and unable to fit in well
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with his peers, particularly female peers. People who knew him
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may have described him as difficult or someone who acted oddly.
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They theorized that he was someone who lived alone or
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maybe was residing with his parents, but he was not
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someone living the typical white picket fence American life with
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a spouse, two children, and a dog. Profilers also believed
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Amy's killer had gone through some kind of personality or
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behavioral snap not long before abducting Amy. They described it
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as something drastic that family or close relations would have noticed.
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Examples given are starting or ending a drug habit, sudden
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heavy drinking or sudden abstention if he was a drinker,
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a new radical fascination with a cult or religious group,
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or the sudden onset of mental health issue like obsessive
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compulsive disorder or depression following a catastrophic life event. Profilers
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also believed that Amy's killer was not a transient passerby
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extensive knowledge of the locations, phone numbers, and logistics of
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Amy's schedule show that he was either resident of Bay
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village or worked as a delivery person or contractor a
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reason to know the area. Likewise, the placement of Amy's
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body offer Rout eleven eighty one shows that he spent
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a lot of time on that highway, and he knew
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the exact place where he could dump her body so
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that a long time would pass before someone would find it.
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They also believed that Amy's killer was familiar with the
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Mahalavik family in some fashion, since he seemed to know
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so many personal details. What makes Amy's killer so particularly
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hard to catch is that, as far as the FBI knows,
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there have been no other abductions or murders like Amy's
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in the area using the same phone call ruse. They
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surmise that Amy's killer may have changed his technique as
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technological advances with phones created instant caller ID, but without
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a pattern of similar behavior, there's no one from the
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suspect pool who can definitively be pointed to. The FBI
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is de termined that in seventy percent of cases like Amy's,
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there are unknown witnesses with vital information that could lead
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to the killer's arrest. This includes women who may have
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been sexually assaulted by the perpetrator who never reported it,
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females who felt uncomfortable in his presence but never said anything,
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or even family and neighbors who noticed odd behavior or
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change in personality. Perhaps they knew he had a vehicle
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with a yellow carpet, or they noticed a man in
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his thirties with jewelry belonging to young girl. Perhaps someone
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noticed him with the sleek black folder from Amy's backpack. Likewise,
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the curtain found with Amy's body was very unique, and
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the FBI have posted photos of it in several articles,
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hoping someone would recognize it and be able to give
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information on where it came from. While memories have faded
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in the past thirty five years, law enforcement still urges
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anyone who may remember something about a man fitting this
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profile to contact the FBI with their recollections Chapter seven
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New Findings. In twenty sixteen, investigators sent several hairs found
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on the blanket and curtained from the crime scene to
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be tested. They came back as Amy's hair infer from
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the Mahalavik family dog, which solidified the theory that Amy's
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killer wrapped her in these items before dumping her, allowing
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her hair and that of her dog to be transferred
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from her clothes, but technology was still not far enough
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along for investigators to feel safe sending small DNA samples
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from Amy's clothing to be tested. They feared it would
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degrade or be destroyed and not be able to be tested.
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When further advancements had been made. In twenty twenty, a
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potential new suspect was brought to police attention. The ex
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girlfriend of the sixty four year old man came forward
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to tell police that she'd been dating this publicly unidentified
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man at the time of Amy's abduction, and that he
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had been uncharacteristically absent from their home the day Amy
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was abducted, and he had been in close proximity to
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the base where a shopping around the time Amy went missing.
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He was employed in Bay Village and had a niece
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who was Amy's age and went to her school. He
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also allegedly called his girlfriend the evening after the abduction,
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inquiring if she'd seen the news. Investigators took this tip seriously,
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interviewing the man on several occasions, as well as taking
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his DNA and giving him a polygraph test, which he
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allegedly failed. A warrant was also granted to police to
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search a storage unit in the man's name. The search
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of the storage locker led to several items being confiscated. Likewise,
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a background search into the ownership records of the man's
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vehicles showed that he owned a vehicle around the time
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of Amy's abduction with a carpet similar to the fibers
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or on the crime scene. In addition, a vehicle of
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a similar make and model to the car he owned
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in nineteen eighty nine amy was killed. Was witnessed part
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near the dump site of Amy's body on Route eleven
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eighty one in February nineteen ninety, but at this time
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no caress has been made since there is in conclusive
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evidence to make any arrest. As of twenty twenty three,
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several samples from Amy's clothes were sent to the lab,
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but unfortunately the samples are too small, too degraded to
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00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:25.640
create a suspect profile. But there are still the blanket
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and curtain. Samples from these were sent to the lab
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in October of twenty twenty three, and investiators hope there
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will be enough DNA to create a forensic profile of
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a suspect, but for now, Amy's killer remains at large.
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Chapter eight Amy's legacy, while her family still hopes for
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justice all these years later, they haven't been sitting idly
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by her mother, Margaret co founded the Community Fund for
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Assisting Missing Youth not long after Amy's murder. Sadly, the
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fund no longer exists, since Margaret died in two thousand
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and one from complications with alcoholism brought on by her
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daughter's murder. Before she died, Margaret made regular TV appearances
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through the fund, hoping to generate more leads than Amy's case.
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The fund also provided education to elementary school students about
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stranger danger and avoiding abduction. The town of Bay Village
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also hosts an annual memorial walk in Amy's honor every
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year on October twenty sixth. The walk also acts as
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a fundraiser to build funds for the Amy Fund, which
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are funds the local police department uses for forensic DNA
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testing in Amy's continued investigation. Bay Village's goal for twenty
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twenty four was to raise ten thousand dollars to send
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more evidence out for testing. If any of our listeners
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live in the Bay Village area and would like to
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participate in Amy's memorial walk or make a donation. We'll
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have a link to the sign up in our show notes,
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Chapter nine Call to Action. Amy Mahalvick's case is still
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open and active. The FBI and the Bay Village Police
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are still hoping for a break and any tip or
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piece of information could be the key to finally arresting
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her killer. If any of our listeners know anything that
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they could potentially help in Amy's case, we asked that
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you contact the FBI at one eight hundred call FBI
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00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:30.480
or the Bay Village Police Department at four four zero
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00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:34.720
eight seven to one one two three four for our
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00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:37.680
listeners looking to learn more about Amy's case. Her story
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00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:40.519
has been covered by several media outlets. We invite you
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00:24:40.599 --> 00:24:43.200
to check out some of them. The book Amy, My
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00:24:43.319 --> 00:24:46.799
Search for Her Killer by James Runner, the documentary The
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00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:51.359
Lake Erie Murders Who Killed Amy mahalivic and datelines episode
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Unforgettable What Happened to Amy. We hope that by telling
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00:24:55.559 --> 00:24:58.599
her story here, Amy's case will reach more people who
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00:24:58.680 --> 00:25:02.759
might have potential information Cracker case. We encourage you to
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00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:05.599
share this episode to give it a wider audience and
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00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:08.160
spread the word to help bring Amy's killer to justice
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once and for all. Audience invitation, is there a case
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00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:17.119
or an unexplained communication you'd like us to cover, Please
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00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:19.480
take the time to rate and review the show, and
415
00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:21.839
in your comments tell us what case you'd like us
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00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:24.680
to tackle. You can also follow us and reach us
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00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:29.440
on social media. We're on x dot com at killercpod
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00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:35.559
and on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Killer Communications Podcast,
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00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:39.279
and be sure to check out our website Killercommunications Podcast
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dot com Killer Communications Listeners. If you want to support
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support is greatly appreciated. Just a heads up. New episodes
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of Killer Communications air every other Saturday. Thanks for listening,
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and we hope you'll join us on the next episode
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of Killer Communications.
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Killer Communications is narrated and produced by Mike Morphord for
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Abject Entertainment. It's researched and written by Abigail Belcastro. Be
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sure to visit the show's website, Killercommunications podcast dot com
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