The horror story in Cleveland last week has generated a lot of new interest in Amy Mihaljevic's cold case, including info on a new suspect who has a lot of strange connections to the case.
It began with this email from a former student of McKinley Elementary in Elyria:
I went to elementary school at McKinley elementary in Elyria, Ohio and in 1989 I was in Kindergarten and I remember watching Amy’s sad case on the news as well as the increased awareness it caused in my already over protective mother. But anyway, my art teacher at the school was named Mr. ******* ( I apologize for not knowing his first name) and he resembles the drawing of the man on the FBI posters (the side with the glasses). In addition, he used to talk to us all the time about how he would occasionally teach in other are schools including Bay Village and North Ridgeville and in one particular art class he mentioned teaching in the same school that Amy went to as if he was proud of that fact. I don’t know why I remember this but he was also obsessed with the teenage mutant ninja turtles which were popular at the time. Anyhow, as a child he always made me uncomfortable, often making myself and a couple other girls hold his hand as we walked through the halls and when other teachers would pass he would drop our hands as if he knew he was doing something wrong. He was my art teacher from kindergarten until fourth grade and during that time there was another incident around the time of second grade that made me very uncomfortable in the kiln room at the school. Also noteworthy, is the time he called my home and when my mom picked up he said he was calling to apologize for the paint that I got on my clothes that day and to tell her how to get it out in the wash, despite the fact that it wasn’t an issue at all, let alone one my mom had complained to him about. In the course of the conversation he talked to her a lot about his step son named Stephen. That is all I really recall other than when my mom hung up the phone she told my sisters and I to stay away from him because he also gave her a bad feeling.
Of course, I pulled his personnel file at the school. He took some classes at Ashland University, not far from where Amy's body was found. And his wife teaches in Ashland city schools.
I drove out to meet him. He says he's never been questioned in the case and has no connection to the Nature Center... BUT he said at the time of Amy's abduction he taught at Baycrafters, the art school down the road from the Nature Museum in the Metroparks.
The key to this case is figuring out how Amy's killer got her phone number and the phone numbers of a number of other girls from North Olmsted who were also called. I've heard from one of these girls (now a woman) who says she did take art classes there at that time.
Developing.
