Reward for Information

I'm offering $1000 for the first person to bring me a copy (or the original) of the Nature Center logbook with Amy's name on it, or proof that Dean Runkle was once a volunteer with the organization.

No questions asked.

Nature Center responds

Here's the response going out from the Nature Center to those of you who sent messages earlier:

Thanks for your inquiry. You should know that all of us at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center cherish Amy’s memory as a special child who loved our Center. We continue to pledge our full cooperation with the Bay Village Police Department and the FBI, as we have over the past 21 years, including opening all of our records for police inspection with no exclusions. We stand ready to help in any additional way possible should any new requests come from the law enforcement officials investigating the case.

Lake Erie Nature & Science Center is committed to maintaining a welcoming and safe environment where children and families come to learn, play and be inspired. Everyone on our staff is devoted to serving children and we share the community’s desire to see justice done for Amy Mahaljevic.

We are the stewards of a valued community resource with a 60-year history. We appreciate each and every one of our visitors, supporters and friends. Amy Mahaljevic was one of those friends and a plaque in her honor continues to hang in our Public Resource Center. We also honor her memory by continuing to offer our unequivocal cooperation to the authorities charged with seeking justice.

Thank you for your email. I hope I’ve been able to shed some light on the situation and dispel misinformation. Please feel free to contact me if you have additional questions.

Sincerely,

Shawn Smith Salamone
Community Relations Manager
Lake Erie Nature & Science Center
28728 Wolf Road
Bay Village OH 44140

That's great, Shawn. But unfortunately, the police don't have the time nor manpower to devote to searching your entire archives. So, you're sitting on possible evidence while the case gets older. And for what reason? It's not like you're sitting on nuclear launch codes over there.

And, calling your office a "public resource center" doesn't change the fact that the plaque is in a place where 90% of visitors will never see it. It should be in the museum, where Amy spent her time.

Lake Erie Nature & Science Center Still Doesn't Care About Amy

So I stopped by the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center today to introduce myself to new director Catherine Timko. The conversation was civil and was going well until I started talking about Dean Runkle and the logbook and asked to see the records they keep in the basement.

Amy, and the other girls who were called by her killer, visited the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center shortly before Amy was abducted. It's one of the few ways they are all connected. The woman Runkle was working with in 1989 has said that Runkle was breeding mice which he would take to the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center so they could feed them to the snakes. Several of Runkle's students at Amherst also said that Runkle was a volunteer at the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. But the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center wants to pretend he was never there. The police and FBI have gone through some of their records but not nearly everything--they were never even given access to some storage rooms on site and off.

Catherine Timko, instead of taking some initiative, fell back on the old statement of: "We're cooperating with the police as far as they have any interest." My point is, if there's nothing to hide, why not let me look for Runkle's name or that logbook? What in the world could it possibly hurt? It's not like Catherine Timko is guarding some state secret.

Maybe there's a need for a civil protest sometime in the future.

Oh, and Amy's plaque is still hidden in the office.

You can contact Catherine Timko and the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center at Catherinet@lensc.org

21 Years

I'm sitting here at Java Bay, the coffee shop in Bay Square, watching a group of contractors restore the doric column that Amy was twirling around the day she was abducted, 21 years ago this afternoon.

I still believe this case will be solved. I don't know why. Just a feeling.

Of the myriad new details we've learned about this case over the last couple years, I think the most important bit is knowing now--at least with 99% certainty--where Amy's killer parked that day. Rick Burns, who runs the auto shop on the corner of Dover Center and Wolf came forward a while ago and said he distinctly remembers a gold-colored Pontiac parked at his shop that day, in the space closest to the plaza. A Cuyahoga County judge came forward last year, backing up this claim. It explains why nobody saw Amy get into a car--her killer led her around the corner, away from the main parking lot, in an attempt to limit witnesses.

It says something about the mindset of her killer.

Besides being a coward, this man was calculating. Smart, but able to relate well with children. Able to earn their trust. Able to speak their juvenile language.

In a related note, I left a message on Dean Runkle's cell phone today, as I do every October 27.