Bay Village Police detectives are one step closer to solving a cold-case murder from more than 30 years ago, giving Mark Mihaljevic some hope.
More than three decades later, Mark said the person responsible for killing his daughter, Amy Mihaljevic, is still unknown.
“Whenever you look back on time, it seems like it just happened yesterday,” said Mark.
Even as Mark and his family continue to grieve through this unbearable pain, he said he has never given up hope.
“Never, never, never,” he said. “There’s no reason to until they find the person that did it.”
New DNA evidence recently found on Amy's clothing may someday lead to the discovery of her killer's identity.
“This idea that you can beat DNA or beat the program just doesn’t happen much anymore,” said Mark.
According to the Bay Village Police Department, her clothing was recently retested, and a lab found an unknown man's DNA on them, but there's one problem—the amount of DNA collected is too low to be used to create a profile.
However, authorities said they hope new DNA testing procedures that could be available in the future may shine a light on the decades-old murder.
"We are being told there may be new DNA tests on the horizon that can identify DNA profiles with the small amount of DNA we have. We're optimistic that DNA advancements can possibly lead us to a break in the case in the future," said Bay Village Police Detective Sgt. Jay Elish.
Amy's disappearance
On Oct. 27, 1989, Amy received a phone call that would lead to one of Northeast Ohio’s most high-profile kidnapping and murder investigations.
She was home alone when the phone rang. To this day, the person on the other end of the call is still unknown, as is what was said during the conversation with Amy.
What is known, however, is that the caller convinced her to meet at a nearby shopping center so the two of them could buy a gift for her mother.
Amy's classmates told police they had seen her talking to an unknown man near the barbershop at Bay Village Square on the afternoon of her disappearance.
Her body was found on Feb. 8, 1990. She had been stabbed to death and left in a field on Township Road 1181 in Ashland County.
In 2021, investigators announced that a curtain found several hundred yards from her body had her DNA on it and may hold a clue to what happened to her.
RELATED: Bay Village reveals new clues in Amy Mihaljevic case, ask for public's help
The killer's identity remains a mystery.
Anyone with information about Amy Mihaljevic’s death is asked to call investigators at 1-877-FBI-OHIO or the Bay Village Police Department at 440-871-1234.
Memorial run & walk
Amy’s case has attracted people like Bay Village resident Mark Kevesdy, who started a remembrance walk for Amy four years ago.
“If we do nothing in these scenarios, then more times than not, things won't happen,” said Kevesdy, who is the Walk for Amy organizer.
Kevesdy said he’s hopeful this effort will continue to raise awareness and money for the “Amy Fund,” which he said is all used to help detectives with the investigation for things like DNA testing.
“I know there's many cases that are unsolved that maybe in some scenarios they don't have the same momentum, they don't have the same support network, and Amy is one of, I'm sure thousands of cases right across the country, so maybe it can be a model down the road,” said Kevesdy.
The Amy Mihaljevic Memorial Run & Walk is to be held in Cahoon Park, Bay Village, on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 9 a.m.
To register, click here.
