BAY VILLAGE, Ohio — On October 27, 1989, 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic was last seen walking the Bay Village Square Shopping Center parking lot. She was to meet someone there who would help her buy a gift for her mother.
Eyewitnesses recounted seeing Amy speaking with a white male in his 30s. She was kidnapped, and in February of 1990, a jogger found her lifeless body in Ashland County.
This Oct. 27 will mark 35 years that that case has remained unsolved. Amy's father Mark has never given up hope police would find who murdered his only daughter
"Never, from Day One," he said Tuesday. "They will find the person that did it."
Law enforcement sources confirm to 3News there is new DNA that could be linked to the killer. For years, investigators have focused on two objects that did contain DNA: a rug and curtain. Now, however, there could be a third item with what authorities believe could be the killer's hair.
Mark Mihaljevic is slightly optimistic.
"After that amount of time, you get your highs and your lows," he stated. "One time when it was a high, it turned out to be a low, so you just kind of sort of even them out and sit back and see what's going to happen."
But he does know that, after 35 years, DNA technology takes time.
"I just hope that it's not six months," he said. "I hope they ... get it going in three months."
Mark has processed the case in his head many times, and believes his child would never get in a car with a stranger.
"She was very quiet, very reserved," he remembered. "But once you were a friend of Amy's, then you had a friend."
Mihaljevic says he has made friends with the detectives over the years. After all, he does believe Bay Village police will find out who murdered Amy and why, and he would never question the investigation or give up hope in finding justice.
"Never, never, never," he said. "They'll find him."