Saturday, April 24, 2010

Questions, Answers, and Opinions

I thought some of you may have questions, answers, or opinions you would like to comment on as we go along. Feel free . I don't know that I would have the right answers but someone on here will or I'll try to find it. It's been a long haul for this case but I'm confident the end is near. Moving on...........

letshearit2010@hotmail.com

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you think that this case will be solved this year?

Liz Russ said...

Yes there's a good chance that it will be. I only think positive about this case. Just like a puzzle it can and will be figured out.

Judi said...

Liz,
I know you had an idea of whom the abductor might be. I thought you had turned in that information to the authorities. Have you heard if there has been any attention given to this person? You believed that the person matched the profile closely. Correct me if I am misinformed.

AP said...

Was the man who murdered Amy the same man who was calling other girls in the area?

If so, how he acquired their phone numbers (some of them unlisted) is the key to solving this case.

I have read differing opinions as to whether the abductor and the caller are in fact, the same person. I feel that they are.

Anonymous said...

I really think the abductor was a Firelands-area guy and the killer was a Bay/Westlake area guy...the question is how they are linked together, and whether there may be a third person linking them.

Kurt has to be near the top of the list of the killer suspects, although there is almost no way he could've pulled off the abduction without being noticed.

The abductor...for me Dean, Al Matlock and Sam Tillerman are the top 3.

Liz Russ said...

Judi:

You are correct Judi. I still believe the person/s I turned in could very well be who the killer is. They do match all the things in the ten year report, and there is a good chance they were in both Bay Village and Ruggles. The connection would have been Al Matlock.I highly doubt I will hear anything as to whether authorities are looking at this man unless he is arrested. Yes I did turn in that information.

Liz Russ said...

AP:

I can't say that he was calling anyone other than Amy.He knew he had the chance of abducting Amy just because she was alone a great deal of the time. She was being watched,I believe by Al Matlock while he was staying at the house in Westlake.

I have never found anything which would make me think the random calls to the other girls was connected to Amy's calls in any way.I say random because some of them were unlisted. Do you know how many of the other girls got more than one call from the same person? I've only heard of one call to each which shows me they just picked numbers like the lottery and dialed the phone.The callers had a 50/50 chance of a female answering. According to what I've read the age of these females differed a great deal. So that tells me they didn't have a number written down to make a repeat call to the same person.

I don't believe the caller and the abductor were the same person.It's my opinion that Amy was being watched by Matlock and he knew the abductor who in turn got Amy's number from the babysitting poster and called her. I also believe they were together when the abduction took place as Amy did have to know who to look for and the fact that she probably would have fought back when she found she was in trouble. They couldn't be driving down the road with a screaming kicking little girl in the car, that would have been noticable to people on the street.
You could be right , I'm just not seeing it at this time, and that could change.Thanks for your comment!

Liz Russ said...

Anonymous:

It's my opinion that the abductor and the killer were both from the Ruggles area. One of the abductors I feel was only staying in the Westlake house while waiting for drug shipments then returning to the Ruggles area where he was from. As far as I see it that would be Al Matlock.

It's also my opinion that they were connected by the sale of drugs that was at that time comming into the Westlake house. This fits with the statements made by Bill Hayes because he was going to that house to get drugs and had to wait for the person who lived there. This person drove a semi. Bill had gone with Al Matlock to get them. I in no way am connecting Bill Hayes at this time to Amy.It's my opinion that there was a third party involved, that is the reason that Amy was taken in the first place.

The Westlake house was also the where "Ruth" fits in. I believe she knew the guys that went to that house.She may have also had a relative going there as well.I have found no reason for her not to say anything until latley unless she was covering for a relative.

I don't have a single thing to suggest Kurt was involved. Your right in thinking he couldn't pull something like this off in my opinion.

Again I've found nothing to suggest that Dean Runkle was involved either. I believe Sam Tillerman was also thrown out as a suspect way back, I may be wrong on that as I'm not certain. So really the only one still standing is Al Matlock. I don't feel Al was the killer though.

Judi said...

Liz,
I am just curious. Why do you think the caller had connections to the Ruggles area?
I was reading over in James's book the part about the sex tape. It seemed like the informants of that tidbit were deluded, but it is curious that Matlock would use that really degrading term when he mentioned Amy. Do you think there could be any truth to the tape idea?

esora said...

I personally do not believe the person that called those girls, and Amy's abductor/killer are the same.

The person that made the calls had a different motive. He appears to of been more of a shock value person. He made sexually suggestive comments, and also implied to the girl he called in Bay he was outside of her house. (She saw a white van, hence why everyone became frightened of a white van).

If what Amy told her friends was true, then the person that called her, did not make sexual comments, nor did he try to scare her.

I think it is just a coincidence these two things were going on in Bay at the same time, and that Amy's abduction scared the caller into stopping for a while. (I still would like to know more about the man in Avon, that Curious brought up, because I feel this could be the same person).

As for Kurt. I do not believe for one minute he was involved with Amy's abduction. I think James has, how should I say, misrepresented some facts about him. If you look into some things James has claimed about Kurt (and posters to the blog) you will find out certain things did NOT happen the way that is being claimed.

At this point, I don't think we have heard the real killer's names yet.

Liz Russ said...

Judi:

The caller was also from the Ruggles area. That's how he knew Matlock.

If you look at the photos of the inside of that house on county road 500 you will see the windows were covered with black plastic gargage bags over clear plastic. This is indicating to me that they covered the windows to do something they were affraid outsiders might see if they looked in,even though they were way out in the middle of a field surrounded by woods.It's my opinion that they did do something there they didn't want known, whether it was making a movie or something else.I wouldn't have put it past them to do so though. I don't believe it is still around if they did make a movie because it has been said that one of the men in it was recognized. So if that is true they would have had to distroy it to keep from being caught.The person that came across that tidbit of information came across it by accident.

Judi said...

Esora,
Could you refresh my memory in a couple of sentences about the man from Avon? Were you thinking that he could be involved in Amy's murder or with calling the other girls?

Judi said...

Liz,
When you say that one of the men in the "tape" was recognized, who recognized him? Was a name given to LE, and was the person questioned? Was the person who recognized him the informant who met with James and Mike Lewis, but seemed to be not too credible?

Liz Russ said...

Esora:

I agree that they are not the same people.

It's my opinion the caller stopped calling Amy because he had her. The others stopped because they were affriad they would be charged with taking Amy just because of making random calls and they had nothing to do with it.

I agree the real killers name has not been mentioned as of yet.

Liz Russ said...

Judi:

The persons name has already been turned in. This I know for a fact.
I don't know what the outcome of it was.

esora said...

Judi,

I believe the person in Avon that Curious talked about being in a dark car, and even being so bold to pull into driveways, is the guy that was calling the girls in Bay and North Olmsted. I think perhaps Amy's adduction scared him into stopping his activities (or perhaps he was in jail for something) and then resumed in Avon with the same sort of pattern.

Laura said...

My opinion is that the person who called Amy is the same person who killed her. I also believe that this person was known to Margaret and possibly the rest of the family. This person knew exactly what to say to Amy to gain her trust. He knew that Amy lived to please Margaret, knew that Margaret was really down as that time, knew that Amy was desperate to make Margaret happy. I think it was a sexually motivated crime that turned to murder after Amy resisted. I knew her and I know she would have fought like crazy.
Even as I type this I feel as horrified as I did in 1989 when I heard she was taken. It's not something that I will ever forget or move on from.
I think about the 3 people who knew Amy that committed suicide shortly after her death....wonder why...They are the top suspects in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

Laura--

Billy Strunak sounds like a decent suspect among the suicides (although to me it seems he drank his lethal cocktail for not-directly-related reasons, i.e. the rape he committed.)

But Kristy Sabo's dad? Really? (I know you knew Amy personally, so you may know something we don't and this may in fact be plausible, but nothing I've read suggests it.)

Curious said...

The city was Avon Lake not Avon. The car was blue. It was in the mid 90's.

The white van story came from a girl in Northfield, and that man tried to break into her house, I do believe.


I'd still like to know who's black (?) van Amy was seen approaching, I get the impression there was someone in that van that she knew, and they told her to go wait in front of the ice cream store. Perhaps her caller told her what vehicle to look for?

Judi said...

To all:
Who else committed suicide besides Billy and Mr. Sabo? How was he connected to Amy?

Liz Russ said...

Laura:

Who was the third person?

esora said...

Curious,

The white van story comes from the girl I went to school with (and recently interviewed by channel 8). She is the one that saw the white utility van outside her house. It is because of this, we (people in Bay) tended to call white van's "Kidnapper vans".

Liz Russ said...

Curious:

You are right about the girl in Northfield.

Esora:

You are also right. There were two different events where a white van was involved.

Laura said...

Let me rephrase...Those 3 suicides are the most suspicious to be is what I meant to say. Suicide just makes me suspicious all together. I definitely don't think Mr. Sabo killed Amy but his death is certainly mysterious. The 3rd suicide was in the Balas family. Makes me wonder what answers we'll lever find out from these people. Maybe they knew something? Maybe their suicides were totally unrelated? It's just that in a case like this, with virtually no real evidence or suspects, it's impossible to eliminate anyone completely.
One of my friends, who saw Amy in Bay Square on the day she was taken, said that he had seen Billy Strunak sitting up at Bay Square on many occasions before Oct. 27th. Just sitting on a bench and watching the kids. Another one of the eyewitnesses also said, in James' book, that Billy Strunak looked like the guy who walked up to Amy and whispered in her ear.
For those reasons, I think Billy Strunak is a very good suspect.

Liz Russ said...

Laura:

Someone had mentioned the suicide in the Balas family once before but without any detail. Can you or someone else on here share what that was about and when?

No, Mr. Sabo didn't kill Amy and his death was very odd. Do you or anyone else on here have any tidbits on his death? His obit. didn't really say much. I'd just like to keep our followers informed

Laura said...

I heard that Kristen Balas' stepfather, Riley Bonham, had a brother who committed suicide shortly after Amy's body was found.
The police questioned Mr. Bonham in the very beginning of Amy's disappearance as well but they never said why and if he was even a suspect.
I don't really know any more about Martin Sabo's death than what it said in the obituary.
I just think it's kind of odd that there are 2 suicides in the families that were so close to Amy. Maybe suicide is more common than I think? Just seems suspicious to me...

Judi said...

I always wondered about Billy. I thought I had read somewhere that the man who approached Amy had a reddish cast to his skin. Billy had a skin condition.
Also, a friend gave me a magazine that contained the 10-year report and a comprehensive overview of the case. From reading it, I could tell that the retired FBI agent, who once wrote on this or James's blog about having a "gut feeling" that a particular suspect was hiding something, was talking about Billy Strunak. I know James thought that Billy wasn't equipped to pull off the crime, but maybe he didn't do it alone. I just cannot connect him to Matlock.

Anonymous said...

Well, Billy does look a bit like the non-glasses picture in the two side-by-side sketches.

"I think James has, how should I say, misrepresented some facts about [Kurt.]"

What specifically? His subbing at North Olmsted (a pretty serious link?) The "get off my property, boss" quote when they met (to me one of the biggest indications that Kurt may have had something to hide?)

Esora said...

James has misrepresented things about Kurt's father. Things did not happen the way he has claimed. However, this has no direct connection to Amy's case.

Why are you surprised someone would be upset if James came knocking on their door claiming they were involved in Amy's murder?

Anonymous said...

I'm not saying I was surprised (in fact, most all of the suspects either showed an initial defensiveness when the subject was brought up, fled to Florida/Arizona/Central America/etc once they realized the authorities were on to them, or both.)

I was bringing it up because I was speculating on which of the facts were supposedly "misrepresented" by James.

BV said...

LAURA WROTE:

"The 3rd suicide was in the Balas family" -- "I heard that Kristen Balas' stepfather, Riley Bonham, had a brother who committed suicide shortly after Amy's body was found."

I'm sure this is a fun gossip game for all of you, but these are real people with real lives you're discussing. At the very least, get your facts straight before you post something as inflammatory as that.

Riley Bonham's brother committed suicide in 2001. (that's eleven years after Amy's body was found) The note he left stated his reasons, and none of them had to do with this case. (He lived overseas at the time of the abduction, btw) And his name was BONHAM, so lumping him in with the Balas family is ridiculous. The majority of the Balas family lives in Parma, and most of them never even met Amy Mihaljevic.

As for Riley being questioned by the police in 1989; he was. Every grown man who lived within walking distance of Aimee's house was questioned. Riley was looked at pretty hard, since his daughter was friends with Amy. If there was any hint of evidence pointing toward him you'd have already heard as much about him as the other suspects.

James Renner is exploiting the murder of a girl he never even met to make a name for himself as a journalist. The Police & FBI are only tolerating him because he is acting within his rights and not breaking any laws. They do not consider him a colleague helping them with their case. He is, in fact, a nuisance who's muddying up the waters and making it that much harder to solve Amy's murder.

Liz, your misinformation-fueled blog is doing the same thing.

Anonymous said...

Laura I love you!!!

Anonymous said...

The reason I found this site is because one of the documentaries stated that Amy and her best friend Kristen Sabo started a baby sitting club and passed out fliers. I would assume these fliers would have included their phone numbers. I instantly wanted to learn about Kristen Sabo’s father, who would have had access to her phone number. Give a mouse a cookie and it seems the entire family died from suicide? How did Martin die?

Anonymous said...

No one knows how they got the phone number. It was listed in the church directory as well .Under the home phone it says child’s phone. Back at that time it was common for children in upper class areas to have their own phone...

It is said that Martin Sabo also committed suicide. A hand gun was found along with a suicide note.