The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 14

A 1 4 The Beacon Journal Sunday. November 12. 1989 Newly cautious town 1 1 lopes for girl's return The search continues Victim: Amy Mihaljevic. She is a fifth grader at Bay Middle School in Bay Village. She was last seen at the Bay Square Shopping Center at about 3 p.m.

on Oct. 27. Age: 1 0 years old. Her birth date is Dec. 11,1 978 Description: White female, medium build, 4 feet 10 inches tall, 90 pounds.

She has straight, shoulder-length blonde hair, brown eyes, and a clear complexion. She was last seen wearing green sweat pants, a lavender and green sweat shirt and black boots with silver studs. She had a white windbreaker and a blue and red backpack with her. She was wearing horse-head silhouette or turquoise earrings. ill" We have hope and we are optimistic.

As long as there's hope, we can bring Amy home. Everything humanly possible is being done. Every available resource is being used. Richard Wilson Bay Village police lieutenant Suspect: White male Age: Possibly between 30 and 35 Description: Medium build, between 5 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall, dark hair, possibly curly, with bald spot near the top of the head. He had a trace of beard growth, and was possibly wearing round glasses and a tan jacket.

Volunteers, FBI, police all on lookout Continued from page Al janitors, searched every room. Amy was officially reported missing at 5:58 p.m. Amy was last seen at the U-shaped Bay Square Shopping Center between 2:15 and 3 p.m., getting into a car with a man believed to be in his mid-30s. police said. Police found out from Amy's best friend that she had said she was going after school with a friend of the family to buy a surprise gift for her mother, who had just been promoted at work.

Mrs. Mihaljevic has no idea who the man may have been. The day after Amy disappeared, a pair of sweatpants was found in a field next to the Holly Hills horse-riding farm in Avon Lake, where Amy used to ride. While police are awaiting confirmation, they believe that the sweatpants are probably Amy's. The city and surrounding areas have mobilized to find Amy: FBI agents are conducting one of northern Ohio's largest searches in years, questioning hundreds of suspects and possible witnesses.

An estimated 2,000 leads have been followed up, taking authorities as far away as Minnesota and Louisiana. White ribbons, symbolizing support for Amy, are hung around hundreds of trees, mailboxes and porch posts throughout the city. There have been candlelight prayer vigils and Sunday sermons asking for heavenly support in finding Amy. Counselors have visited her school, and po- lice have been busy giving students safety tips. Hundreds of volunteers from Bay Village, nearby Westlake, Lakewood and Cleveland are searching fields and handing out fliers with pictures of Amy and sketches of the suspect.

Local companies have donated money to print and mail nearly a million fliers. A base for coordinating the volunteers the "Amy Center" has been set up in a second-floor room at City Hall. Reward money of up to $13,000 is being offered. Police say the search will never stop and Amy has a decent chance of returning home. "We're making progress," said FBI spokesman Robert Hawk.

"We're making a lot of progress and maybe we'll get lucky and solve this thing. You make your own luck." Phone lines at the police station have been jammed since Amy disappeared, especially since Amy's disappearance was featured on three national television shows: Hardcopy, Inside Edition and A Current Affair. Calls offering tips have come from North Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois, California, New York and Indiana. By coincidence, a network ANYONE WITH INFORMATION ON THE DISAPPEARANCE OF AMY MIHALJEVIC SHOULD CALL EITHER THE BAY, VILLAGE POLICE DEPARTMENT AT 871-1234, Beacon Journal crew was at the shopping center the day before the abduction filming a segment about Cleveland. Police have received a copy of the tape and are going through it frame by frame looking for clues.

Last week, FBI agents combed about 1,500 acres of open fields in two counties. At times, more than 150 agents, 10 feet apart, pushed and sometimes crawled through tall grass and chest-high thickets. On Friday, police went on foot, by car and by airplane as they searched fields and roadsides in Lorain County. But they didn't find Amy. Many folks quietly and reluctantly acknowledge that as each day goes by, the trail gets colder.

Statistics compiled by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children show that in the 511 unexplained child abductions reported to the center since October 1984, 158 children were found alive. But 112 were found dead. Statistics have not softened determination to solve the mystery. "Every agent out there goes under the premise that she is alive," Hawk said. "Morale is high, and everyone is really trying their hardest." Bay Village police Lt.

Richard Wilson, who is heading the investigation, agrees. "We have hope and we are optimistic," said the 23-year veteran of the force. "As long as there's hope, we can bring Amy home. Everything humanly possible is being done. Every available resource is being used." Many residents, however, fear that the neighborly quiet that prompted Family Circle magazine in 1984 to call Bay Village the sixth safest city in the nation may be gone forever.

Beacon Journal photoMichael Good Like many others, Laurie Weigelt puts a white ribbon for Amy around tree in her yard We're Dropping yn.n.u......... -jj- l' ''V 3 HL ri 3 fVi uf i xs 1 I a 5 A Sl I i AjVew Imoortant Names. "People suddenly realize that it's not as safe as they thought," one businesswoman at the shopping center said as she peered out her window to the parking lot where children used to play. "It can happen anywhere." Mayor Edward E. Chapman, a resident of the community for 27 years, said folks had been lulled into a false sense of security.

Not anymore, he said. "People can't believe it happened here. It's a total shock." Meanwhile, Mrs. Mihaljevic and her husband, Mark, who works for General Motors, wait by the phone. They have reluctantly opened their private lives to massive media attention.

"Anything to find Amy," Mrs. Mihaljevic said. Amy is shy with people she doesn't know, but very open and fun-loving with people she does know, her mother said. She is bright and has a lot of common sense, Mrs. Mihaljevic added.

And she will return one day, her mother said quietly. "I'll be optimistic until the day she comes home or until the day it's proven to me that she won't be coming home." Beacon Journal photo'Michael Good Vicki Horning, 14, lights luminaria in support of Amy JOURNAL MysZUng the new -oieaaers' Contest 1 ENLARGED area 1988 Crime rate comparison (crimes per 100 people) Bay Village (17,463 pop.) I -j Cleveland Lake Ct LaKeVillaae Ilk North Canton (14,706 pop.) Medina (15,247 pop.) 1l.9 2.3 tSISfflS 3-5 Medina 4.5 Kent Tallmadge glj laumaage Tallmadge (14,381 pop.) Kent (26,174 pop.) Akron (227,156 pop.) Canton (88,179 pop.) Akron ron Fuirf Your Name And Be A Winner! Starting November 20th until December 31st, every day we'll print the name of an area resident in the newspaper. If you find your name, call the number listed between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Once verified, you'll receive a deluxe 7.4 7J North Canton Cleveland (544,515 pop.) 1 S-2 Lake Erie SOURCE: FBI unilprm crime reports 1 988. Canton "Fresh Every Morning" T-shirt, free! for the T-shirt symbol and we'll give you the shirt off our racks! Q. BAY VILLAGE i fD a Bay Middle School Amy last attended classes here Oct. 27, i WolfRd. Mir Fresh every Morning The Beacon Journal are also available for your reference at our Public Service Counter 8:00 to 5:00 Monday thru Friday.

Amy's house Lincoln Rd, Lindford Dr. Bay Square Shopping Center She was seen here getting into a car near an Ice cream store. JM. Beacon Journal.