Amy Mihaljevic was a 10-year-old girl who went missing from a shopping center in Bay Village, Ohio, on October 27, 1989. She was lured by a man who claimed he wanted to buy a gift for her mother, who had recently got a promotion. But the promotion was a lie, and so was the man. He abducted Amy, stabbed her to death, and dumped her body in a field, where it was found more than three months later. The case remains unsolved to this day.
But Amy was not the only victim of this heinous crime. Her mother, Margaret McNulty, also suffered immensely from the loss of her daughter. She died in 2001 from complications of lupus and alcoholism, which were exacerbated by her depression and grief. This is the tragic story of Amy Mihaljevic’s mother cause of death.
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The Disappearance of Amy Mihaljevic
Amy Mihaljevic was a bright and cheerful fifth-grader who loved animals and books. She lived with her parents, Mark and Margaret, and her older brother, Jason, in Bay Village, a quiet and safe suburb of Cleveland. On the day she disappeared, she had just finished school and rode her bike to the Bay Square Shopping Center, where she had arranged to meet a man who had called her at home.
The man had told Amy that he worked with her mother at Trading Times magazine, and that he wanted to help her pick out a gift for her mother’s job promotion. He also said he would take her to see some puppies. Amy agreed to meet him, but did not tell anyone about it. She left a note for her brother, saying she would be home by 4 p.m.
But Amy never came home. Her mother, who worked as an advertising sales manager at the magazine, got worried when she did not hear from her daughter. She called home around 3:40 p.m., and Amy answered the phone. They had a brief conversation, but Amy sounded distant and gave short answers. Margaret assumed that Amy had called from home, but later realized that she had called from a payphone at the shopping center.
Margaret rushed home from work, only to find that Amy was still not there. She drove by Amy’s school and saw her bike, alone and abandoned. She then called the police and reported her daughter missing. A massive search operation began, involving hundreds of volunteers, police officers, FBI agents, and media outlets. But there was no sign of Amy or the man who took her.
The Discovery of Amy Mihaljevic’s Body
On February 8, 1990, more than three months after Amy’s disappearance, a jogger found her body in a field near County Road 1181 in rural Ashland County, about 50 miles away from Bay Village. She was wearing the same clothes she had on when she vanished: a turquoise sweater, black jeans, black ankle boots, and a black leather backpack.
The autopsy revealed that Amy had been stabbed three times in the neck with a knife or scissors. She also had blunt force trauma to the head. The medical examiner estimated that she had been killed shortly after her abduction, and that her body had been exposed to the elements for most of the time.
The police collected several pieces of evidence from the crime scene and from Amy’s belongings. They found a curtain and a blanket that were used to wrap her body. They also found hairs and fibers that did not belong to Amy or her family. They also recovered DNA samples from Amy’s body and clothing.
However, none of these clues led to the identification of the killer. The police interviewed hundreds of suspects and persons of interest over the years, but none of them matched the DNA profile or the physical description of the man who lured Amy. The case remains open and active to this day.
The Death of Margaret McNulty
Amy’s death devastated her family and friends. Her parents divorced less than two years after her murder, although they remained close friends. Her father moved to Florida and remarried. Her brother went to college and became a teacher.
Her mother stayed in Cleveland and tried to cope with her grief by helping other families of missing children. She co-founded an organization called Community Fund for Assisting Missing Youth (CFAMY), which educated children about safety and stranger danger. She also made frequent appearances on TV shows and documentaries about Amy’s case, hoping to generate new leads or tips.
But Margaret also struggled with depression and alcoholism. She suffered from lupus, an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and pain in various parts of the body. She moved to Las Vegas in 2000 to be closer to her own mother and start a new life for herself. But she could not escape her past or her pain.
In 2001, Margaret was found dead in her apartment by the police, after her mother had not heard from her for two weeks. She had died several days before, and the coroner confirmed that her cause of death was from the severe complications of lupus that she suffered due to chronic alcoholism. She was 54 years old.
Margaret was buried next to Amy in Lakewood Park Cemetery in Rocky River, Ohio. Her grave marker reads: “Together Again”.
The Legacy of Amy Mihaljevic and Margaret McNulty
Amy Mihaljevic and Margaret McNulty left behind a legacy of love and courage. They touched the lives of many people who knew them or heard their story. They inspired others to fight for justice and to protect children from harm.
Their case also sparked several changes in the law and the society. In 1993, Ohio passed the Amy Mihaljevic Child Protection Act, which requires schools to provide safety education to students and parents. In 1996, the FBI launched the Child Abduction Response Team (CART), which provides rapid and coordinated assistance to local law enforcement agencies in cases of missing or abducted children. In 2008, the FBI released an age-progressed sketch of the man who took Amy, hoping to generate new leads or tips.
The case also generated a lot of public interest and media attention over the years. Several books, podcasts, documentaries, and TV shows have been made about Amy’s case, including Dateline NBC, The Lake Erie Murders, and Who Killed Amy Mihaljevic? The case has also been featured on America’s Most Wanted, Unsolved Mysteries, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The police and the FBI have not given up on solving Amy’s case. They continue to follow up on new leads and tips, and to test new DNA evidence with advanced technology. They hope that one day they will be able to find Amy’s killer and bring him to justice.
Anyone with information about Amy’s case is urged to call the Bay Village Police Department at (440) 871-1234 or the FBI at (216) 522-1400. There is a reward of $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Amy’s murder.
Amy Mihaljevic’s mother cause of death was a tragic consequence of a horrific crime that shattered a family and a community. But their story is also a testament to the power of love and hope that endures beyond death.
