Amy Mihaljevic disappeared in October of 1989 from a Bay Village shopping plaza, and she has been the face and the name of the notoriously unsolved murder case since her body was discovered February 1990, near a remote road in Ashland County.
But now?
"This case will probably be solved within the next year," says author and journalist James Renner, sitting in his Akron home.
Renner says he knows genealogists who can now link hair found on Mihaljevic's body to her killer.
"Up until last year, DNA was black and white," he explained. "Now two women in California...figured out a way to plug DNA into genealogy sites, and you can find the suspects second or third cousin who may have updated their data into 23andMe or Ancestry.com, and you get a good genealogist who can work back the family tree to figure out who the likely suspect is."
Channel 3 News hasn’t heard back from Bay Village Police yet, but according to Renner, "the Bay Village Police Department and FBI have reached out specifically to these women in California.
"They are on the case. The DNA is there. Detectives are on the case. These women are involved and it's all full speed ahead."
Renner believes Bay Village is going to solve the case "soon."
"They have the DNA, we've got this new technique, this guy is out there and he should know that the police will be knocking on his door, he said. "One way or another, these are the last days of the Amy Mihaljevic case."