Amy Mihaljevic

On the 25th anniversary of 10-year-old Bay Village girl Amy Mihaljevic, investigators are asking anyone who knew Amy's late mother, Margaret McNulty, to come forward with information, even if it seems insignificant.

(The Plain Dealer file photo)

BAY VILLAGE, Ohio -- On the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of Amy Mihaljevic, authorities are shifting their focus in hopes of unearthing new details.

Investigators are now asking for friends and acquaintances of the 10-year-old Bay Village girl's late mother Margaret McNulty to come forward, Cleveland FBI spokeswoman Special Agent Vicki Anderson said.

One day in late October 1989, Amy received a phone call after school.

She was alone, which was normal -- her mother had recently been upgraded to full-time employment at Trading Times Magazine. But before she could call to tell her mom she made it home safely, she received a call from a man investigators believe she knew.

He said he needed her help to pick out a present for her mother and had to keep it a secret. The man said he chose Amy because she could keep a better secret than her brother.

He convinced her to walk to the Bay Square Shopping Center Oct. 27. Then he talked her into calling McNulty to make sure she didn't worry.

But Amy couldn't keep a secret - she told two friends.

Four months later, a jogger found Amy's body in a cornfield in Ashland, Ohio, more than 50 miles away.

It didn't take investigators long to determine the man knew the family well. He knew when he called Amy's home after school, she'd be alone. He knew her mother had just gone from part-time to full-time at Trading Times. He knew she had a brother. He knew she needed to call her mom to tell her she was home from school.

After interviewing McNulty's coworkers and hundreds of others, investigators have exhausted several leads. The emergence of composite sketches of a man witnesses said they saw Amy with at the shopping center the day of her disappearance may be "leading down the wrong path," Anderson said.

So now the FBI is pleading with anyone who knew McNulty -- whether personally, socially, professionally or from the community -- to reach out to Bay Village police or the FBI if they remember anything out of the ordinary, any strange detail or conversation, or anyone they may have heard McNulty talking about.

"Even if they think it's insignificant," Anderson said, "it may not be."

The FBI's number is 216-522-1400. Bay Village police can be reached at 440-871-1234.

A $27,000 reward is available for information leading to the arrest of Amy's killer.

Correction: Amy Mihaljevic received the phone call a few days before her disappearance.