Amy Mihaljevic, murdered in 1989, is shown shortly before her death. Photo by Richard Conway/The Plain Dealer.

BAY VILLAGE, Ohio -- Investigators believe that a homemade curtain found in a ditch in 1989 along with 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic's body might hold clues to finding her killer.

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office held a press conference Thursday to announce the finding along with staff from the Bay Village Police Department, Ashland County Sheriff's Office and the FBI.

Retired FBI Detective Phil Torsney was brought back to the case three years ago and found, among other evidence being re-examined, new significance to the curtain and a blanket that were found in a ditch alongside the road where Mihaljevic's body was discovered.

Forensics investigators were able to match dog hair on the curtain as well as a blanket, which Torsney says is unique and appears to be hand-sewn out of a quilt fabric, to hairs investigators collected in 1989 off of Mihaljevic's dog, Jake.

If the curtain or blanket can be identified, it could lead detectives to Amy's killer. Investigators have continued to work the case every year since she disappeared in October 1989, but have been unable to determine where she was killed.

Police believe Mihaljevic had a phone conversation with a man whom they think she knew. He told Amy that they should buy a present for her mother, who was recently promoted at work. He persuaded her to meet him at Bay Square Shopping Center on Oct. 27 when she called her mother at 3:30 p.m. that day.

When her mother got home at 5:30 p.m. that day, Amy was missing. Her body was found alongside a road in Ashland County four months later.

Investigators eventually ran out of leads in the case and Amy's mother, Margaret McNulty, has since died.

But police and the FBI have continued to work the case, bringing Torsney out of retirement in 2013 to review every piece of evidence collected.

Investigators had previously been unable to tie the blanket to Amy's disappearance and murder. The two were found up the road from Amy's body, in Ruggles Township.

The blanket is a generic beige fabric, the curtain is made out of an avocado green cotton quilt. It is hand sewn with bindings at the top and bottom.

"We are hoping somebody recognizes it," Torsney said. "If somebody can call us saying my mom made this curtain, my grandma made this curtain, it was hanging in my brother's room, whatever it is, we can solve this case."

In his last assignment as federal agent, Torsney was instrumental in finding longtime fugitive Whitey Bulger, now a convicted killer who ran the Boston Irish Mob group known as the Winter Hill Gang.

After a longstanding arrangement with the FBI was exposed in the Boston media, Bulger went into hiding and was one of the FBI's top 10 most wanted fugitives for much of 17 years. He was captured in 2011.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said Thursday that an identification of the blanket could crack the case.

"If you're out there and can tell us where this blanket came from, they will finish the job," McGinty said. "To the criminals, you can run but you cannot hide. We have proven this in the past, we have solved these cold cases. We can solve this case too."

This article has been updated. The Mihaljevic family dog was named Jake, not Jack.