Dublin Police Take Another Look At Ilene Misheloff Cold Case

DUBLIN, CA — The Dublin Police Department will re-examine the 1989 disappearance of 13-year-old Ilene Misheloff after a man was charged last week with the disappearance of an East Bay girl.

David Misch, 59, was charged with murder with special circumstances in the disappearance of 9-year-old Michaela Garecht in 1988, who disappeared outside of a Hayward market. He has been in prison since 1989 for a Hayward murder and is currently in Santa Rita Jail awaiting trial for a 1986 cold-case double homicide in Fremont. That cold case arrest led directly to Misch's trail in the hunt for Michaela's abductor, Hayward police chief Toney Chaplin said at a news conference last Monday.

Dublin police review Ilene's case any time officers hear of someone else being investigated for a similar crime, said Capt. Nate Schmidt in an email. Dublin officers will contact Hayward police, Fremont police and the Federal Bureau of Investigations to determine whether there are any links between the disappearances of Ilene and Michaela.

Ilene went missing Jan. 30, 1989 while walking home from Wells Middle School. Police offered a $95,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for her disappearance.

Ilene's parents, Mike and Madelyne "Maddi" Misheloff, never gave up hope that their daughter would be found. They held an annual candlelight walk along the route she took home from school. Mrs. Misheloff died in April after a nearly two-year-long battle with bladder cancer.

Read: Community Mourns The Loss Of Maddi Misheloff

Misheloff used the experience as motivation to support efforts to find missing children, giving TV interviews, participating in events and fundraisers, and helping families going through the same thing, Mr. Misheloff said shortly after his wife's death.

"There was no question that she was going to help out the local and beyond local organizations which were involved in publicizing and trying to recover missing children," he said.

— Bea Karnes contributed to this report