Target 11 investigates mysterious death of popular Pittsburgh bartender

PITTSBURGH — For more than a decade, Margie Walls of Uniontown has been searching for answers in her daughter's death.

Thirty-three-year old Jamie Stickle was found dead in her burning Jeep just outside of her apartment on the North Side near the 16th Street Bridge in February of 2002.

"I mean she wasn't just my daughter, she was my best friend. You know it just rips your heart out that someone could actually kill a person and set them on fire. It's just unimaginable in my mind that you could do that to another human being. I mean whatever she did to make them mad, it couldn't have been that bad that you could do that to a person and live with yourself," said Walls, who suspected foul play from the very beginning.

Target 11 Investigator Rick Earle sat down with Pittsburgh Police homicide Detective J.R. Smith, who showed Earle a crime scene photo of the burned out Jeep.

"It appeared that the fire originated from the rear. You see the back tires burned off," said Smith, who took over the case after the two investigating officers retired.

This is a case that's baffled investigators from the beginning.

They do know Stickle was still alive when the fire started because she suffered smoke inhalation. But they don't know has the fire started, and they say the fire caused other problems as well.

"With the since of the Jeep and with what happens with the fire, the DNA in this case was destroyed," said Smith.

The coroner ruled that Stickle died in the fire, but the manner of death remains undetermined. Police said they didn't have enough evidence to rule it a homicide.

Investigators did recover a lip stick tube, cellphone, crumbled cash, Mace and for the first time Earle learned they also found a partially eaten apple, a small pink plastic flower and cigarettes.

Earle also discovered brand new information about suspected blood found at the scene of the crime. He learned it was only a small amount on the door handle leading up to Stickle's apartment. Family members said Stickle was having relationship problems, and just hours before she died, she got into an argument at a local bar.

"It's clear that she was having some personal problems, and other people knew that, but other patrons of the bar, and her friends said she was herself on that night too," said Smith.

After the argument, witnesses say Stickle returned to her Jeep in a parking garage on Liberty Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh and headed home alone.

At 3:47 am, the fire department was called about a car fire and found her body inside. Family members said they suspected foul play from the beginning. Over the years, investigators have interviewed dozens of friends and relatives, but they've been unable to determine exactly what happened. Stickle's mother told Earle that she's losing hope.

"I pray every day and hope that they find this person before I die, but right now the way it looks, I don't feel that anything's being done," said Walls.

WPXI