Jaime Stickle first learned about a woman named Jamie Stickl not long after the bartender was found inside her burning vehicle in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
It’s usually a happy coincidence to find someone who has the same name as you, but in Jaime Stickle’s case, it was a bit unsettling. She says she first learned about a woman named Jamie Stickle while on a job interview more than 20 years ago.
"In the middle of this interview," Stickle says, "[The interviewer] looks at me and he is like, 'so you're not dead.' and I was taken aback and a little surprised."
She says the interviewer was referencing a news event he must have come across when doing an internet search on his potential hire, Jaime Stickle. In 2002, the body of a bartender named Jamie Stickle was found inside her burning vehicle in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her death shocked the LGBTQ community of which she was proudly a member. It’s just one of the personal things about Jamie Stickle that Jaime is hoping people will learn in her new podcast, "The Girl With The Same Name."
"She had an entire life and family and community that she was massively involved in, that she did so much for," Stickle tells Inside Edition Digital. "She was a huge philanthropist. In none of the stories [written about her] is that ever focused on. Every headline is 'brutally burned alive in her vehicle.'"
Jaime Stickle says she decided to do a podcast about Jamie’s death because after more than two decades, there are still so many unanswered questions, including how Jamie died.
"There is enough evidence that it should be changed to a homicide," says Stickle. "Once that is done, the way that case would be investigated is different and it could activate a new round of interviews and leads and bring people in."
The medical examiner ruled Jamie Stickle’s cause of death as undetermined. Pittsburgh Police say if new information or evidence comes to light, it will be investigated.
The first episode of "The Girl With The Same Name" will be available wherever you listen to podcasts on Feb. 15.
