Jill Cunningham Pope's six sisters laid their sister to rest one year ago. Her decomposed body was found in Bristol nine months after she was reported missing.
Her death and that of another young woman, Leah Feltner, whose decomposed body was found 50 feet from Jill's body, remains a mystery and her sisters want answers.
When Angela Statzer's body was found in Bristol on Wednesday, Cunningham's family started reliving their own tragedy.
"When you are down and you are hurt in despair, look no further, God is everywhere." Jill Cunningham Pope wrote this poem years before she died, but her sisters still hear its message today. "If you find yourself in a sad spot, like I do, I always pull a memory that'll make me laugh from it," said Cunningham's sister Kelly Hand.
Those memories are like little gifts from their Lord, sent to brighten a day. Some memories though, not so helpful. "Each case like this, it just keeps bringing the memory back over like we're reliving the tragedy over and over again," said Hand.
When Linda Orfield, Kelly and Penny Cunningham heard about Angela Statzer's 22-year-old body, found lifeless in a wooded area not far from their homes, they could not help but think about their sister, Jill, whose remains were also found in the woods. "I couldn't sleep the rest of the night that's all I thought about," said Orfield.
Her unsolved death, described as suspicious by police, haunts them constantly. "She wouldn't have killed herself, she wouldn't have committed suicide...that's how we feel is something really bad did happen to her," said Hand.
Cunningham's sisters visit her grave everyday, and the place where she was found, every other. "If for one second I could trade places with her and bring her back to my family so she could grow old like me and spend time with her child, I would do it," said Orfield.
The three said their hearts go out to the Statzer family and hope to see both Angela and Jill's cases solved soon.
For a full video report, click play above.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement