Authorities are offering $10,000 to anyone who can provide information about the circumstances leading to the death of a 29-year-old Penn Hills woman in February.
Jessica Vecchiola was found dead in her home on Loretta Drive on Feb. 6. She suffered a fatal injury to the ligaments in her neck — sometimes called an internal decapitation -— that occurs when the head is snapped back and forth while the torso remains still, officials said.
The whiplash-type injury is often seen in victims of car crashes, Allegheny County Police Lt. Andrew Schurman said. But investigators believe Ms. Vecchiola was assaulted on Jan. 31, days before she died, when she got into a fight with a woman on the side of the road.
Ms. Vecchiola told her mother, Elizabeth Arrington of Trafford, that she was on her way to get gas that night with her two-year-old son when a driver began to tailgate her along Leechburg Road. Ms. Vecchiola pulled over and the driver followed. A woman, one of two people who were in the car, exited, and attacked Ms. Vecchiola, banging her head on the ground in the dark, Ms. Arrington said.
She said her daughter recognized the woman. But Lt. Schurman said police have not identified the woman or her companion. Ms. Arrington said her daughter told police about the assault the next day, but Lt. Schurman said Ms Vecchiola did not report the incident to police.
Ms. Vecchiola was treated at a local hospital after the assault, her mother said. Ms. Vecchiola was told her neck was sprained and was given a neck brace. Because of her injury, she arranged to have her two sons stay with her estranged husband, Anthony Vecchiola, for the weekend, Ms. Arrington said. The pair were in the middle of a divorce.
Ms. Arrington last spoke with her daughter that Saturday, Feb. 4., then was unable to reach Ms. Vecchiola on Sunday. She stopped by Ms. Vecchiola’s home on Feb. 6. to find her daughter dead.
The county medical examiner’s office has not ruled on the manner of death.
Lt. Schurman said police have no surveillance footage of the Jan. 31 attack and do not have enough information to make an arrest in the case. He said they do not have any persons of interest. He asked anyone with information about what happened to call police at 412-473-1300.
“Someone knows what happened to her,” Ms. Arrington said. “No clue is too small.”
The $10,000 reward is funded in part by CrimeStoppers, which contributed $1,000, but mostly through fundraising done by Ms. Arrington. The family raised more than $9,000 at a Sunday fundraiser and are holding a second event Aug. 6 at Papa Rocks Pizza Pub in Monroeville.
Police held a press conference Wednesday at their Green Tree headquarters to discuss the increased reward. Facing several TV news cameras during the event, Felicia Mckinney, Ms. Vecchiola’s sister, said she had a message for the person who may have killed her sister.
“We’re going to find you,” she said. “And we’re going to figure this out.”
Shelly Bradbury: 412-23-1999, sbradbury@post-gazette.com or follow on Twitter @ShellyBradbury.
First Published: July 19, 2017, 8:59 p.m.
