Answers wanted in cold murder case

TERRE HAUTE, Ind (WTHI) -  

On October 24th, 2003, 3 year-old Jamie Gillie was pronounced dead. Jamie would have been 4 years old the day after she died.

 

Three weeks after Jamie died, her death was ruled a homicide due to blunt force trauma in her abdomen.

Now, in 2010, investigators still want to know, who killed Jamie?

Was it her mother Amy Gillie or Amy’s boyfriend at the time, Steven Michael Church?

Family members say Amy claimed she was at work when Jamie died, and has a time card to prove it. Amy worked at the Shell gas station on the corner of 13th and Ft. Harrison, across from Auto Zone. But she lived just a few blocks away, at 5113 N 14 ½ street. Officials were told the boyfriend, Steven Michel Church, was home with Jamie. Because of the proximity of Amy’s work and Church’s location, it has been a tough case for investigators to crack.

Jamie’s sister Tiffany Gillie was a young 8 years old when the little girl died. For many years, Tiffany blamed herself for Jamie’s death.

"Maybe if I would have been home that day than maybe this wouldn't have happened," Tiffany Gillie said.

In 2003, the case was given to the Vigo County Prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor at the time was Bob Wright. He did not run for re-election in 2006.

Terry Modesitt was elected and took over the office in January of 2007. Within a couple of weeks, Modesitt was in the office of Vigo County Forensic Pathologist Dr. Roland Kohr, to discuss a pending murder trial. It was then Dr. Kohr said he handed the complete file, including photographs, of the Jamie Gillie case over to Modesitt.

In October of 2007, News 10 interviewed Modesitt to get an update on the case.
He stated: “We've been looking for the medical angle as far as how medical people look at the cause of death the time frame different things like that.”
Kohr said around that time Modesitt requested a new copy of the case folder, sighting he lost the first one.

In 2005, Dr. Kohr reviewed the case with a Dr. Toni Laskey, a forensic pediatrician at Riley Hospital in Indianapolis. Dr. Laskey agreed the case was clearly a homicide. Dr. Kohr said he explained to Dr. Laskey their main concern was finding a qualified surgeon who could testify as to the time frame between when the injuries took place and when she died. Dr. Laskey recruited a Pediatric Trauma surgeon from Riley Hospital in Indianapolis named Dr. Scherer. Dr. Scherer reviewed the case for Laskey and had no problem placing the time of death when ****** was at the home.

“We basically sat around and nothing happened until 2008,” Dr. Kohr said.

Dr. Laske was in Terre Haute in 2008 for a conference. Dr. Kohr arranged for Laske to meet with Katie Butwin, who was in charge of child abuse cases for the Vigo County Prosecutor’s Office. They met along with several detectives from the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department who had worked the case. For two hours, they all sat down and laid out every aspect of the case for Ms. Butwin. Dr. Kohr said that Butwin said she would take the case under advisement. The next thing Dr. Kohr heard was that Ms. Butwin resigned from the Prosecutor’s office.

In 2009, Dr. Kohr said he was contacted again by the Prosecutor’s office to go to Riley Hospital and meet with Dr. Scherer to go over the case one on one. That meeting included two detectives from the Sheriff’s department, Dr. Kohr, Dr. Scherer and Modesitt. Dr. Kohr said he did most of the talking about the case and that Dr. Scherer said the time frame was such that the only adult present was ******.

Dr. Scherer said he would generate a written report. Dr. Kohr said whether it was second or third hand, the report was never received, it was lost. Ten months have past and instead of contacting Dr. Shearer requesting a new copy, Dr. Kohr said he was told the Prosecutor’s office lost the folder again.

“It is frustrating that it has been three years, I have had to make three copies of the report and still nothing has been done,” Dr. Kohr said.

Two weeks ago, Dr. Kohr was contacted by deputy prosecutor Jennifer Wrede and requested another copy of the case for the Prosecutors office. At that time, Dr. Kohr said he was informed the Prosecutors office was not going to use Dr. Scherer’s written report as evidence.

Dr. Kohr was advised the Prosecutor’s office had lined up a forensic pathologist Dr. Mary Case, who specializes in forensic pediatric cases in St. Louis, to look at the case.

At this time, Modesitt says there is little he can comment on about the case.
“At this point it is still under investigation, it is a cold case file one of the many that law enforcement and our office is working on,” Modesitt said.

For the family, they just want some answers about Jamie’s death.
"I think the county officials need to do their job and stop sitting around and closing the case because it needs to be open and something needs to be done," Tiffany Gillie said.
 

To read a letter Tiffany Gillie wrote to News 10 click here .