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ST. LOUIS (KMOV) — Jacquelyn (Jackie) Olden collapsed while on a jog through Soulard Sunday and then a thief took her cell phone and left her to die. Friends and family say she didn’t deserve it as she was one to help others more than herself.
“We’re still kind of in shock over the whole thing,” Pastor Adam Medina said.
The 64-year-old Air Force veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm was planning a Veterans Day ceremony for her Maplewood church. She’s no longer around to make it happen.
“She was a firecracker,” Medina said. “She had a lot of energy she used to give to everybody. She loved the idea of community.”
Medina said he’s still struggling to make sense of her death.
Olden was jogging Sunday when she collapsed from a heart attack on Arsenal near the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Officials with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department released surveillance video and said the incident happened in the 1200 block of Lynch but News 4’s crews found the scene on Arsenal, not Lynch.
In the video, a man pulled up to the sidewalk in a red van and stepped outside and walked over to her but not to help.
“The person had stopped to ya know, made it look like they were trying to help but didn’t and actually picked up her cellphone and stole it and didn’t offer to help,” Medina said.
Police are still searching for that thief seen on surveillance video swiping the phone and leaving Olden to die. The video shows another man on the sidewalk but police officers aren’t sure if he was involved.
“What happened to the good Samaritan?” Medina said her life was one worth fighting for. “She would want everybody to keep persevering with a smile. She loved everybody.”
Olden used to work for the Rossman School and retired in May. Officials with the school said she was on campus last Tuesday to be honored for her dedication.
“For seven years, her bright smile and positive spirit were an encouragement to all who entered the Dining Room, and she modeled strength of character and bravery to our students when she shared stories of her service in the Air Force during last year’s Veterans Day assembly. Mrs. Olden was a true role model, a dear friend and an esteemed colleague,” the school said in a Facebook post. “We are heartbroken. She will be missed tremendously.”
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