YPSILANTI, Mich. (FOX 2) - A suspected killer is still on the run after nearly two decades, accused of stabbing a man to death inside Ypsilanti bar -- all over a $20 bet on pool.
"I love you and I'm gonna see you again. I'm so sorry we weren't there to save you," said Becky Sizemore.
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Jason Sizemore was stabbed 18 years ago over a bet at a game of pool. His killer still hasn't been caught
On June 16, 2001, Jason Sizemore was at a bar in Ypsilanti to watch the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs, when a fight broke out over a bet at a pool table.
Those were some of the final words to their 27-year-old son, Jason Sizemore's lifeless body lying before them. Today, the man police believe stabbed him to death is still on the run.
"He just has no heart," Sizemore said.
Jason has been gone for 18 years now, while his accused killer, now 52-year-old Mark Pinnace, has never been captured.
"It makes me angry that he is still walking this earth and my son's under it," Sizemore said.
It was June 16, 2001. The Detroit Pistons were in the playoffs, and Jason and a dozen buddies headed to watch the game at their usual hangout -- the Player's Lounge at the Marriott at Eagle Crest in Ypsilanti.
"There was a friend that was playing pool with the murderer and his brother," Sizemore said. "They were getting beat in pool. And they had bet a $20 bet."
Overhearing an argument, witnesses say Jason and another friend walked over to calm the situation. But a fight broke out., as punches and chairs were thrown and within seconds, Jason is seen bleeding profusely while Mark Pinnace took off.
"I was as close to Jason as these two are sitting right here. And I never seen the knife. Never once," said a witness and friend of the victim.
Jason was stabbed in several vital areas, including his lungs and chest. He tried to go after Mark Pinnace, but collapsed.
Witnesses say Mark Pinnace was last seen running through the dark golf course, even threatening to kill another friend if he tried to chase him. Meanwhile, Jason's friends attempted CPR, but he had lost too much blood.
Later that evening, Jason's parents and his older brother couldn't believe the words they were hearing.
"Stabbed? What do you mean? And I just fell on the floor and I was crawling around," his mother said. "My pastor reached down to pick me to and I said 'don't touch me, don't touch me. And he said 'Jason's dead.' And I - 'No. Can't be.'"
Jason also left behind a wife and 10-month-old son, Peyton.
"That's what he lived for was that baby. That was his everything," Sizemore said.
The Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office tried to find Pinnace with no luck. Working with the FBI, it's believed Mark Pinnace, who has ties to Canada and Florida, hopped on a plane to his native country of Honduras. Police were unable to extradite the accused killer since the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Honduras. Justice for Jason is at a standstill nearly two decades later.
"They know where he's at and yet they can't touch him? That just doesn't seem fair at all," Jason's father said.
Jason's parents suffered another blow last month, losing their only other child, Jessie Sizemore, of pancreatic cancer at just 42 years old. The Sizemores were forced to bury both of their boys.
"It is the worst feeling that a parent could ever experience. I would not ever wish anyone that kind of pain," Sizemore said.
But their anger and bitterness is still overshadowed by the love for and the beautiful memories of their two sons.
"I always taught both my boys to always put that person shoes on before you say anything about him," Sizemore said. "I always taught them that and I think they always did."