Wendy Wert wiped tears from her eyes on Thursday evening as she stood, surrounded by family and friends, at her brother Howard's grave in Lehighton Cemetery. She spoke of his kind heart and merry wit, her words punctuated by frustration and anger that Howard Wert's killer has yet to be found.

"Today was the day he was laid to rest, and our family still doesn't have any answers on who killed him," she said. "I pretty much have kept quiet about some things, and I just feel like now things have to be known."Howard, then 46, of Weissport, was killed by a northbound truck at about 9:30 p.m. July 16 as he walked along Susquehanna Street (Route 209) in downtown Jim Thorpe. At the time, police said they were not sure if he had been walking on the sidewalk or had stepped into the street. Police had arrived at the scene to find Howard's body lying partially on the northbound lane. At least one witness was able to describe the truck, which had a dark blue cab and a white box, then-police chief Police Chief Barry Andrew said at the time.Days afterward, Andrew told reporters that police were reviewing video tapes from several surveillance cameras in the area. Wert on Thursday said it was Howard's family who found and acquired the tapes and provided them to police.But, Wert said after the memorial service, that's where the investigation appears to have ended. She said the family provided video of the scene, and that police had promised to send the shirt Howard was wearing, and which bore tire tracks, to a state police crime lab for analysis. "They never sent it. They never did anything," she said, her voice breaking.That, she contends, never happened. Police, she said, have been less than cooperative."I was told by the Jim Thorpe Police Department that the reconstruction unit did know that he was on the sidewalk when he was killed," she said. Wert said police closed the case three months after Howard died, and that she only found that out when she called them six months after his death.Wert believes police were distracted by a confluence of events, including Andrew's retirement and moving the station to a new building, and allowed Howard's death investigation to lapse.Jim Thorpe Police Chief Joseph Schatz on Wednesday said police did their job. "We had actually closed it. We reviewed everything and the case was closed. If anything new develops, we would reopen the case," he said.Efforts to reach Schatz Friday to respond to Wert's contentions were unsuccessful."I just feel all the way around he's had no justice, and it's not fair," Wert said of her brother. "I'm hoping today, with some prayers to God and with some coverage, that maybe, since a year has passed, and people have calmed down and they can refresh their memories a little bit and think back, maybe they can remember something that they saw. Maybe this would even get the attention of police to open the investigation," she said.Wert's husband, Wayde Haydt, comforted her as she spoke. Wert, in turn, comforted her daughter, Colleen, who stood next to her.Wert read a prayer of special intention, "I pray to you, oh Lord, for a very special intention, for answers to what happened to my brother, Howard ..."Colleen read a poem entitled "I Live On.""Don't cry for me in sadness; don't weep for me in sorrow, For I will be beside you, as sure as comes tomorrow. My body has gone but my spirit lives on, as does my love for you. Just as in life. I'll watch over you, I always will be true," she read.Wert's son, Michael, read a poem entitled "A letter From Heaven.": "To my dearest family, some things I'd like to say, Though first of all to let you know I arrived OK. I'm writing this from heaven, here I dwell with God above, Here there's no more tears of sadness, here is just eternal love. Please do not be unhappy because I am out of sight, Remember I am with you every morning, noon and night. That day I had to leave you when my life on earth was through, God picked me up and hugged me and He said 'I welcome you'."Wert's daughter Danielle read "It's Been a Year": It's been a year since you left the ones you love. It's been a year that you've been looking down on us from above. It's been a year of constant reminder that you're not here. It's been a year of memories, sorrow and fear. It's been a year since that horrible night. it's been a year from when you walked into the light."Howard's daughters, Megan and Christina, were too overwrought to speak.Some of those attending the service spoke of Howard's sense of humor, his tradition of being given a plate of dinner to take home with him from family Thanksgiving holiday celebrations, and his protective stance toward the younger members of the family.Wert, whom Howard always called "Wenny," spoke of his insistence that, upon parting, to say "see you" rather than goodbye."He hated to say goodbye," she recalled.