The remnants of Paymela Jean Long’s life still inhabit the Illahee Shores Mobile Home Park, from the charred shell of her doublewide and effects spread out in the yard, to the scorched trees licked by flames the morning of Oct. 31.

The smell of burnt plastic still saunters in the air, leaving a lingering memory of the county music singer.

Long’s family, investigators, her neighbors and friends at Poulsbo’s Sons of Norway still wonder what exactly happened. Long’s death was listed as a homicide, the fire deemed suspicious.

And the question mark that remains has changed a neighborhood, adding a second unsolved homicide in the last decade.

Long’s daughter, Bremerton’s Myle Garcia, said the Long family initially was in close contact with the sheriff’s office, but has had almost no contact during the past month.

They have little hope a suspect will be prosecuted.

“I feel like my mom’s file is on the corner of the desk and has passed,” Garcia said. “It is no longer a priority, which makes it real hard to have closure.”

Almost three months after Long’s death the sheriff’s office has no suspects.

Deputy Scott Wilson said detectives are waiting for results from the Washington State Patrol’s crime lab about the few recoverable pieces of evidence.

He said in homicide investigations there are always possibilities, but he could not comment about the chances of finding a suspect.

“We have pretty much reached a dead end,” he said.

Bob Fernandez, a criminal justice professor at Olympic College, said the puzzle often comes together in homicide cases long after the trail left by the killer is most obvious.

“From my 31 years of experience, I have found that sometimes when you are out of leads, things come out of the blue and will come to attention, months or years later,” he said.

In 2008, charges were forwarded in 63.6 percent of murder cases in the U.S., according to FBI statistics.

This rate, an increase of 61.2 percent from 2007, was the highest clearance rate for crimes tracked by the FBI, both violent and nonviolent, said Nancy Carnes, supervisor with the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division.

At 6 a.m. Oct. 31, a neighbor called 911 to report that Long’s mobile home was in flames. Firefighters from Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue and the Bremerton Fire Department used more than 15,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire, but Long was dead when they entered the residence.

The fire began in Long’s bedroom, said Kitsap County Fire Marshal David Lynam, who would not comment how the fire was started or whether any accelerants were used.

Long, 58, was a longtime Kitsap resident and county music star who performed with such musicians as Hank Williams Jr., Hoyt Axton and Jerry Reed, said Helen Vant, Long’s mother. Her stage name was Paymela Faye and she starred for many years for the group Whatta Band.

She often jammed at the Sons of Norway, where she worked as a bartender three evenings a week.

Her name is written on a wooden plaque, located at the bar’s entrance, complete with a country singer doll holding a guitar.

Bar manager Doug Stewart said Long was known for her voice and enjoyed sharing it with people.

“She definitely wasn’t shy about playing on stage,” Stewart said.

Garcia said everywhere she goes, people ask her if there’s an update on the investigation.

“She knew everybody, rich and poor, famous or not famous,” Vant said. “She was a good-hearted women. If she had a piece of bread, she would give half of it away.”

Like the investigation, the remains of Long’s mobile home haven’t budged.

Before Long’s death, neighbor Jay Leavitt didn’t lock his doors and often left his car keys in the ignition. He has since changed his habits.

“I definitely feel a little more insecure in the neighborhood,” Leavitt said.

Neighbor Lee Boatwright already had some safety concerns when he moved into the area in 2008, after reading up on the neighborhood’s other unsolved death.

On July 16, 2000, Ruth Davison, 90, was found dead in her home. The sheriff’s office opened a homicide investigation, but nobody was prosecuted.

Though most potential evidence was destroyed in the fire, Leavitt remains convinced the sheriff’s office will eventually find a suspect in the Long case.

“They will find their person eventually, some way. The person will be in jail bragging about it,” he said. “We pray for the family and the detectives. They have a thankless job. They deal with mankind’s worst every day.”

Neighbor Richard Jones was less optimistic.

“This is just another day in Bremerton, people have been being murdered here for a long time,” he said.

Those with information can contact Detective Lissa Gundrum at (360) 337-5669 or Lynam at (360) 337-4222.