As the only child of a dad who worked in the hotel industry, Andrew Joseph Stengel would travel the world. He even lived for a time as a kid in the Marriott Marquis in New York City, where he learned at an early age how to navigate to and from school on the subway independently, said his father, Mike.
This level of independence was no surprise because Andrew, affectionately known as AJ, was always a social butterfly, out and about with all kinds of kids. “All of the children wanted to be friends with him and loved being around him,” his dad said. “And he loved to sing all types of songs with them, but he had a terrible voice.”
Despite Mike’s loving teasing about his singing, he described Andrew as always kind, sweet and generous, a people person who loved all kinds of animals, classic cars and the elderly. AJ (named after his grandfather) would bring home all types of animals and nurse them back to health, some he would keep and some he would release them back into their natural habitat.
His life was cut short, though, on Nov. 26, 2021. An off-duty officer was traveling to his home when he noticed Andrew on the ground on the 7100 block of Ardleigh Street. He preformed CPR until other officers arrived, but Andrew didn’t make it. He was 29.
As a younger man, Andrew studied communications at Kutztown University, and he attended a trade school in North Carolina where he took up HVAC. He even gave the hotel business a shot but didn’t quite like it, so he moved to Denver for a bit and landed a job in sales. It finally felt right, but he knew something was missing—Philadelphia.
He had always loved Philly because his parents and most of his family are from here. His love of the city also extended to its sports teams, of course, and you might say he was their number one fan. “We were enormous Eagles fans, we followed them all the way to the Super Bowl,” Mike said. “We had great times and great conversations as we watched the Eagles play.”
So he packed up in Denver and moved back to the city, landing a job selling cars at Barbera Autoland on Roosevelt Boulevard. It was a vocation that combined his outgoing nature with his love of classic cars. He spent hours learning how to restore classic cars from his uncles, who taught him everything to bring those beauties back to life inside and out.
Within a few months at Barbera he became the number one salesman. “He was so proud of himself,” said Mike. “AJ would text me pictures of the cars he sold with the new owners in front of them.”
AJ was living in Mt. Airy when he befriended an elderly neighbor across the street, Miss Joyce. He would take her shopping, keep her lawn maintained, shovel the snow and take her on outings. Once Miss Joyce became ill and passed away, AJ he bought her house from her son and began the long project of renovating it from top to bottom, with a little help from his many friends. He had a lot of time on his hands during the pandemic, which gave him plenty of time to fix things up. Around this time, he also began volunteering for charity events, including for the Smokin’ Joe Frazier Foundation.
AJ also had a dog he rescued named Ruckus. Everywhere AJ went Ruckus was with him. It was more like Ruckus was his comfort and he was Ruckus comfort, Mike said.
At this time Andrew’s murder is still unsolved, and the award leading to prosecution is at $100, 000.00. Please contact the Philadelphia Police Department at 215-686-TIPS.
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