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Remember, the reward was there because of the Bittler and other previous, crimes. Not because of the rape of the Banks girl, a friend of the perp.

Suppose that Salt Lake City right now has a half million dollars out on the Elizabeth Smart case. If someone in Colorado says her brother-in-law stole her Camaro, and it turns out after LE investigation that this is the perp in the Smart case...can this victim, who alleged no more than car theft, and knew the perp, collect the Smart reward funds?

Not just yes, but hell yes.

That was sort of the hypothetical I laid out, but you beat me for the punch. By the terms of the contract that Crimestoppers established, if your information leads tot he arrest of the person for this crime, you get the money. Doesn't matter if I don't know the big picture or not, or even if I'm motivated by altruistic or revenge motivations.

The police took the info Banks gave her and could compare it to the M.O. for the prior cases and they were able to close all of the crimes. The fact that the police already had the name of the suspect goes more to the level of police incompetence.

It's unfortunate that Miss Banks had to suffer for this incompetence. You know in most states, avoiding your parole officer is enough to get you sent back to the Pen I guess the police had better things to do for those two months.