Katie Miller hoped the reward money being offered by the Oakland Police Department would help catch her husband’s killer.
Then, she saw NBC Bay Area’s recent investigation revealing the department was advertising reward money it couldn’t actually pay, having lost access to Oakland Crime Stoppers funds more than two years ago. In one case, the department stiffed a tipster on a promised reward of up to $10,000 after he came forward with information that led to the arrest in a separate high-profile murder case last year.
“Maybe people would be willing to come forward if they knew there was a financial incentive,” said Katie Miller, whose husband, Will Schwerma, was shot and killed two months ago inside a parked car in West Oakland.
“Then I heard this terrible news that it’s actually a sham and there really isn’t any [Oakland] Crime Stoppers and they don’t have any money to give out. It was like the rug was taken …