LYNNWOOD — Gael Schneider worries about other people’s daughters.
During the past two years, she has been mourning the death of her own daughter, Nicole Pietz. She also prays that other young women won’t share her daughter’s fate and cross paths with a killer.
Pietz, 32, was reported missing from her Lynnwood condominium Jan. 29, 2006. Her body was found about a week later in a wooded area in Burien. She had been strangled.
“Her killer is out there and he can do it again. I don’t want another family to go through this,” Schneider said. “I don’t want another girl to be killed.”
Schneider and her husband announced Thursday that they have increased the reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. They are now offering $35,000, and Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound has put up a $1,000 reward.
Schneider hopes the reward will motivate someone to step forward.
“Too bad their conscience isn’t doing it,” Schneider said.
She and her husband hired a private investigator and Schneider calls detectives about once a week to ask what has been done to advance the investigation.
King County sheriff’s detectives have refused to disclose if there is a suspect in the case. They often receive tips and are actively investigating the homicide, King County Sgt. John Urquhart said.
David Pietz reported his wife missing after she failed to show up for dinner with friends and family the night before. Her friends and family launched an extensive search for the woman before her body was discovered.
Pietz’s 2003 Volkswagen Jetta was found abandoned Feb. 22, 2006, in a parking lot near the University District. A parking ticket left on the windshield was dated Feb. 10.
Detectives searched the car for evidence. They also seized computers from Pietz’s office in Bothell and from the condominium she shared with her husband.
Investigators need the public’s help in identifying the killer, Urquhart said. They need someone to talk to them about what happened, and although the information might not seem like much on the surface, it could be the key to solving the case, he said.
“Unless someone finds Jesus and steps forward and confesses, it’s going to take someone picking up the phone and telling us what they know,” he said.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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