By Stephen Singer, The Associated Press
Friends and acquaintances of a former Fairfield, Conn., woman who was fatally shot last year in her home in Alexandria, Va., are placing advertisements in Connecticut newspapers offering a reward for information leading to her killer.
The group hopes the ad, which appeared Thursday in the Connecticut Post, will draw attention to the slaying of Nancy Niedermeier Dunning, who was the sister of former Connecticut Rep. Christine Niedermeier. She also was the wife of Alexandria Sheriff James Dunning.
“We’re providing information to spur people who may have known Nancy or had a relationship to come forward with any piece of information,” said Lonnie Rich, an Alexandria resident who has helped organize the effort.
The newspaper ad includes a photo of Dunning and a photo of an unidentified man being sought as a possible witness. It also includes an offer of $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the killer.
Dunning was shot to death in her home Dec. 5. Police said in January they believe the killer targeted her. Authorities also have said they believe the homicide was motivated by an “event or relationship” in Dunning’s recent past.
Investigators, who were trying to reconstruct details of her activities and relationships in the past several years, issued an appeal for Dunning’s friends, associates, or neighbors to come forward with information.
Rich, an Alexandria councilman from 1991 to 2000, said he and Dunning knew each other well.
“I worked with her in politics, she was my real estate agent, I was her lawyer, I was the campaign manager of her husband’s sheriff campaign, our kids went to the same school, we lived two blocks away,” he said.
About seven people helped established a committee to help police solve the case, Rich said. Friends and associates are frustrated at the lack of leads, he said.
“People in Alexandria are no different than anywhere else in this country. We want immediate gratification,” he said. “On CSI, the crime would be solved in 45 minutes. Realistically, it’s just a mystery.
An investigation of what Alexandria police Sgt. George Burnham called a “high-profile case” is continuing.
Alexandria police have questioned members of Dunning’s family, including Niedermeier, who has acknowledged that she had differences with her sister over the care of their elderly mother. Niedermeier has said, through her attorney, that she was at her Fairfield, Conn., home at the time of her sister’s death.
The body of Dunning, 56, was found by her husband and son in her home in Alexandria after she missed a lunch date.
The death shocked the community, where Dunning lived for almost 30 years.
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Anyone with information is asked to call Alexandria Police at (703) 838-4711.