San Joaquin County Sheriff Baxter Dunn announces two $5,000 rewards Friday from the Carol Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Fund to two Florida residents who gave authorities in that state tips that led to the arrest of Laren Sims in connection with the murder of her husband, Larry McNabney. Behind Dunn are McNabney's children, Tavia Williams and Joe McNabney. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Foundation pays $10,000 in rewards for tips in McNabney murder case

Nearly two years after Woodbridge attorney Larry McNabney was last seen alive, a reward was paid Friday to two Florida residents who helped authorities find his wife.

The $10,000 reward will be split evenly between both people who wish to remain anonymous, said San Joaquin County Sheriff Baxter Dunn.

He accepted two checks Friday from a private victims' foundation as deputies, media crews and McNabney's children gathered at the Sheriff's office in French Camp.

After McNabney disappeared Sept. 11, 2001, from a Southern California horse show, his wife continued to operate his Sacramento law office for several months.

Elisa McNabney, whom authorities later identified as Laren Sims, told friends and clients a variety of stories about her husband's disappearance, according to court testimony earlier this year. To some, she said her husband had joined a cult; others were told that he had gone to Costa Rica.

In late fall 2001, a missing person's report was finally filed, and on Feb. 5, 2002, farmworkers found the lawyer's body buried in a Clements vineyard. His wife had since disappeared.

A month later, the Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation offered a $10,000 reward leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

Sims was found and arrested in Florida in mid-March, and there she confessed to poisoning her husband with a horse tranquilizer. She implicated Sacramento college student Sarah Dutra, then 21, in the crime and then committed suicide in her Florida jail cell.

Dutra was charged with murder, and her two-month trial ended this spring when a jury convicted her of voluntary manslaughter and accessory after the fact. Dutra is now serving an 11-year prison sentence.

The Sund/Carrington foundation was established in 1999 when several tourists were slain at Yosemite National Park.

Since then, the foundation has offered rewards for cases in 32 states, Spokeswoman Kim Petersen said Friday. The McNabney case brought the total reward money paid to more than $90,000, she said.

"This case is a prime example of how law enforcement, media, the victim's family and organizations like ours can work together and solve a crime," Petersen said Friday as she presented two checks to Dunn.

As McNabney's grown children, Tavia Williams and Joe McNabney, stood beside her, Petersen explained that it doesn't matter whether the money is the main reason someone comes forward in such a case.

"If you do the right thing, there are rewards," Petersen said.

In the McNabney case, the two people who went to Florida officials had no idea there was a reward, Dunn said. They only learned of the money when Sheriff's Detective Deborah Scheffel called them recently.

"When I told them about the reward, they immediately said they didn't need it," Scheffel said. "They said they did what they did because it was the right thing to do."

In other instances, money is what breaks a case. Shortly before Friday's reward presentation, a man contacted Scheffel about a different case, she said. Though two men were convicted and sentenced in connection with the murder of Cyndi Vanderheiden, 25, of Clements, her body has never been found.

Dunn cautioned, though, that the man who said he might have information for a price could know nothing.

"This could very likely be a prank, and we don't want to raise the family's hopes," Dunn said.