Sleepy Hollow family offers $30,000 reward in daughter’s cold case death

A Sleepy Hollow woman is offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in her daughter’s 2009 death, which authorities ruled in 2022 was a homicide.

The death of Anna Mary Schneider, a 19-year-old recent Dundee-Crown High School graduate and competitive swimmer, initially was ruled an undetermined drowning. In 2020, her remains were exhumed and her death reexamined.

Authorities have said Anna was hanging out with a friend at her family’s backyard pool in the early-morning hours of July 4, 2009, when she died.

Based on new findings from the 2020 re-examination, then- Kane County Coroner Rob Russell changed the cause and manner of her death from drowning and undetermined to homicide by chloroform, the death certificate shows.

But three years later, authorities have said they don’t have enough evidence to charge anyone.

Since Shaw Local reported last month on the changes in the death certificate and the family’s frustration, they have received calls and messages from many of Anna’s friends and even strangers, said her mother, Martha Schneider.

“It just warms my heart so much to have so many of Anna’s friends and strangers come forward,” she said.

A social media account has been set up about the case called “Justice for Anna Schneider” on Facebook. Martha Schneider said she also is considering putting up a billboard to encourage people to come forward with information.

Authorities, including the Sleepy Hollow Police Department, have said that new tips have been coming in since last month and are being followed up on.

Sleepy Hollow Police Chief Sam Parma asked that anyone with tips about Anna Mary Schneider’s death email him directly at sparma@sleepyhollowil.org or call the police department at (847) 426-4425 “and ask to be sent to my direct voicemail” — do not leave a message in a general voicemail.

Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser has urged anyone with information about Anna’s death to contact her office as well.

When no charges came after the death certificate was changed, Martha Schneider said she felt as if authorities had forgotten about her daughter. She pleaded with the public: “If you know something, say something.”