Reward Increased In Road Rage Killing Of PA Woman: Latest Updates

PENNSYLVANIA — The reward in the road rage killing of a Pennsylvania woman in North Carolina has been increased to $20,000, investigators announced on Wednesday, as they said that they had identified the vehicle used by the shooter and published an updated photograph.

"We are going to aggressively track down the driver of this vehicle," Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said Wednesday, as he continued to exhort witnesses to come forward. "Detectives have worked non stop 24/7 to identify this coward. If you know who it is and who owns this car, come forward NOW. Do not become part of a conspiracy and call us NOW."

Police have maintained from the beginning that the road rage encounter on March 25 "unknowingly developed" after the vehicle carrying Manheim's Julie Eberly, 47, and her husband Ryan came close to another vehicle, while driving to the beach to celebrate their wedding anniversary. He was changing lanes and did not see the vehicle in his blind spot.

This week, Ryan Eberly told Lancaster Online that he wouldn't even call it a road rage situation, and that he did nothing to escalate the situation.

RELATED: Footage Of Suspect's Car Released In PA Woman's Road Rage Killing

"This was not minutes of escalation," the outlet quoted him. “I didn’t give him the finger or beep my horn at him or anything to heighten the situation at all."

But within moments, the silver, four-door Chevrolet Malibu, pictured above, had pulled even with the Eberly's vehicle and fired several shots into the door. One of them struck Julie, a mother of six, and she later died after being taken to the hospital.

Police said the Malibu has North Carolina plates, with tinted windows and chrome trimming on the window frame.

They're continuing to ask for witnesses to come forward, and they're searching for any local residents or businesses with surveillance footage of the nearby area from 11:40 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on March 25.

Specifically, they're looking in the town of Lumberton, where the vehicle fled after the shooting, police said. The car may have passed the areas of N. Elm Street, 16th Avenue, E. 5th Street, and Alamac Road.

A GoFundMe to benefit the family has already raised nearly $62,000 from more than a thousand donors.

For more coverage of this case, see here.

If you have any information, call the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office at 910-671-3170 or email sheriff@robesoncoso.org.