Poe reward money still up for grabs

FBI hasn't decided who will receive $20,000

MADISON, Wis. — The fugitive arrested in Madison after an eight-hour manhunt Thursday waived his right to an extradition hearing Tuesday.

Paris Poe, wanted by the FBI in connection with a federal homicide investigation, remains in the Dane County Jail until he is moved to Chicago. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said there is no date set for that move.

Meanwhile, the FBI has yet to decide who – if anyone – will receive the $20,000 reward offered for information leading to Poe’s arrest.

Joan Hyde with the FBI in Chicago told News 3 the agency doesn’t identify anyone who gets paid for their tips, and the process of deciding how to distribute reward money can take any amount of time.

“They should announce that the reward has been given so that no one who possibly called in is thinking that they’re eligible for a reward,” Teri, who called in a tip Thursday, said.

Teri, who asked us to not use her last name or show her face, thought out of the vast number of tips phoned in to dispatch, her information might be worth something.

“I put two and two together a little bit, and I thought, okay, I thought, an Illinois license plate, a male passenger I thought looked suspicious,” Teri said.

Teri was turning onto John Nolan Drive Wednesday when she believed she saw Poe riding in the passenger’s seat of a small, light-colored car. She noticed him almost immediately, and felt uneasy about him long before she knew he was wanted by the FBI.

“You don’t come up to somebody next to them, because his window was right down,” Teri said. “I would have been car-to-car, and I didn’t want to do that. So he just turned right and I turned left.”

The next day, as authorities scoured the city for Poe, Teri called in the car’s description. Poe was in custody about two and a half hours later, making Teri wonder if her information pointed police in the direction of an arrest.

A co-worker told Teri about the reward after she called in the information.

“They said, ‘Did you know? Did you see the news last night that there was a $20,000 reward for his information to capture him?’ And I was like, ‘No,'” Teri said.

Now that she does know, Teri would like to use any reward money to pay for her children’s college education.

Authorities have not released information about the make, model or color of the car Poe was in right before his arrest.