SEATTLE – The reward is increasing for information in the murder of a Lynnwood woman found dead more than a year ago.

Nicole Pietz disappeared from her home on January 27, 2006. About a week later, her strangled body was found alongside a Burien road. Pietz's 2003 Jetta was discovered in Seattle's University District about two weeks after that.

The investigation has turned up no suspects in the case.

Her family has increased the reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction from $11,000 to $26,000, which includes $1,000 from Crime Stoppers. 

They hope the new reward will help lead them to a killer.

Pietz's mother, Gael Schneider, returned to Seattle this weekend with news of the increased reward.

"I just have trouble being here," she said. "If something this horrific happened to your child, you wouldn't stop at anything to find the murderer either."

Pietz, 32, lived with her husband in Lynwood. She disappeared on her way to an early birthday party with friends.  But the complicated logistics of the case convince those who loved her that someone must know or have seen something suspicious.

On Saturday her friends posted fliers with photographs of Pietz and her husband, hoping to entice a tip or spark a memory.

"All we want is exposure so that we get this guy that killed that wonderful woman," Schneider said.