![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/kyle4-300x225.jpg\" "\\"kyle4\\"")
Nearly two years after his murder, the family of Kyle Byrtus has increased the reward for information on the person or persons responsible for his death by $2,000, bringing the total amount of the reward to $3,000.<\/p>\nNearly two years after his murder, the family of Kyle Byrtus has increased the reward for information on the person or persons responsible for his death by $2,000, bringing the total amount of the reward to $3,000.<\/p>\n
Byrtus, who was 25 at the time of his death, was found lying in a field in Lehigh Acres in August 2013.\u00a0 But before his life was taken, Byrtus was travelling down a road of success, following his graduation with honors from\u00a0Fort Myers\u00a0High Schoolas a star track athlete.\u00a0 During his late teens and early 20s, he developed a strong work ethic and after attending college on the east coast of\u00a0Florida, had goals of becoming a business leader.\u00a0 However, some bad choices led to Byrtus associating with drug users and abusers.\u00a0 It\u2019s those relationships, particularly ones in the Pine Manor community, that may very well have played a role in his murder.<\/p>\n
In an effort to encourage someone in the know to come forward with information on Byrtus\u2019 murder, his family established a GoFundMe account last year.\u00a0 On what would have been his 27th\u00a0birthday this past May, his family asked Byrtus\u2019 friends to donate just $5 each to the GoFundMe account, in hopes of raising more money for the reward in his case.\u00a0\u00a0On Monday, his family added $2,000 to the reward fund, which will be in addition to the $1,000 offered by Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers.<\/p>\n
In an effort to reach out to the community, Lamar Advertising generously donated a billboard at the entrance to the Pine Manor community, announcing the increase in reward money and encouraging anyone in the know to call Crime Stoppers with whatever information they have.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many people who want answers and justice for Kyle and his family,\u201d said Trish Routte, Crime Stoppers Coordinator. \u00a0\u201cWe are confident there are people who know more than they\u2019re coming forward with, and we hope that they will take into consideration the heartache that Kyle\u2019s mother feels on a daily basis, and her need for answers as to why someone would take her son\u2019s life.\u00a0 The person or persons responsible for his murder are still out there, and if they have the capacity to kill one person, who\u2019s to say they won\u2019t do it again?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyone with information on the murder of Kyle Byrtus is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477).\u00a0 All callers will remain anonymous and will be eligible for a reward of up to $3,000.\u00a0 Tips may also be made online at www.swflcrimestoppers.org<\/a>\u00a0or by texting a tip to CRIMES (274637) Keyword: REWARD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nearly two years after his murder, the family of Kyle Byrtus has increased the reward for information on the person or persons responsible for his death by $2,000, bringing the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}