A Sleepy Hollow woman said Friday she 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.”

Martha Schneider, 73, is the mother of Anna Mary Schneider, who was a recent Dundee-Crown High School graduate and competitive swimmer whose death at 19 was initially ruled an undetermined drowning. In 2020, her remains were exhumed and her death reexamined.

Based on new findings, then-Kane County Coroner Rob Russell changed the cause and manner of Anna Schneider’s death from drowning and undetermined to homicide by chloroform, the death certificate shows.

But her family has expressed frustration that, in the three years since the death was reclassified, authorities have said they don’t have enough evidence to charge anyone.

During the early-morning hours of July 4, 2009, Anna was home after her first year of college at the University of Hawaii where she was studying marine biology and music. She was hanging out by her backyard pool with a friend from Algonquin.

In a recent interview, Martha Schneider recalled being startled awake at 4:43 a.m. by the back door slamming shut and Anna’s friend “hysterical,” screaming for help and banging on the walls. She was yelling that Anna was by the pool and wouldn’t wake up, Martha Schneider said.

Martha Schneider said she and her husband Lawrence “Larry” Schneider ran outside and found their daughter partially out the pool with her face on the concrete. She was later pronounced dead at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Elgin.

The cause and manner of Anna Schneider’s death were changed in 2022, following the second autopsy and new investigation by experts, locally and from across the country. Russell, who is now running for Kane County sheriff, has said investigators used the newest and latest techniques that led to new findings, resulting in the “definitive change” on the death certificate.

The Kane County Major Crimes Task Force then presented the new findings to the Kane County State’s Attorneys Office, but no charges came of it.

Martha Schneider said Friday that her life had been wonderful and fun and, “all of a sudden, Anna is dead in the pool. That changed my whole world. My life that day turned upside down. I never would expect this would happen in my life.”

She said she shut off her feelings 16 years ago and has just now begun to cry again. For the last 16 years, she said, her home has been quiet, and authorities have told the family not to talk about the case to anyone. They were told they would hurt the investigation, Martha Schneider said. She had even hired her own private investigator and expert to look into her daughter’s death, to no avail.

But recently, Martha Schneider decided she would no longer stay silent.

Since Shaw Local first reported on the changes in the death certificate and the family’s frustration, the Schneiders have received calls and messages from many of Anna’s friends and even strangers, Martha said.

“It just warms my heart so much to have so many of Anna’s friends and strangers come forward,” she said. She also noted the appreciation she feels for her niece Kristen Colella, of Ohio, who got the ball rolling when she reached out to the media.

Social media accounts have been set up about the case with names including “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,” and 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 like authorities had forgotten about her daughter. She asks the public: “If you know something, say something.”