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$5,000 Reward Offered In Unsolved Case Of Slain Durham Mother

Nearly nine months after a Durham mother was found stabbed to death in her home, Durham police announced a reward Tuesday for information about the case.

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Abaroa Family
DURHAM, N.C. — Nearly nine months after a Durham mother was found stabbed to death in her home, Durham police announced a reward Tuesday for information about the case.

The Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the April 26 slaying of 25-year-old Janet Abaroa.

Abaroa's husband, Raven Abaroa, found his wife dead inside their home at 2606 Ferrand Drive around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26. Their 6-month-old son, Kaiden, who was also in the home, was uninjured.

In the hours before her death, Janet Abaroa, who was in the early stages of pregnancy, picked up her son at day care and went with her husband to drop off her car for repairs, police said in a news release issued Tuesday.

The Abaroas then met with a church member at their home that evening before Raven Abaroa left the house around 8:30 p.m. in a gray Dodge Durango to play in an indoor soccer game in Morrisville.

Police said that when Abaroa returned home that evening, he found his wife upstairs.

Investigators spent nearly 24 hours collecting evidence from the home, including knives, a cell phone and financial items, including a checkbook and loan papers. Police searched the Dodge Durango, where they found a knife and a pawn shop ticket. Authorities also collected soil samples from the SUV and took swabbings from various locations in the house. They also took the clothes Raven Abaroa had been wearing.

In August, Durham investigators searched through the couple's e-mail accounts in hopes of finding information that would lead them to an arrest.

Although no charges have been filed and no suspects have been named in the case, investigators said they do not believe the homicide was random. Police said there were no obvious signs of a break-in, even though a laptop computer was reported missing from the house.

The Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation, which posts rewards for families of victims who lack the financial means to do so themselves, will offer the $5,000 reward for six months. It is in addition to a reward being offered by CrimeStoppers for an arrest in the case.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Durham Police Department at (919) 560-4440, ext. 247, or CrimeStoppers at (919) 683-1200.

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