More than a year after Angelina Sicola was found strangled to death in her Colorado Springs apartment, her family is convinced that someone holds the information that could blow the homicide case wide open.

In an effort to get that information, the family is trying to raise $10,000 to offer a reward.

Almost $8,000 in donations have trickled in since Sicola’s step sister, Susan Shelters, set up a web page on gofundme.com on June 10.

Sicola’s family have no doubt that Colorado Springs police detectives have worked tirelessly to find her killer, but after more than a year of waiting for answers or progress, Shelters said everyone was ready to take action.

“We gave police plenty of time to conduct their investigation and they have tons of evidence, they just need the missing link to make all the pieces fit together,” Shelters, an Air Force nurse in Mississippi said in a phone interview with The Gazette. “Someone out there knows something. Even if they think it’s a small detail, they need to come forward. The reward money will hopefully be the nudge they need to speak up.”

Sicola was a 20-year-old communications major at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs at the time of her death. Police found her body on May 2, 2013, in her apartment at 3807 Half Turn Rd., off North Academy Boulevard.

Colorado Springs police Lt. Adrian Vasquez said the focus now is on making sure that any tips that come in because of the reward are directly handled by police.

“We’ve had great, open communication with Angelina’s family from the beginning, and when they expressed to us that they wanted to raise money for a reward we gave them our support, as long as it’s done properly,” Vasquez said. “We have to protect the information for the integrity of the investigation.”

Pam Lively, Sicola’s mother, is unhappy with the detectives’ tight-lipped approach the case, but said she understands the need to keep details of her daughter’s death out of public knowledge.

“I get the frustration, and I don’t enjoy holding back info from the victim’s family, but I believe it’s necessary,” Vasquez said. “When we interview anyone, we ask them specific details of the scene: how Angelina was killed, what did it look like? If that information got out, we would have no way to verify their story.”

With the fundraiser’s goal within sight, Sicola’s family has conflicting emotions about the reward’s meaning.

Lively said it was disheartening to think that money could be what would help achieve justice for her daughter, while Shelters said the motivation did not matter as long as the case could be solved and the family can find peace and closure.

“I really don’t care if the money is what makes that person speak, up as long as they do and they tell the truth,” Shelters said. “In the end, the purpose is to find Angie’s killer and bring them to justice.”

For more information or to make a donation, visit www.gofundme.com/Justice-for-Angelina.

Anyone with information about the case can call police at 444-7000 or call Pikes Peak Area Crime Stoppers at 634-STOP (7867).