Buziak, 24, was stabbed to death on Feb. 2, 2008, in a home she was showing to prospective clients, but Saanich police have yet to find her killer.

 At a news conference Tuesday, Buziak's mother, Evelyn Reitmayer, spoke for the first time since her daughter was killed, announcing the offer of the reward.

 "Having Lindsay taken from us has been excruciatingly painful," she said. "Someone carried out a plan to end her life. None of us can fathom why. We need answers and the perpetrator need to be held accountable for their actions.

 "My life revolved around my daughters. My heart has been broken."

 Reitmayer said the reward is only being offered for six months to encourage individuals to come forward sooner rather than later.

 Saanich police have remained tight-lipped on the case in the past two years; the last update they provided was a year ago, on the first anniversary, when they revealed descriptions of two possible suspects.

 Tuesday, police confirmed Buziak was intentionally targeted, and released some details about the phone call that she received luring her to the vacant house.

 "Lindsay was intentionally targeted, she was intentionally lured to the home and she was intentionally killed," said Saanich police spokeswoman Sgt. Julie Fast.

 The reasons why remain a mystery, she said.

 Officers have investigated leads that took them to the Lower Mainland, Calgary and Washington state.

 Police said the killers were planning the murder in late 2007, which was when a cellphone used exclusively for the crime was purchased in Vancouver. The phone was activated January 2008 and travelled from the Vancouver area to Greater Victoria about 24 hours prior to Buziak's murder. The phone was used Feb. 2, 2008, when Buziak received a phone call from a woman with a foreign accent asking her to show the house. The cellphone was deactivated shortly after.

 The phone was registered to a Paulo Rodriquez, which investigators believe is a made-up name. The subscriber name was associated with an address in Vancouver, but the address, which does exist, was used as a diversion and has no direct association with any suspects.

 Police say the man and woman described last year are still the primary suspects. They are believed to have met with Buziak in the million-dollar Victoria home where she was killed.

 Earlier that Saturday, she had received the call from the woman with a foreign accent, who wanted Buziak to show her the house at 5:30 p.m. — even though Buziak wasn't the listing agent. Then, she got a call from a man who said he'd meet her alone. She was uneasy about it, and asked her boyfriend Jason Zailo to check on her later. When he and a friend arrived at the house at 6:15 p.m., he found her bloodied body.

 Police released a sketch of a Caucasian woman with shoulder-length blond hair and a general description of a male suspect: Caucasian, six feet tall with dark hair. They also released a drawing of a skirt with a distinctive pattern of red and white swirls, which officers said the woman had been wearing. They said the man might have been wearing a light- to medium-coloured jacket.

 Saanich police have four investigators actively following up leads. Fast said investigators have identified a number of people of interest and interviewed hundreds of people. "We believe that one of these people has the information we need to solve this, but for whatever reason, be it fear or loyalty, or criminal intention, that they are not talking," Fast said.

 Keeping the case in the public eye can be helpful in bringing forward new information, said retired homicide officer Insp. Bob Gehl, who wrote a book about his experience investigating the so-called Abbotsford Killer case in 1995, in which Terry Driver was convicted of killing a 16-year-old girl and assaulting another.

 Gehl, now a private investigator for Vancouver-based Canpro Global, said some murder cases can take years to solve and can "cause a lot of concern for the community when they're dragged on."

 He suggested an emotional appeal from the family could change someone's mind about coming forward to police. "Sometimes people get to know about it later on because the person confesses to someone down the road or somehow lets the cat out of the bag," he said.

 Buziak's family has stopped trying to understand why a vivacious, funny young woman with so much potential met such a violent fate, her uncle, Art Reitmayer, said.

 "How do you understand it? It's trying to rationalize the irrational," he said. "You rack your brain like anything else, it doesn't really lead you anywhere. You can't bring Lindsay back."

 If anyone has any information on the case, they are asked to call the Saanich police tip line at   
                                                             250-475-4356        

Courtesy Katie DeRosa, Victoria Times Colonist