Reward upped in Thompson case

With no suspects or clear motive identified after a year of investigating the killing of Chico State student Marc Thompson, the FBI is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

The FBI has been working with the Butte County Sheriff’s Office since shortly after Thompson's body was found burned in a vehicle off of the Oroville-Quincy Highway near Mountain House in September 2014, according to a BCSO press release. The county's Secret Witness program is also offering a $1,000 reward. A website established earlier this year at buttecrimesolver.com provides updates and instructions for how to contact authorities.

Thompson, 25, was an outspoken black student leader, and some suspect the killing was racially motivated. After his death, a consortium of local social justice groups issued a dispatch asking law enforcement to investigate his death as such.