STEELE - The Kidder County Sheriff's Department and North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation have announced a reward will be offered for information about the 2005 death of LuVern Nastrom.

Nastrom, 49, was found dead along a minimum-maintenance road northeast of Tuttle at around 8 a.m. on Oct. 2, 2005, by a rancher checking fences. Sheriff Doug Howard said he believes the Bismarck man died between 2 and 8 a.m.

Howard announced at a news conference Thursday morning at the Kidder County Courthouse that a $5,000 reward will be offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for Nastrom's death. The department and BCI also have been working with Newman Signs to place a billboard with information about the reward on Interstate 94 at the Highway 3 exit.

The money will come from the state attorney general's asset forfeiture fund, BCI Chief Agent Jeff White said. White attended the Thursday news conference with Special Agent Mike Quinn.

Nastrom was found dead about 75 feet behind his car. His injuries and damage to the car indicate he was struck by the vehicle, which was in park when the rancher found it pushed up against his fence.

"We're considering this a homicide,"the sheriff said. When asked why, he responded, "Good question."

"We don't believe he was out there alone,"White said.

Though some trace DNA evidence was collected at the crime scene, there hasn't been much to go on, Howard said.

"We do not have an overabundance of evidence from the crime scene," White said.

He said more than 50 people associated with Nastrom have been interviewed by law enforcement since Nastrom was found dead, and some people have submitted to polygraph testing.

"Since the homicide, many man hours have been put in by the Kidder County Sheriff's Department and BCI," Howard said. "No suspects have been acquired from our polygraphs or interviews."

Authorities do not know why Nastrom was in Kidder County or on the rarely-used road north of Tuttle.

"He had no friends or associates in my county, that we know of," Howard said.

However, Kidder County State's Attorney Jerod Tufte pointed out that Nastrom had been convicted shortly before his death of burglarizing abandoned farmsteads in Kidder County. According to court documents, Nastrom pleaded guilty in August 2005 to two counts of burglary and two counts of theft of property in Kidder County. South Central District Judge Donald Jorgensen deferred imposition of sentence for three years.

Nastrom had similar convictions in Burleigh County, as well as several criminal driving convictions. At the time of his death, he was facing charges related to methamphetamine possession in Burleigh County.

"Your guess is as good as mine as to why he was out there or what went on," Howard said.

White said BCI has only used a reward to try to get information in one other case.

"Our records with rewards are minimal," White said. He said they hope offering the reward will entice people to come forward with information they otherwise may have kept to themselves.

"Hopefully, this $5,000 will be enough for someone to come forward," he said.

The sheriff said he looks over the Nastrom case file monthly, and offering a reward is one way to garner new information and keep the case on people's minds.

"We want to remain fresh on the case,"he said.

Howard said he believes Nastrom's death is the only unsolved homicide in Kidder County, and it is the only homicide in the county since 2005.

"We will solve this homicide," Howard said. "It's just taking more time than normal."

Anyone with information about the case should call the Kidder County Sheriff's Department at 701-475-2422 or BCI at 800-472-2185.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)