NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — She turned in the Christmas Day bomber - not once, but twice. Despite that, Pam Perry has not received any of the reward money offered to help solve the crime.
Instead, the $34,500 raised by the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation went to law enforcement agencies, including the Metro Police Department, which some say failed to fully investigate Perry's tip about the bomber from 2019.
Perry tried to warn police more than a year before Anthony Warner detonated a large bomb in downtown Nashville.
"They didn't take me seriously. That's how I feel. I couldn't believe I was treated that way," Perry said.
"I feel like I was taken or looked at as a crazy person," Perry said.
In August 2019, Perry told police officers that Warner was dangerous and that he was "building bombs in the RV trailer at his residence."
"I needed to get this off my soul," Perry said.
Police came to her home because her attorney thought she might be suicidal. When they arrived they found a distraught Perry sitting on her porch. She had two of Warner's guns that she wanted to turn over to police.
"All they had on their minds was I was suicidal, guns were mentioned and they wouldn't listen to me," Perry said.
Perry said she agreed to go to the hospital that day, hoping that police would then investigate Warner and stop a potential tragedy. But although police did go to Warner's home and saw the RV for themselves, officers left without ever speaking to Warner because no one answered the door.
"I went into the hospital, and I came out of the hospital and he was texting me," Perry said.
She said police did not contact her after she got out of the hospital, but Anthony Warner did. She said she was forced to move because of fear he would come after her for trying to turn him in.
"I had to sell the home I grew up in for nothing, because I wasn't safe. My safe place was taken," Perry said.
She was in her new home on Christmas morning when the bomb went off downtown.
"I think oh my God he got away with it," Perry said.
Later that morning police released a photo of the RV asking for the public's help. She immediately recognized the RV, and had to decide whether to turn in Anthony Warner a second time not knowing if he was still alive or not.
"I'm afraid to call the police department. They didn't help me the last time. So I called the FBI tip line and spoke to them for an hour," Perry said.
She said FBI agents came to her house the next morning - before they raided Warner's home. Perry's attorney Jim Roberts said he was shocked when Perry did not receive any of the $34,500 in reward money raised primarily by downtown businesses.
"There's no doubt in my mind that the only person who led police and the FBI to Anthony Warner on that day was Pamela Perry," Roberts said.
Instead, it went to law enforcement with half of it going to the Metro Police Department.
"They shouldn't be rewarded for failing their duty to the city," Roberts said.
The Convention and Visitor's Corporation, which controlled the reward money, cited the bravery of the police officers who evacuated downtown on Christmas morning and said there was no way to know how important Perry's interview was to solving the crime.
"There were hundreds of citizens that called in tips," said Butch Spyridon who is CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation.
Spyridon said the Convention and Visitor's Corporation relied on the brief FBI report released March 15, which only thanked law enforcement for helping identify Warner.
"When the final report came out nobody was named as an individual who gave more information than anyone else," Spyridon said.
Perry's attorney said, "I have yet to see a single person come forward who had the kind of evidence Ms. Perry gave, not just once but twice to police," Roberts said.
Butch Spyridon countered, "I told Mr. Roberts from the beginning if law enforcement tells me it's your client, great."
The FBI would not comment on the case and said its only statement is the report it released on March 15, which cites no specific people. Pam Perry said she came forward simply because it was the right thing to do.
"In 2019 it wasn't about money and when I put myself back out there it wasn't about money," Perry said.
She is haunted by the fact she tried to stop Anthony Warner but wasn't listened to.
"I was sad he had to die, when they could have gotten him the year before and picked his crazy brain," Perry said.
She's just relieved no one else was killed.
"When I found out he died in there, I was just glad it was only him," Perry said.
Roberts believes his client is being denied the reward because if she got it, it would further highlight how the police dropped the ball back in 2019. There is still a private reward that was offered and no decision has been made about who will receive that money.
Roberts said all legitimate tips should be recognized but nobody did more than Pam Perry to try and stop - and to identify - the Christmas bomber.
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