Ten years ago, Luisa Prudhomme watched as the man whom she believed to be her son's murderer drove away from the police station in a pickup truck.

Teresa Del Rio, 20, was shot through her car door as she drove through the Rampart area of Los Angeles in June 1999. She died after bleeding for five hours. She is suspected of being the third murder victim of her alleged killer, who has been in jail since 1999 with no trial date set yet.

Prudhomme and Anna Del Rio, Teresa Del Rio's mother, believe that the killers could have been arrested, convicted and even prevented from committing killings if someone had gone to authorities with more information about their other crimes. But fear of retaliation has kept people from coming forward, the mothers said. Organizers of the new Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers tip line, launched in December, hope to change that attitude. They are pushing for a countywide expansion of the service, which rewards tipsters up to $1,000 for information leading to arrests in outstanding crimes while protecting their identities.

“I feel that if Crime Stoppers was already implemented in the city of Los Angeles back before my daughter was murdered, I think my daughter would be alive today,” Anna Del Rio said. “If any witnesses were afraid of (the killer), which they are, they could have made anonymous calls.”

Tipsters can now call, e-mail or text information to the program, which forwards the information anonymously to law enforcement agencies. The tip lines are encrypted, so tipsters cannot be identified. The tipsters are provided with a code that, upon the suspect's arrest, can be used to withdraw money at a designated bank.

“With our program, we're removing the fear and excuse of ‘I know who killed that person or I know who stole his property, but I'm afraid for the safety of my family,'” said Mark Speer, executive director. “It's completely anonymous. Nobody will ever know where you called from.”

Since its launch, Crime Stoppers tips have led to 35 arrests and the recovery of $1.5 million to $2 million in illegal drugs, counterfeit products and stolen property in the Los Angeles area, according to officials. Authorities confiscated 15 weapons, some of which had been illegally modified, when they made the arrests.

“We're not only pleased with it, but it's surpassing our expectations,” said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the LA County Sheriff's Department, noting that several tips have led to arrests in the Antelope Valley. “It's long overdue.” But the nonprofit organization, funded by private donations and annual fundraisers, has only paid out $150 to date because most rewards haven't been claimed.

“Most of the people that know the information that result in the arrests are not interested in getting the reward,” said Speer, who estimated that 60 to 80 percent of rewards in other Crime Stoppers programs around the world go unclaimed. “They're interested in being safe.”

While Crime Stoppers isn't new to the area — Glendale has had the program since 1994 and the Los Angeles Police Department since 2008 — this is the first regional effort to consolidate crime tips across 44 different law enforcement agencies in 88 cities covering 11 million people in LA County. Of the 44 area agencies, 31 including the FBI and U.S. Marshals have joined, allowing authorities to share information across jurisdictions.

“It took a long time to get here because of the size of our county and the number of agencies we have,” Whitmore said. “But when it finally got here, it's been gratifying.”

Since the regional launch, Glendale Police Department received three tips that resulted in arrests. A tip to LAPD led to a large marijuana bust in Lancaster, said Capt. Joel Justice, commanding officer of LAPD's Real-Time Analysis and Critical Response Division.

LAPD also passed a tip about illegal gun sales to Burbank Police Department that helped them solve a homicide, said Justice, who was tasked with starting the department's Crime Stoppers program in 2008, then expanding it countywide. “Criminals don't just stay in the city,” Justice said. “They are very mobile and they go into community and into different parts of the region. So having a bigger picture, bigger view, I think is going to help us solve crime a lot better.” Crime Stoppers started in Albuquerque in 1976 and has spawned independent chapters worldwide that have helped clear more than 1.2 million cases.

Luisa Prudhomme, now an organizer for the LA Regional Crime Stoppers, hopes that her son's murder will one day be part of that growing number.

“I want my son's case solved,” Prudhomme, a Tujunga resident, said. “When they do convict a person, you have a little bit of relief that they can't hurt someone else.

“The city and county of Los Angeles are being overrun by criminals and there are law- abiding citizens living in fear,” she said. “This is a tool to empower them.”