Family sets up reward fund to find Michael Portaro’s killer

Family and friends of Michael Alano Portaro, who was gunned down outside a northwest valley brewery on March 30, announced Monday that they have begun two separate reward funds for information that leads to an arrest and subsequent conviction in the unsolved slaying.

Portaro, 22, a 2006 graduate of Faith Lutheran Junior/Senior High School in the west valley, was shot dead about 11:30 p.m. outside the Tenaya Creek Brewery, 3101 N. Tenaya Way, near Cheyenne Avenue.

Las Vegas police said Portaro was in the bar's parking lot selling tickets to a show at Daddy Mac's restaurant in Henderson where his hip-hop group, Ekoh, was to perform.

Police initially said robbery was an unlikely motive in the slaying because Portaro was found with money on his person, but they later said Portaro's car was seen being driven from the bar parking lot and was recovered later.

Brad Meinhardt, a family friend of the Portaros, said the family hopes to collect at least $20,000 that could be used toward reward money.

"We want to catch the people that did it," Meinhardt said.

The accounts are available at two branches of the Service 1st Bank of Nevada under the Michael Portaro Reward Fund. The account fund is 1030001032.

The banks are at: 8349 W. Sunset Road, Building B, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV 89113; and 8965 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 190, Las Vegas, NV 89123.

Anyone with information on the slaying is urged to call the police department's homicide section at 828-3521 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 385-5555.

Cash rewards of up to $2,000 are available to tipsters who provide information that directly leads to a felony arrest or indictment.