Thanks for the input, ffj. As far as LE playing a dangerous game if in fact JC was an informant, yes, I would agree. However, I am not inclined to think that is what happened here, but I could definitely be wrong. The 'reward' that you refer to, are you talking about the reward for information about JC's murder, or a reward that JC would have received for being an informant? There are, or course, paid informants who are on the payroll, so to speak, however most of them are brought into becoming a CI in the first place after a drug related arrest... I haven't read anything about that thus far, but I have also not been up to speed for about a month or so now, so I suppose that is completely possible.
Also, in regards to the 'paranoia' described by her mother and as you mentioned, I agree with you in that I don't think you can call it paranoia in JC's case. She was aware of her surroundings, that something wasn't right, and that someone was out to get her. She ended up being sadly correct. If, (hypo), she was an informant (hypo) I'm not sure that would explain the FIB being there in the first place... unless it was a huge case that she was about to bust wide open. I have never bought the reasons given for the FBI being there already. There is entirely too much of a criminal presence there for me to believe that they were there for a bridge demo plot. JMO, and once again, I could very well be wrong. Sure, the FBI could have been there for the bridge plot, but I firmly believe there were other federal investigators in PC prior to JC's murder, and their position there had nothing to do with a bridge.
I also tend to agree that we don't much hear about the successful use of informants, not nearly as much as we do (or are about to start) hear about those gone awry. It is no secret that the CI process is ungoverned and dangerous, and often abused. This is a fact. It is not that all LE are crooked or careless with civilians. There are crooked plumbers, crooked farmers, crooked lawyers, crooked bankers, crooked preachers, crooked preachers, the list goes on. Name a profession, and there is a list of those who have shamed it, I can bet on that. This should not make a bad name for all professions, just make us all aware that not everyone is good, and we cannot trust everybody, just because they are a preacher, a doctor, or a LE officer. We must use our own judgement and look out for ourselves. This is the sad truth. The informants that are being spoken of in the link provided by Theforeigner are mostly young, impressionable, and have little world or criminal experience. This sets them up for failure. There does need to be rules and guidelines and laws in place when working with CI's. People also need to educate themselves. Is it worth risking your life to avoid a weed charge?