A Winnipeg man who tipped off police about a homicide in July is upset that he can't get a reward that would help keep him safe, even though he says investigators would have no case at all if he hadn't turned in his daughter and her boyfriend.

Police laid a charge of second-degree murder Wednesday in the death of Jacinto Eduardo Etcheverry, although they have not yet found his body.

'All I was thinking about was trying to save my daughter.'—Police tipster

Police believe Etcheverry was killed in an apartment in the city's Wolseley neighbourhood and his body removed with trash some days later. Investigators have been searching the city's Brady Road landfill for several weeks.

A man, whom CBC News is not naming to protect his identity, said he learned about Etcheverry's death in July from his daughter.

She called him in July and invited him to a Winnipeg hotel room to smoke crack cocaine with her new boyfriend.

When he got there, the pair seemed nervous, so the man asked what was going on.

"They [said they] were doing scores, robbing dealers, drug dealers, and this last drug dealer that they robbed, the robbery went bad," the man said.

The man said he was told the robbery had ended in the drug dealer's death. He said his daughter's boyfriend returned to the scene the following night, put Etcheverry's body in a duffle bag and disposed of it.

Turned in daughter, boyfriend

The man said the couple then committed a series of crimes, as they left Winnipeg and crossed the country to Vancouver.

"I was just concerned," the man said. "I knew that it was getting to the point where she was going to end up with some serious jail time herself."

The man contacted police.

"All I was thinking about was trying to save my daughter," he said.

On Thursday, police announced that a 31-year-old man had been charged with second-degree murder in connection with Etcheverry's death. The man was arrested in Vancouver with a 19-year-old woman.

No cash reward

The man said he's now worried for his safety and that of his daughter, who is expected to be the star witness for the prosecution.

"He knows my place, and so that's why I want to get out of there," he said.

The man lives in a Manitoba Housing complex on disability assistance, and said he would require financial assistance to be able to afford to move.

He called Crime Stoppers, hoping to receive a cash award for his tip, but said he was told he didn't qualify for any money.

"'You've already given us the information. We no longer need to pay you,'" he said he was told.

"You know, jeez, I put my life out on the limb for his information for them, and the guy comes back with a response like that."

Anonymity key: Crime Stoppers

Officials with Crime Stoppers in Winnipeg said the program cannot pay the man because he identified himself to police.

"If we know the individual, the tipster calling, they basically have disqualified themselves from the program. The program is based on anonymity," Reg Parkin, chair of Winnipeg Crime Stoppers, told CBC News on Monday.

"I feel very sorry for the individual. It's not a pleasant situation, from what I understand. But, you know, the program has to maintain its integrity."

Parkin suggests that people who are afraid for their safety should contact police for assistance.