I find it hard to believe that someone with the possible cure to cancer wouldn't bother backing it up. If this is legitimate, I think it's beyond irresponsible. Also, why such a minimal reward?
Probably because it was coming out of her own pocket, and researchers generally don't make that much (especially if she was a post-doc). I'm pretty sure that the NIH won't let you charge "stolen laptop reward" to your grant, and your university sure as heck isn't going to shell out for something like that.
Perhaps the "cancer cure data" claim is a huge exaggeration by Mrs Shin to help get her laptop back. You'd expect someone to value that at more than USD 1000.