Welcome to the forum, and I'm sorry to hear about your bike loss. Regarding the tires, it looks like the 2019 Escape 1 comes with CrossCut Metro ERT (tubeless ready) tires. I don't know if they're setup as tubeless from the factory or if they have tubes in them. And the 2019 Escape 2 looks like it comes with the SX2 tires.

There are more significant differences mechanically, and I'll just use "1" and "2" for simplicity to refer to either bike. 1 has a carbon composite fork whereas 2 has an aluminum alloy fork (the carbon fork should offer a better ride, and lighter weight). 1 has a 3x9 drivetrain with Acera/Alivio components (fairly nice) whereas 2 has a 3x8 drivetrain with Tourney/Altus components (not as nice). Giant also lists the rims as GX02 for the 2 and GX28 for the 1. The GX02 on the 2 (and 3) model has a rim brake track machined in, and the GX28 on the 1 model does not -- it has a smooth rounded profile. I don't know if one is inherently nicer than the other, in terms of material quality or weight.

In general, the 1 should ride and feel like a nicer bike, because it definitely has nicer components. I guess you may or may not notice some of it, depending on how sensitive you are to these things.