Davis Gives $50,000 Reward to Five

Five Californians who helped lead police to a mass killer in September will receive a $50,000 reward, after the governor Friday overruled arguments that they didn’t qualify for it because the suspect killed himself.

“After reviewing the information, I will reverse a staff decision regarding the $50,000 reward,” Gov. Gray Davis said in a statement.

A Sacramento woman and four companions helped to guide authorities to suspect Joseph Ferguson, who killed five people in a rampage Sept. 9.

After spotting Ferguson driving a day after the murders were reported, the woman and her companions called the 911 emergency line and followed him, staying in contact with dispatchers until squad cars arrived.

Quickly cornered by police, Ferguson committed suicide before he could be captured.

Officials balked at paying the $50,000 reward, saying the provisions explicitly stated that it was only valid for information leading to the “capture and conviction” of a criminal.

Davis said he ordered the reward paid after finding that other states, such as Nevada, allowed awards to be given even if the subject of the reward was killed.

The governor, who has endured some embarrassing publicity over the delayed reward, also said he would ask for legislation “to clarify California law to ensure that posted rewards are honored under such circumstances.”

The woman and her friends are also expected to receive an additional $80,000 that was part of the $130,000 bounty offered by officials as police hunted for the killer.

Ferguson shot and killed his former girlfriend, three of his co-workers at Burns International Security and a 19-year-old city dockworker.

He had forced a co-worker to videotape his tirade about the reasons for his actions, including a history of sexual abuse by his mother, who is in prison for molesting her sons. After finishing the tape, Ferguson shot the colleague to death.