Sniper Case Tipster to Get $45,000

A tipster will receive a $45,000 reward for information that led police to the man charged in a series of Columbus-area highway shootings that had terrorized motorists, a civilian crime-fighting group said Wednesday.

Kevin Miles, president of Central Ohio Crime Stoppers, refused to identify the tipster or confirm reports that it was a relative of suspect Charles A. McCoy Jr., who was arrested last month in Las Vegas.

The remaining $15,000 from the reward fund will go to Conrad Malsom of Las Vegas, who alerted police to McCoy’s car at a budget motel there, Miles said. McCoy was arrested less than 36 hours after Ohio authorities had identified him as a suspect.

Though Malsom’s help was critical, the group believed that someone else eventually would have found McCoy and turned him in, Miles said.

By contrast, the unidentified tipster gave police McCoy’s name for the first time, Miles said.

“That was a lot more important,” Miles said.

Malsom, 60, an unemployed salesman who lives in a motor home, declined immediate comment Wednesday. He said he had not heard from the Crime Stoppers group.

Crime Stoppers based its decision on recommendations from the task force that had investigated the shootings, Miles said. Several businesses and one individual contributed to the $60,000 reward fund.

McCoy’s father, Charles A. McCoy Sr., took guns from his son and turned the weapons over to police on March 12 after someone had tipped authorities that the elder McCoy had the weapons.

The younger McCoy pleaded innocent Monday to a 24-count indictment that included murder for the November killing of Gail Knisley, 62, a passenger in one car that was struck by a bullet. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Police and relatives have said McCoy is mentally ill.