Thursday, March 18, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MANHUNT ENDS IN LAS VEGAS: Ohio sniper suspect in custody

Valley resident leads police to 28-year-old at Budget Suites

Law enforcement officials gather evidence Wednesday from the motel where Charles McCoy Jr. was staying. Photo by Gary Thompson. McCoy's vehicle is parked at FBI headquarters on Charleston Boulevard Photo by Samantha Clemens. Click image for enlargement. Illustration by Mike Johnson Las Vegas police joined a fugitive-hunting task force early Wednesday to capture sniper suspect Charles McCoy Jr. at the Budget Suites motel just off the Strip. Photo by Gary Thompson.

An alert Las Vegan's amateur sleuthing led to the Wednesday capture of a man wanted in a series of sniper shootings that terrorized Ohio motorists and left one woman dead.

Charles McCoy Jr., 28, was arrested about 2:45 a.m. at a Budget Suites motel just off the Strip by Las Vegas police and a multi-jurisdictional fugitive-hunting task force.

Police credited Conrad Malsom, 60, who mounted his own investigation after recognizing McCoy at the Stardust sports book Tuesday afternoon. About midnight, he found the suspect's car parked at the Budget Suites and summoned police.

"It was really handed to us," said Las Vegas police Sgt. Raymond Reyes, the first patrol officer to respond to the motel.

Malsom, a bald and bespectacled salesman from Wisconsin, downplayed his part in ending the nationwide manhunt for a suspect in 24 shootings since May.

"I was determined because when I stared face to face with him, I knew who that was," he said.

McCoy was booked into the Clark County Detention Center after being questioned by Ohio investigators who flew here hours after his capture.

"He clammed up and didn't want to talk to anybody but the Ohio authorities, and when they got here, he supposedly didn't have much to say to them either," said a local police official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Authorities said they believe McCoy had been in town for only a day, but could not trace his movements here beyond the information supplied by Malsom.

After securing a warrant, law enforcement officials searched the first-floor room McCoy was staying in at the Budget Suites, eventually emerging with items in a single brown paper sack. By late afternoon, police officials said they had not recovered any firearms.

McCoy is scheduled to make his initial appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court on Friday and could be extradited as soon as the weekend.

In an interview, Franklin County, Ohio, prosecutor Ron O'Brien said authorities are not aware of any ties McCoy had to Southern Nevada or why he chose to come here.

But the prosecutor said news of McCoy's capture only 36 hours after investigators identified him as the sniper suspect immediately alleviated the worries of residents in the Buckeye State.

"There was a sense of relief both by the victims' families and the community at large," O'Brien said.

Malsom first encountered McCoy at the Stardust early afternoon Tuesday when he gave the Ohio resident some leftover pizza. He said McCoy was disheveled and unshaven, clad in jeans and a black T-shirt.

Certain he had met the sniper suspect, Malsom began contacting numerous law enforcement agencies about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday. But it would be hours after darkness fell before police began surveilling the area for the high-profile suspect.

Malsom said he spoke with Las Vegas police Detective Steve Devore, of the Criminal Apprehension Team, about 1:45 p.m. He said he was told there weren't any officers available to respond to his call.

However, police spokesman Sgt. Rick Barela said Devore did drive to the Stardust after receiving Malsom's call. He said Devore searched the parking lot for McCoy's vehicle and unsuccessfully searched for him inside the sports book.

Front-desk personnel told Devore that McCoy wasn't staying at the hotel, Barela said.

"It appears Detective Devore did a very thorough investigation and follow-up with the information he had at the time," Barela said. "He did follow this up. He contacted authorities (in Ohio). He canvassed the parking lot. He went through the sports book and checked if he was staying there. He hit a dead end and moved on to another investigation."

Malsom also contacted state and federal authorities in Ohio. They referred him to the Las Vegas field office of the FBI, where he spent about two hours Tuesday evening.

Having resumed his search, Malsom went to the Budget Suites next door to the Stardust looking for McCoy's car at about midnight. He found it, and began repeatedly dialing 911.

Las Vegas police sent patrol officers out to speak with Malsom. Officers also set up surveillance of the Stardust and Budget Suites in search of the suspect's car.

"But the car wasn't there, so we did a little legwork," Las Vegas police Lt. Chris Van Cleef said.

Detectives discovered that McCoy had checked into the motel under his real name at 3:15 a.m. Tuesday.

"He used his real driver's license to check in, as well as a credit card," Sgt. Dan Flaherty said.

Police called in 40 officers and set up a command post, Flaherty said.

About 2:45 a.m., McCoy's green 1999 Chevrolet Metro returned to the motel.

"He drove his car right in front of the room he was checked into," Flaherty said. "We had 40 officers out there in the area, and I had two detectives stationed in the adjacent room go after him."

Flaherty said McCoy was unarmed and cooperative when the detectives approached with drawn weapons. He even confirmed for the detectives that he was the man they were looking for as they took him into custody.

"He just said it was him and he said he wants to talk to the Ohio authorities," Flaherty said.

Earlier this week, Ohio authorities released McCoy's photograph and vehicle description and identified him as the suspect in two dozen shootings around Interstate 270, which circles Columbus. A police bulletin said he was believed to have mental health problems and could be armed.

Authorities haven't said what led them to identify McCoy as the suspect in the shootings.

The gunfire struck only one person, killing 62-year-old Gail Knisley on Nov. 25. Other shootings shattered windshields and punctured school buses.

A felony warrant for McCoy's arrest charges him in only one of the shootings.

If McCoy fights extradition, it could be 90 days or so until he is returned to Ohio, O'Brien said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Stardust employees marveled that they had been only yards away from the subject of an intense national manhunt.

Phyllis Vielehr, a cocktail waitress who was working at the Stardust while McCoy was there Monday afternoon, recalled spotting two men sitting in the third row of the sports book eating pizza.

"I just remember the pizza box," Vielehr said Tuesday, while serving drinks to customers. "It was in my way, so I threw it away."

She had no idea one of the pizza-munching men was the Ohio sniper suspect.

"I didn't know I had $60,000 sitting right in front of me," Vielehr said, referring to the reward Ohio authorities offered for information leading to McCoy's capture. "Now this makes you wonder how many people you should pay attention to."

Malsom said he didn't start looking for McCoy for financial reasons. Instead, he didn't want a suspected murderer to slip away to kill again, possibly in Las Vegas.

"I didn't do this for the reward," he said. "I can use the money. I am a year short of retirement, and that would be a nice nest egg. We are all scratching to get by."