Mechanic says McCoy behaved strangely

Investigators wonder if Charles A. McCoy Jr. was the driver who rear-ended this car Dec. 17 on Dyer Road. Shots were fired nearby the same night.

Charles A. McCoy Jr. was evasive about how he wrecked his 1999 Chevrolet Metro when he brought it to the body shop Dec. 19, owner Rusty Blades said.

McCoy pulled into the Fine Line Auto Care, 2071 Payne Ave., came inside and said, "I need an estimate." Then he walked back out, Blades said yesterday.

Investigators trying to put McCoy at or near the scene of 24 serial shootings, which include the Nov. 25 slaying of Gail Knisley, wonder whether his car was involved in a hitand-run accident on Dyer Road and Jackson Pike on the South Side the night of Dec. 17.

Earlier that evening, police received reports of shots fired nearby on Brown Road. No one reported their car or home being hit, but the two previous days a home and a school bus were hit by gunfire on Brown.

Blades recalled the dark green Metro had extensive damage to the bumper, hood and front end — as if it had rearended another car, as was the case in the Dyer Road crash.

As he does with anyone who comes by for an estimate, Blades asked McCoy what happened. McCoy didn’t answer, Blades said.

" ‘I’m not turning it in to insurance. How quick can you do it?’ " Blades recalled McCoy asking.

When Blades gave him an estimate of between $1,500 and $2,000, McCoy said that was too expensive and he’d do it himself.

Witnesses had described the shooter’s car as a dark green Metro with a black hood.

When Blades saw McCoy’s car on television after his arrest March 17 in Las Vegas the car looked familiar. But he didn’t think much more about it until a task force member visited his East Side shop this week.

"It didn’t dawn on me anymore because the hood was different," Blades said, surmising that McCoy had replaced the damaged green hood with a black one from a salvage yard. In hindsight, McCoy’s strange behavior that December day has become more evident, Blades said, since investigators stopped by his shop.

A woman was with McCoy, but never got out of the car, Blades said. Shown a newspaper photograph of family members at McCoy’s court hearing Tuesday, Blades yesterday identified the woman as McCoy’s sister, Amy Walton.

A judge at Tuesday’s hearing ruled that a grand jury can hear the felonious assault charge against McCoy, the only charge filed against him in the shootings.

Investigators were led to Blades’ shop because they found a copy of the estimate among McCoy’s belongings.

The estimate showed that McCoy had given Blades the name Ardith Walton. Ardith is McCoy’s mother’s first name.

Ballistics tests have linked McCoy’s 9 mm Beretta to 12 of the shootings, which occurred between May 10 and Feb. 14, investigators said.

The car could connect him to the Dec. 17 accident and put him in the vicinity of another shooting. Investigators never found a slug in that shooting to compare with the Beretta.

"We don’t know that for a fact, but it is something we’re looking into," said Franklin County Chief Deputy Steve Martin, who served as spokesman for the task force that investigated the shootings.

County Prosecutor Ron O‘Brien said McCoy told investigators he had hit a pole.

O’Brien declined to comment further, except to say he hoped a grand jury hearing evidence against McCoy would return indictments this week.

Blades recalled the dark green Metro had extensive damage to the bumper, hood and front end — as if it had rearended another car, as was the case in the Dyer Road crash. When Blades gave him an estimate of between $1,500 and $2,000, McCoy said that was too expensive and he’d do it himself.

A damn bargin! I had just the dented hood of my car fixed and that was nearly $2000 by itself

$2,000 is no bargain, if you know the right redneck (said admiringly). I have three cars junked by the insurance companies. My buddy, "Red," got them all repaired, painted and back on the road for $4,000. One had problems. I have driven the other two about 80,000 miles each.

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