FBI uses billboards to seek new leads in 1994 shooting of Missouri trooper

FBI officials released photographs Monday of new public service announcements being posted on billboards in connection with an old case.

They hope the billboards and $100,000 reward will help them capture Timothy Thomas Coombs, 55, who allegedly shot a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper in the chest on Sept. 16, 1994.

The trooper was shot sniper-style, through the kitchen window of his home, as his 12-year-old daughter stood nearby. He died two years later.

Coombs is wanted for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, the FBI said. State prosecutors charged him with first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer a week after the shooting. The next month, federal officials charged him with unlawful flight.

According to the Highway Patrol, Coombs also goes by the names James Wilson or Cal Liberty. He is described as white, about 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-8 with blue eyes, a slim build and thinning brown hair. He usually wears a beard or mustache or both.

The former Arkansas resident has associates in that state and Missouri, and he “reportedly espouses radical anti-government beliefs and is associated with the Christian Identity Movement,” according to a FBI news release.

The reward and photos of Coombs will appear on digital billboards in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma, the FBI said.

A wanted poster featuring Coombs can be found on the FBI website at www.fbi.gov/wanted/additional/timothy-thomas-coombs/view

Anyone with information regarding Coombs should contact the FBI or their local law enforcement department immediately.

The Star

This story was originally published January 26, 2015 at 12:59 PM with the headline "FBI uses billboards to seek new leads in 1994 shooting of Missouri trooper."