This Sunday will mark a difficult anniversary for Aishah Coppage.
"It'll be the one year that the boys have been gone," she told 41 Action News.
One year since Coppage's son, Montell Ross, and his cousin, Jayden Ugwuh, were shot and killed while playing video games in their house near 58th and College. Their killer was never caught, so Coppage took matters into her own hands and started a GoFundMe page to pay for a reward.
"I think dollar signs will get people to speak up more," she explained.
According to Detective Kevin Boehm with Kansas City Metro Crime Stoppers, statistically speaking, she's right. The group currently pays up to $2,000 for information leading to arrests. Not everyone receives that much money.
"If you're talking about a homicide or a more serious offense, you're going to get closer to that two thousand," he said.
For less serious crimes, like spotting a felony fugitive, Crime Stoppers pays tipsters between $200 and $300.
Kansas City Metro Crime Stoppers receives between 375 and 425 tips a month. The figure is lower for Cincinnati, which gets just 200-300 a month, but it's higher for Indianapolis, which receives 500-700 tips monthly.
Boehm attributes the difference to a mobile app Indianapolis implemented before Kansas City did.
"They've got a little bit of a jump on us, but we are confident that we're going to catch up to them," he said.
Other cities have seen success with bigger rewards. Omaha, for example, pays a flat $25,000 for information on homicides. Boehm said the model could be adopted here, but he fears the large amount could encourage people to call in false information.
Coppage has raised a little more than $1,000 through her fundraising page. She hopes the money will lead to justice for her boys.
"Use the money to leave town, but just speak up for the kids. They didn't do anything wrong," she said.
