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If Dorner Is Dead, Who Gets The $1.1M Reward Money?

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) —  If Christopher Dorner is dead, who will get the $1.1 million reward that was being offered for his arrest? Officials say it's complicated.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: SoCal Manhunt

Randy Paige, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, says the language used was "a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction" of the suspect.

There will be no arrest. And no conviction.  So does Los Angeles have to pay up? And if so, to whom?

LA Councilman Dennis Zine is one of three council members who called on the city to offer $100,000. (The additional money came from other municipalities, organizations and private donations.)

Says Zine, "Is it the arrest and conviction? Is it the ability to locate the individual who is wanted?  There's a lot of factors. It's going to be up to the legal experts to make that determination."

He believes it is unclear if the terms of the reward have been met.

"We may have a lot of people file a claim. 'I made a 911 call, I thought he was in the mountains, whatever.' So that's all going to be a process. It's not going to happen overnight but we're obligated to follow the rule and the rule is if that follows what the boundaries are then that reward will be paid."

Who will decipher if "arrest and conviction" is followed to the letter? Says Zine, "That's going to be up to the legal experts to make that determination."

Richard Heltebrake, the man whose vehicle was allegedly carjacked by Dorner before he got into a shootout with San Bernardino deputies, told CBS2 and KCAL9 reporter Stacey Butler that he was "absolutely" going to pursue the $1 million.

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