After a two-and-a-half-hour preliminary hearing, a judge Tuesday found probable cause for the case against suspected highway shooter Charles McCoy Junior to proceed.
That gives prosecutors more time to present their case to a grand jury.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien predicted there would be an indictment within a week. O'Brien said his office wants to consolidate all of the shootings in one indictment.
McCoy is a suspect in a total of 24 shootings around Columbus, one of which killed a Washington Court House woman.
In testimony at the preliminary hearing, the mother of the 28-year-old McCoy said she found four guns over several months in the house she shared with her son, including one that's been linked to the fatal shooting.
Ardith McCoy testified that she found pieces of a disassembled handgun under her son's mattress in mid-February and turned them over to her ex-husband. She had previously given her ex-husband another handgun found in August and two shotguns she had found under her son's bed in December.