The killer of Ohio State University student Reagan Tokes has dodged the death penalty.
A Franklin County judge on Wednesday handed down a sentence of life without parole for Brian Golsby, who was convicted in the 2017 kidnapping, rape and murder of Tokes. The judge accepted the recommendation of the jury to spare Golsby's life.
Golsby was found guilty on all nine charges, including aggravated murder.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, the jury deliberated for seven hours over two days but ultimately decided Golsby's troubled childhood meant he should be spared.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien was pursuing the death penalty in this case, but also accepted the jury's recommendation.
Golsby, 30, was on GPS monitoring after serving a prison term for attempted rape when police say he spotted Tokes as she was leaving the Bodega Café in the Short North following a work shift. Prosecutors say he forced Tokes into her car at gunpoint, made her withdraw money from an ATM machine, and raped her before fatally shooting her and dumping her body in Scioto Grove Metro Park in Grove City.
Investigators say they were able to link Golsby to the crime using DNA found on cigarette butts inside Tokes’ car. Prosecutors say data from Golsby’s GPS device also placed him at the crime scene around the time of Tokes’ death.
