COLUMBUS, OH -- New revelations about the night Ohio State student Reagan Tokes died emerged on the first day of trial for the man accused of killing her.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said what happened to Reagan Tokes on February 8, 2017 was “a night of terror.”
He added that murder suspect Brian Golsby initially lied to investigators about his involvement – telling police he robbed Reagan Tokes but did not rape or kill her.
That, O’Brien said Golsby blamed on a man named “T.J.”
O’Brien told jurors and reporters that he believes “T.J.” was fabricated – adding that Golsby eventually led investigators to a sewer where he had disposed of the handgun and shell casings and later confessed to the mother of his child from jail that he was responsible for Tokes’ death.
O’Brien told jurors that authorities have video, GPS data, DNA evidence and gunshot residue that links Brian Golsby to the kidnapping, rape and murder of Reagan Tokes.
“She was a psychology major who never made it to graduation because she was executed at point blank range by a handgun,” O’Brien told jurors during his opening statement.
O'Brien said that handgun belonged to Brian Golsby - a convicted sex offender - who had been trolling the short north area of Columbus on February 8, 2017 looking for a victim.
O'Brien laid out to jurors how - at the time - Golsby was wearing a GPS ankle monitor because after being released from prison months earlier - something detectives with Grove City Police learned only after his arrest.
“That actually tracked him each and every step for that night of terror of Reagan Tokes,” O’Brien said.
O'Brien said that the “night of terror” involved Tokes being abducted as she walked to her car after leaving the Bodega restaurant and bar where she worked.
She was three months shy of graduating from Ohio State University. Tokes’ parents, Lisa McCrary-Tokes and Toby Tokes, sat in the court and stared in Golsby’s direction as he entered the courtroom. They left without speaking to reporters.
O’Brien said the night she died Reagan Tokes was forced to drive to withdraw money from an ATM, was raped along the way and then shot twice in the head in Scioto Grove Metro Park.
O’Brien added that there is also video surveillance of Golsby driving Tokes’ car after the murder and that there was an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the car.
DNA from a cigarette butt found in the back of Tokes’ 1999 silver Acura matches Golsby, O’Brien said, adding that Golsby’s own DNA was found in Tokes after a rape kit was performed during the autopsy.
Golsby’s defense team told jurors there were holes in that evidence.
“DNA does not tell you the how, the why and then when,” Gatterdam said.
He added that despite the statements Golsby made to authorities, suspects often lie and that the burden of proof is on the state to prove Golsby is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Even before the start of Tuesday’s trial there was concern from the defense team that the prosecution was trying to sway the racial makeup of the jury.
It is an allegation O’Brien called “laughable” adding that half of the jurors who were seated are African American.
On Tuesday, jurors will be taken on a tour of alleged crime scenes before testimony begins.