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In 2017, 21-year-old Reagan Tokes was just getting ready to start the rest of her life. She was gearing up to graduate from The Ohio State University in May with a psychology degree. She had a job lined up at the Cleveland Clinic & hoped to one day start her own practice. Tragically, her life ended before any of this had a chance to happen.
Reagan was born on March 13, 1995 in Edgewood, Kentucky to parents Toby & Lisa & she had a younger sister, Makenzie. According to her obituary, she was a vibrant girl who had a passion for life & a smile that lit up a room. During her time at Anthony Wayne High School she was a four year varsity tennis player & was also on the lacrosse team. She had a love for animals, being outside in nature & spending time with her family & friends. Reagan was the type of person who strived to help those that were less fortunate than herself.
Reagan was raised in Maumee, Ohio & always dreamed of one day attending The Ohio State University. The year that Reagan started at her dream school, her parents relocated to Florida with her younger sister.
On Wednesday, February 8, 2017, Regan was ending her shift at 9:45 pm at the trendy Bodega bar & restaurant in Columbus. Since she left the restaurant at night, she often asked a male coworker to walk her to her car as a precaution, but because they were all busy tending to the patrons, she set out into the night by herself. She was known to park behind the bar which sat off of a poorly lit street.
Meanwhile, Reagan’s father Toby was at home, over 1,000 miles away, waiting for the call that always came when his daughter let him know that she was back at her off-campus apartment safe & sound. He last spoke with her shortly before she set out for work & expected her phone call at any time, but it never came. Minutes turned to hours & his worry grew with each passing moment. He & Reagan’s mom, Lisa, continued to call & text Reagan, but there was no response.
When Reagan’s parents & younger sister, Mackenzie woke up the next morning & still hadn’t heard from Reagan, they contacted the Columbus Police Department to report their daughter missing. The officer who took the call informed them that only those who last saw Reagan could file the report.
As Toby & Lisa spoke with the police, Reagan’s roommates discovered that her bed had not been slept in & she later missed her scheduled classes. When they contacted the Bodega, her coworkers were unaware of where she went after she left the night before. Her employer went on to file a missing person report with authorities.
Shortly after Reagan was reported missing the Columbus PD received a 911 call from an early morning visitor to Scioto Grove Metro Park in Grove City, fifteen minutes outside of Columbus, to inform them that they found the body of a young woman.
As authorities arrived at the scene, they quickly determined that the young woman, who wore only a necklace, had been shot once in the back of the head & once in the face. A rape kit that was later performed determined that the victim had been sexually assaulted.
Because detectives were aware that Reagan was missing, they were fairly sure that the victim in question was likely Reagan Tokes. Because Toby & Lisa didn’t live in the area, Reagan’s uncle agreed to identify his niece’s body & sadly determined that the victim in the park was his missing niece.
As investigators searched the park where Reagan’s body was found, there was no sign of her purse, clothing or her car so it was clear that the murderer had these items or had done something with them.
Detectives began retracing Reagan’s last known movements at the Bodega where Reagan had last been seen alive in hopes of finding her killer. Security footage from inside the restaurant depicted Reagan leaving by herself right on schedule & there was no sign that she was being followed. Unfortunately, there were no cameras outside, so it’s unclear what happened after she left the establishment. Her Acura TL was no longer at the Bodega which indicated that she’d left the premises, but authorities couldn’t determine if she left alone or with an unknown person.
Investigators learned that Reagan & her boyfriend, Jake, had recently broken up so Jake was brought in for an interview. Those that knew the couple were aware that the breakup was mutual & that they were on good terms, but he needed to be eliminated as a suspect.
Authorities noted that Jake had uploaded a post to one of his social media accounts about Reagan’s shocking death & wrote that she was in a better place. They felt that this was a very odd thing to say about someone who had been violently murdered & sexually assaulted at age 21.
When confronted about his post, Jake explained that yes, he was devastated by her shocking death, but he was comforted that she was no longer afraid or suffering. He insisted that his post had no sinister meaning & he only did it to make himself feel better. After his alibi was verified, Jake was quickly eliminated as a suspect.
Reagan’s car was tracked down with the help of a license plate sensor that was attached to a privately owned garbage truck & was found parked on a residential street along their route. As investigators responded to the location of the car, they noted that not only did it reek of gasoline, but there were at least two cigarette butts in the interior. Burn marks were noted on the seats that told investigators that someone had unsuccessfully attempted to set the car ablaze. A gas can was left behind as well as several ATM receipts which were all dated on the night of her murder.
Reagan’s family members soon confirmed that she didn’t smoke & the cigarette butts were submitted for DNA testing while her car was dusted for fingerprints.
Based on the DNA results from the cigarette butts, police were given the name of a career criminal within 48 hours of Reagan’s murder. The man, 29-year-old Brian Golsby, had a history of sex crimes & had only recently been released from prison.
Golsby was a registered sex offender who served a six year sentence for robbery & attempted rape. In November 2010, he snuck up to his victim who was in the process of strapping her 2-year-old son into his car seat while they were parked in a store parking lot. He held a knife up & threatened to kill her child if she didn’t cooperate. The woman, who was also eight months pregnant, followed his instructions & drove to a nearby ATM to withdraw cash. He then ordered her to drive to her house where he raped her, stole her DVD player & fled into the night.
The woman quickly contacted the police, but when the court date arrived, she refused to testify fearing the safety of her children & opted out of the proceedings. Despite the physical evidence, the state offered Golsby a plea deal & in May 2011, he pleaded guilty to attempted rape & robbery & received two six-year sentences that he served concurrently. In November 2016, 5.5 years later, he was released to a halfway house & three months later, Reagan was his next victim. This time, he was sure his victim wouldn’t live to report him.
Investigators filed a receiving stolen property warrant for his arrest for being in possession of Reagan’s car & he was quickly tracked down to the halfway house where he was staying. A SWAT team took him into custody as he still wore his GPS ankle monitor.
Despite the fact that the monitor was in place after it was issued by the Department of Corrections as part of his early release, it was discovered that no one was monitoring his whereabouts, including his parole officer & the supervisors at the halfway house. With this freedom, he went about searching for another victim.
Because of the ankle monitor, investigators were later able to track his movements on the night of the murder & revealed that he was in the vicinity of the Bodega as Reagan left her shift as well as in Scioto Park only hours later when she was shot dead.
During his interrogation, Golsby initially denied having anything to do with Reagan’s abduction & murder. When they informed him that they had solid DNA evidence from the cigarette butts he stupidly left behind as well as evidence from the rape kit, he admitted that he approached Reagan as she got into her car that was parked behind the Bodega. He indicated that he threatened her with a gun & instructed her to drive through a Chase bank ATM & withdraw money from her account. Investigators obtained surveillance video from the bank that depicted Golsby pointing what appeared to be a gun at Reagan as she withdrew the money. He said that when he left her in the park, she was trembling, but still alive & well.
Detectives wanted a full confession so they suggested to Golsby that maybe there was a third party involved & he quickly went on to deny that he had a gun & claimed that a man named TJ forced him to kidnap Reagan for money. He said that TJ was with him during the abduction & instructed Reagan to drive to park after they left the bank. TJ also demanded that Reagan remove her clothing & then forced Golsby to rape her. When he was done it was TJ who forced her out of the car & as she stood within the darkness of the park, TJ shot Reagan twice. Golsby was simply an innocent bystander in this scenario.
As time went on & detectives continued to interrogate Golsby, he finally fully confessed to the abduction, rape & murder of Reagan Tokes. He indicated that he’d grown restless on the evening of February 8, 2017 so he boarded a city bus & headed to Columbus in search of someone he could rob. He noticed Reagan leaving the Bodega & cornered her as she was getting into her car. At knifepoint he demanded that she drive with him to the ATM & withdraw $500, assuring her that he wanted nothing more than money. He lied & told her that once the money was secure, he would allow her to go.
Terrified, Reagan did as she was told & headed to the ATM at the Chase bank on South High Street at 10:02 pm & her attempt at withdrawing $500 was denied. From here, they drove around attempting to visit other ATMs before they went back to the Chase Bank where $60 was withdrawn. At 10:18 pm he ordered her to pull her car over in an alleyway where they remained for twelve minutes, thirty minutes after she left the Bodega. It was here that she was sexually assaulted.
At 11:41 pm, surveillance video showed Reagan’s car pulling up to the pumps at a gas station & at 11:55 pm the car traveled to Scioto Grove Metro Park where she was murdered & the car remained for up to ten minutes.
Because it was a cold, wintery night, the park was deserted. He ordered her to fully undress & climb out of the car. Surely knowing what was coming, Golsby held the barrel of the gun only inches from her head as she stood barefoot & naked in the frigid cold. According to Golsby, before he shot Reagan twice, her last spoken words were, I just want to live.
After he was sure she was dead, he fled the scene & tossed the gun into a storm drain, later providing investigators with information that led them to the murder weapon. He then drove to his girlfriend’s apartment & gave her Reagan’s Kate Spade handbag that still had her wallet, lotion & pepper spray inside. They went out for burgers at McDonalds at 1:45 am despite Golsby’s 10 pm curfew at the halfway house. No one reported his absence to the proper authorities despite his absence. The two then shared a cigarette in Reagan’s car
After Golsby dropped his girlfriend off at her apartment, he attempted to burn Reagan’s car in hopes of erasing evidence that would tie the murder to him. When he failed to burn the car, he abandoned it near his girlfriend’s apartment.
Golsby was charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape, tampering with evidence & possession of a deadly weapon.
Seven counts of robbery upon victims he’d terrorized in the days leading up to Reagan’s murder were added to the indictment. Investigators were able to determine that Golsby had been the masked perpetrator who had been pistol whipping & robbing pedestrians in the Columbus/Grove City area in recent weeks. Each victim was a female who had been assaulted while outside alone; several had been beaten on the head when they refused to follow their assailant’s instructions. Many of the attacks happened while he was under overnight curfew at the EXIT Program.
Reagan had actually been aware of Golsby’s crimes before her death & her parents urged her to be extra careful when out & about at night. Reagan tried to protect herself as best she could, but sadly, on the night she walked out of the Bodega, her coworkers were busy with customers & unable to escort her to her car. She carried pepper spray in her purse, she was in frequent contact with her parents, who worried from where they were living in Florida.
Reagan had always dreamed of attending The Ohio State University & she was only months from graduation. She hoped to later attend graduate school & eventually open her own practice. All of her hopes & dreams were tragically cut short because a monster was lurking in the darkness.
Golsby’s criminal record was exceptionally long & for much of his life he had been in trouble with the law. Many of his charges involved robbery, menacing the public & even the rape of two children under age seven. Reagan’s family were sickened to learn that this monster was released from prison early despite the fact that he’d been written up fifty-two times while he was serving his measly six-year sentence after raping the pregnant woman who was with her 2-year-old child. He had been written up for stealing, fighting & insubordination during the 5.5 years he spent behind bars.
Because Golsby had been such a problem in prison, he’d been shuffled through five facilities over the course of his 5.5 year sentence. Despite the fact that the prison system could not handle him, he was still returned to society before completing the entirety of his six-year sentence.
Golsby had been scheduled to appear in court on February 23, three weeks after Reagan was murdered, because of the seven robberies & attacks he’d committed while out on parole. Instead of returning him immediately to prison, he was given the opportunity to subject Reagan to nearly three hours of sheer terror before he brutally murdered her.
The trial began on March 5, 2018, a little over one year after Reagan’s death. His former girlfriend, who unknowingly spent time with a murderer that night, testified against him. When he picked her up in Reagan’s car he explained that he’d purchased it from a man named TJ at work for $600.
Another woman, the mother of his 6-year-old daughter, took the stand where she indicated that Golsby had confided in the details of Reagan’s murder before his arrest. She indicated that he’d confessed after she pressed him while he was being held at the county jail.
The woman asked him if he raped Reagan & she saw him shake his head yes. She next asked if he murdered her & again, he shook his head yes. She dropped the phone that she was using to communicate with him & walked out of the jail without informing authorities. She came back to see him two months later so she could understand why he’d done what he’d done since they have a daughter together & something like that could one day happen to her. Golsby indicated that his motive was money. This was the last time she’d spoken to him.
Solid DNA evidence in the case was presented that included the DNA from the cigarette butts found in Reagan’s car as well as from the rape kit in addition to his confession. Gunshot residue was also found on his sweatshirt. There was also the evidence provided by his satellite GPS ankle-monitoring device that placed him at or near the locations in question. Reagan’s DNA was also found on the revolver that was used to kill her which Golsby discarded into a sewer along a street.
Golsby’s defense team called no witnesses forward & argued that he had been sexually abused as a child, while prosecutors argued that his childhood stories of abuse were inconsistent.
On March 13, 2018, what would have been Reagan’s 23rd birthday, the jury found Golsby guilty on all counts. One week later, he was sentenced to life in prison. The death penalty had been an option, but four of the twelve jurors voted against it, likely because of his defense team’s reports of the abuse he’d been allegedly subjected to as a child.
In the aftermath of the verdict, the prosecution filed a cross appeal to have Golsby’s sentence changed to death based on the poor instructions given to the jury though they were unsuccessful.
Reagan’s family went on to sue NISRE, the company that was tasked with overseeing the halfway house where Golsby was living at the time of the murder since he had no supervision & was allowed to freely prowl the streets for his next victim. They also filed a suit against the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction (ODRC) for allowing an obviously dangerous criminal back into society despite his infractions during his time behind bars.
The courts went on to dismiss the case against the ODRC, while the case against NISRE moved forward & the suit was settled in 2020, the terms were never made public.
It was the Tokes’ family goal to prevent another family from suffering the way they had so they were in contact with Ohio lawmakers to pass the Reagan Tokes Act, which gives officials the power to extend the sentences of prisoners who exhibit behaviors indicative that they are an ongoing threat to society. An inmate can only be held so long, but inmates that are not showing signs of rehabilitation would not be released early. In 2019 Ohio Bill 201, also known as the Reagan Tokes Act passed.
On June 5, 2019 a memorial was unveiled at the spot within Scioto Grove Metro Park where Reagan’s body was discovered & has been named Tranquility Garden. The expansive area contains swings, a pond, a variety of plants & areas for visitors to relax & take in nature. The location, when viewed from an aerial point of view, resembles an angel taking flight.
Reagan was a hard working, focused & dedicated young woman who was gearing up to start the rest of her life when she just so happened to come across the evil of Brian Golsby. Her murder meant so little in his dark & disgusting life that he went out to eat hamburgers shortly after he brutally murdered her & discarded her body in the park in a way someone would throw a piece of garbage away.
References:
- Walker Funeral Homes & Crematory: Reagan Delaney Tokes
- The Blade: Golsby confessed to killing Tokes, witnesses say
- Medium: Repeat Offender: The abduction & murder of Reagan Tokes
- Oxygen True Crime: Man recently released from prison rapes & murders 21-year-old college student
- Wikipedia: The murder of Reagan Tokes
- The Lantern: Reagan Tokes trial: Witness who was given Tokes’ purse testifies against Golsby
- 10 WBNS: Timeline: Prosecutor provides new details on events leading to Reagan Tokes’ death
