The parents of an Ohio State University student who was found murdered in a Grove City park earlier this year joined state lawmakers Wednesday in unveiling a bill named in her honor.
The Reagan Tokes Act would make several changes to Ohio law, including requiring people convicted of first- and second-degree felonies to be given indeterminate sentences, which do not have a definite end date and give prison officials more leniency in keeping inmates behind bars.
The bill tightens GPS monitoring of newly-released inmates by placing restrictions on where they can and can’t go to help police more-closely track their whereabouts.
Under current law, police usually retroactively review GPS data to see where a person traveled.
The bill also directs state prison officials to create a database to store GPS data, and calls for the database to be readily available to law enforcement agencies investigating crimes.
Prosecutors say Tokes was killed by Brian Golsby, who’s also suspected of committing several armed robberies in the days before Tokes was killed. Police say Golsby kidnapped Tokes as she was walking to her car following a shift at a Short North bar on the night of February 8.
Police say Golsby raped Tokes and made her drive him to several ATMs to withdraw money before shooting her and dumping her body at Scioto Grove Metro Park.
Golsby was released from prison three months before Tokes’ death after having served a six-year sentence for attempted rape.
Golsby was on GPS monitoring at the time of Tokes’ death, and prosecutors have said GPS data places him at the location where her body was found. Investigators say they were able to link him to the crime using DNA from a cigarette butt found at the scene.
Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty against Golsby, who has pleaded not guilty.
