Cleveland-area woman charged with Columbus homicide; suspect in teen girl's murder arrested

Columbus police have charged a Cleveland-area woman with fatally shooting another woman in May in the Hilltop and arrested a suspect in the unrelated fatal shooting of a 15-year-old girl last month.

Nachyla Halton, 19, of South Euclid, Ohio, has been charged with murder in the May 19 shooting death of 19-year-old Jazmine Chester, city homicide detectives said Monday. Halton is currently in custody in Cuyahoga County Jail on several weapons-related charges.

Around 2:10 a.m. on May 19, detectives say Halton and Chester entered an apartment at the 3600 block of Briggs Road, detectives say in court records. Halton is seen entering the building with a bag. She exits the building alone over an hour later, again carrying a bag.

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Halton then got in her vehicle and left the apartment, detectives say in court records. In the following days, family and friends did not hear from Chester, whose 2-year-old son was left at a babysitter until the following weekend until Chester’s father picked him up.

A missing persons report was filed, and Chester was discovered in her home, deceased from a gunshot wound to the face, detectives say.

An investigation identified Halton as a suspect, detectives say. On Monday, she was interviewed in the Cuyahoga County Jail, where she has been held on unrelated misdemeanor firearms charges since her arrest in July.

Halton denied she was in Columbus at the time of Chester’s death, according to detectives.

When asked what kind of car she owned in May, detectives say Halton ended the interview. Detectives later obtained a warrant for her arrest for murder.

Columbus police announced Tuesday that 18-year-old Roshawn Adkins was arrested Monday by SWAT officers on a warrant for murder in connection with the Oct. 10 shooting death of 15-year-old Lovely Kendricks.

Police responded at 3:20 p.m. Oct. 10 to a report of a shooting at Franklin Park in the 1700 block of East Broad Street. Officers found Kendricks, a member of the East High School cheer squad, had been shot during an after-school fight among teens at the park.

Kendricks was rushed in critical condition to a local hospital, where she died several hours later, police said.

Homicide detectives had obtained an arrest warrant for Adkins after an investigation that included interviews with witnesses. Adkins is being held in the Franklin County jail.

Anyone with information regarding these homicides or any other homicide in the city is asked to call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at (614) 645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-TIPS (8477).

cbehrens@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Cleveland-area woman arrested in May homicide on Hilltop