Man accused of killing Middletown mother found on balcony will have trial in 2024
Oct. 10—A 2024 trial date has been set for a man accused of killing a woman last winter who was found fatally wounded on the balcony of a Middletown apartment.
Dustin Scott Lykins, 27, was indicted by a Butler County grand jury in June for murder and felonious assault with gun specifications in the death of Amber Adams on Feb. 11 at a Flemming Road residence.
On Monday, Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Oster Jr. set Lykins' trial to begin Feb. 20, 2024. Lykins in being held in lieu of $1 million bond.
Adams, 25, was the mother of an 8-year-old boy and known to her family as "Bambi."
Rhianna King, Adams' cousin, who attended Lykins arraignment in June, said they grew up like sisters.
"She was such an incredible light in this world," King said. "Amber deserved a lot more than how her life was ended. She should still be her spreading her sunshine but she is not."
King and Amber's mother, Connie Kennedy, said Amber deserves justice and they will not stop fighting until she gets it.
Kennedy said Lykins was her daughter's off-and-on boyfriend.
Lykins was taken into custody in Madison Twp. on June 21 by federal marshals from the Cincinnati office of the U.S. Marshal Service (SOFAST), according to prosecutors.
The death remained under investigation for months by Middletown police until an out -f-state material witness was compelled in May to appear before a grand jury, according to court records.
Adams was found on the front balcony of an upstairs apartment in the 1700 block of Flemming suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. She was taken to Atrium Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Lykins was charged with a drug offense on the day the investigation into Adams' shooting continued.
