Victims of suspected Columbus 'serial killer' identified
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Four men who died after prosecutors say a suspected serial killer gave them fentanyl have been identified after multiple Franklin County offices initially denied The Dispatch's requests for records.
All four men died after 33-year-old Rebecca Auborn gave them fentanyl without their knowledge to rob them, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. The men had met Auborn, who was reportedly working as a prostitute, for sex at hotels in the northeast part of Columbus, according to Yost and Columbus police.
The Franklin County Coroner's Office released the autopsies and other records related to the four men to The Dispatch on Wednesday. They are:
Joseph V. Crumpler, 30, of the Northeast Side, who died on Jan. 15.
Robert Snoke, 54, of Pataskala, who died on April 1.
Wayne Akin, 64, of the Northeast Side, who was declared dead on April 17 after he was found at his home on his birthday. According to Auborn's indictment, Akin was given the fentanyl on April 13.
Guy Renda, 42, of Canal Winchester, who died on June 17.
The coroner's office ruled the manner of death as an accident caused by drug overdoses in all four autopsies. Each of four men had fentanyl in their systems. Toxicology screens also found cocaine in Snoke and Renda and alcohol in Crumpler.
The reports from the coroner's office indicate that only Snoke died in a hotel room at a hotel on Clara Street by the Fairgrounds.
Crumpler was found at his home in the 2900 block of Azelda Street and pronounced dead at Riverside Methodist Hospital. Akin died at his apartment in the 4300 block of Chesford Road. Renda died outside in a residential area in the 2700 block of Grasmere Avenue, on Columbus' Northeast Side.
Auborn has entered a not guilty plea to all charges against her, including murder charges, and is being held in the Franklin County jail. She is currently scheduled for trial on Nov. 14, however, that trial date is likely to be moved.
How The Dispatch pursued records
In the indictment of Auborn obtained by The Dispatch, the victims' names were redacted.
The Franklin County Coroner's office told a Dispatch reporter Monday, in response to an Oct. 26 request, that it could not release the names, citing guidance from the county prosecutor's office that because the men were victims, Marsy's Law prevented their release.
It was the first time the coroner's office declined to release names of people who died, including homicide victims or people shot by police.
The Dispatch also requested the names of any person who died from an overdose on the dates identified by police as related to Auborn's case. The coroner's office provided this information, but omitted the names of Auborn's suspected victims.
Dispatch attorney Jack Greiner, based in Cincinnati, challenged the ruling, citing a portion of Marsy's Law that explicitly states the law "does not apply to any disclosure of the name, address or other identifying information of a victim of a criminal offense ... that resulted in the death of the victim."
The coroner's office also refused Monday to release the names of two children killed in a crash on Saturday, again citing Marsy's Law. Columbus police later provided the names of those children, a 5-year-old and a 4-month-old, on Monday afternoon.
After a Dispatch reporter again contacted prosecutors and the county Coroner's Office on Wednesday, the Coroner's Office released the names of the four suspected victims of Auborn, their autopsy reports and other related records.
This is not the only example of officials using the updated version of Marsy's Law that went into effect this year to deny public records.
In October, the Dispatch filed a complaint with the Ohio Supreme Court against Columbus police, challenging the Division of Police's policy of not releasing the names of officers involved in fatal shootings. Police began using this policy in July after a change to Marsy's Law was enacted by the state legislature.
bbruner@dispatch.com
@bethany_bruner
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Accused Columbus 'serial killer's' victims identified by coroner
