Her name is Reagan Tokes. She went to the University of Ohio State. She has big dreams and was coming up on graduating. She was 21 years old when her life was violently taken from her. One night Reagan went out like a normal night but that day she never thought that it would end with her life taken away. Reagan went through a girl’s worst nightmare. She was abducted, raped, and murdered by a man (Brian Golsby) who was on parole. Reagan was not the first person he had done this to. He also had previously done the same thing to another girl but then released her and later was convicted to 6 years in prison because she did not want to have to stand up to him in court. Brian Golsby had previously been a convicted aviolent sex offender. Golsby, who was a convicted felon, was released from prison three months before killing Reagan. The night of the killing and torture Reagan had to endure he had on a GPS monitor. The GPS monitor was not being monitored how it should have been in real time. He went out that whole night past curfew. The GPS monitor was also a good part of the case against him because it tracked his every move that night. The day came when he came to be trialed and the evidence was so much that it was no doubt he killed her. They had the gun, the witnesses, and so much more. The verdict was guilty on all counts, but it was not over. The next step was deciding if he should live or if he should get death just like he chose to take Reagan’s life. At his sentencing hearing the defense had a witness talk about how his childhood affected himand that the system failed Golsby. The system did not fail Golsby, he failed himself. He has a choice and his chosen led him to where he is today. He askedfor mercy, the mercy that he never gave Reagan, and he got mercy on his life. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Reagan’s family had passed a bill called The Reagan Times Law. The law imposes an indefinite sentence for offenders convicted of first- or second-degreefelonies when life is not an option. Reagan was a daughter, a sister, a friend, and meant and still means so much to so many people. You wonder what would have happened if the system had kept an extremely dangerousperson like Golsby off the streets andwhat life would be like for Reagan today. Where would Reagan be today? We will never know what could have been, but we do know that Reagan touched and counties to touch people to this day. Reagan story matters and she means something. She deserves her voice heard. She is one of so many more cases where the system in return failed her. If the system had done what it issupposed to do not let people like Golsby out, she would still have her life today and her family and friends would still have their beautiful and loving Reagan today.
