to find her after all these years. you know, i think god had his hands on it. he wouldn't have let all this happen for no reason. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline. " i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline. " >> hello, 911. >> i think there's a body out here. please send somebody, hurry. >> they had the body of a young woman who matched the description of reagan, and i just kept saying, that has to be wrong. >> who would want to hurt reagan, investigators would start with those closest to her. >> is your gut telling you as many as someone she knew? >> we were figuring it was probably somebody she knew, an ex-boyfriend, current

boyfriend. >> but miles away, a string of alarming encounters. >> he had a knife. he put it to any neck. >> i heard a voice say, "don't turn around or i'll shoot." >> this is somebody that wanted to be evil. >> could there be a connection to reagan's murder, the answer would leave an entire city infuriated. >> how the heck does this happen. how does this happen. >> they could have connected the dots way sooner. >> the system failed reagan terribly. >> i think it's outrage times a thousand. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello, and welcome to "dateline. " college student reagan tokes was smart, beautiful, and as graduation approached her life was brimming with possibility. the bright future ended before it began when reagan was found shot to death. investigators quickly closed in on a suspect, but a stunning discovery would

reveal an unbelievable blind spot in law enforcement and color her family's grief with rage. here's andrea canning with "unchecked evil." >> look at the pictures, and you can see, reagan tokes was a ray of light. >> she was a vivacious ball of energy. >> she was always just so fun to be around. she felt like part of my family. >> i still don't think i've ever met anyone that could make me laugh like she did. >> a caring friend, a devoted daughter. she radiated life from her very first breath. >> she came out eyes wide open, just ready to take on the world. >> which made her final moments all the more incomprehensible, terrified and alone in that darkened field. >> you just think about what she had to endure, and what she was ultimately clinging on to at the end was just to live.

and be able to go home. >> your sister met with evil that night. >> that's all he is, is just evil. >> for reagan's family, the way she was taken from them wasn't just heartbreaking, it was infuriating. is this a crime that never should have happened? >> absolutely never should have happened. they had this monster in their grasp and their control and they let him slip through. >> our story begins on a college campus that had long been reagan's dream. her dad toby took her to an ohio state football game when she was little. he and her mom lisa say that was it. >> she told me that that's where she wanted to be, and i told her if she worked hard and got good grades, i'd make sure she could go. >> and she never applied anywhere else? >> no. >> that's where i want to go, and don't worry, i'm going to get in. >> makenzie is reagan's little

sister. >> i just remember that whole year leading up to it, she told everyone, "i'm going to be going to ohio state." >> she basically told the admissions people. >> basically, that i'm coming. >> madison, jackie, kiersten, and stephanie were her college roommates. >> she had a goofy streak to her? >> oh, yeah, the goofiest. >> she's hilarious. >> she was just silly. always laughing and always making us laugh. >> to earn some extra cash, reagan applied for a job at this popular columbus restaurant called bodega. kiersten and stephanie worked there, too. >> she's like, i need another job, do you know anything. i'm like come work at bodega. >> by february, 2017, reagan was months away from graduation. she made a difficult decision, she and her college boyfriend broke up. >> she was so heartbroken that week. >> they both really cared about each other, so it was hard, but i think it was what was best

for both of them. >> days later, on february 8th, she headed off for an evening shift at bodega. >> it was normal, just like, bye, have fun, or i'll see you later. >> like you had a million times before? >> exactly. >> reagan's dad expected to get a call from her after work. they spoke almost every day. >> but the call never came. >> no. i remember just after 10:00, i started to get concerned that something might be wrong and i tried really to get ahold of her for about four hours that night. >> in this case, you really had a father's intuition. >> i did. >> that something was wrong. >> yep. >> the next morning, kiersten got an uneasy feeling, too, when she passed reagan's empty room. they were supposed to walk to class together. >> but i was like, she probably got up early, she probably went to the library, it's midterm week. there's a million things to do. >> but by early afternoon, it was clear, no one had heard from reagan since she left work the night before. what are you thinking happened

to her. >> you have that gut feeling but at the same time, you're like, it's going to be fine. >> i thought maybe she wanted to go see one of her friends that was out of town. maybe her phone died while she was driving. i was not thinking the worst. i just thought it was weird. >> they went to the last place reagan was seen, bodega, and the manager called in a missing person's report. as they waited for police to arrive, kiersten overheard two employees talking about an online news story. >> he was like, oh, you got to look at this article, and he showed the bartender, and he's like that's not good. >> hours earlier, a man driving into a park in a columbus suburb 10 miles away had spotted something. >> hello, 911. >> yeah, i think there's a body out here. i don't know if this is a fake or what. i can't get close to it. send somebody, hurry. >> grove city police lieutenant brian davidson was on the scene within minutes. >> when we first got here, we

could see a body out here, probably about 18 feet or 20 feet from the roadway. she was completely naked and you could tell that she'd been shot in the head. >> shot twice and possibly raped. >> were you seeing any clues in the field? >> you know, there was nothing other than her. we were scanning the entire area, and didn't see anything. >> any idea who this woman is? >> at this time, no. >> the victim's clothes, wallet and cellphone were nowhere to be found. >> we had a necklace, and then there was a tattoo on her body. >> what sort of tattoo? >> it was a tattoo on her side of her body and it was just a circle, a dark circle. >> davidson thought it might be a runaway they were looking for from a neighboring county, but then he got word that an osu student was missing. detectives responded to bodega. one of their first questions for reagan's friends, did she have a tattoo? the answer was yes.

>> the detective looked at me and said the body we did find did have a tattoo, but we won't know for sure until a family member identifies it. >> was that enough for you? >> yeah. >> we all went outside and collapsed on the corner and started sobbing, obviously. >> it was the worst possible news. yet, it was only the beginning. >> coming up -- what had happened to reagan? >> i just kept saying that has to be wrong. >> details no one wanted to hear. >> they had said that they had the body of a young woman who matched the description of reagan. >> who could have wanted to hurt her? detectives were about to talk to her ex. >> just the break up alone could be a red flag. >> yes. >> when "dateline" continues. when "dateline" continues going on inside. it's true, with diabetic retinopathy, excess sugar can damage blood vessels,

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parents lived, they spent the afternoon working the phones, frantically waiting for news. all they knew was that no one had seen or heard from their daughter since the night before. >> and your mind starts going, like, oh, no, what if she had had a car accident and her car skidded off the road and it's in a ditch somewhere. your mind's all over the place, and it's horrible.. >> reagan's disappearance had her sister worried, too. >> i had instantly, like, broken down, went to my school, was a mess, and everyone there had just constantly been telling me, it's going to be okay. she's 21. she's fine.

>> finally, just after dark, lisa's phone rang. >> they had said that they had the body of a young woman who matched the description of reagan who had been found naked and shot twice in the head. and i just kept saying, that has to be wrong. >> i had seen my parents through the door, and i knew immediately it wasn't like she had just gotten in a car accident or had been found somewhere, it was worse than that, and a lot more violent. >> how could you tell? >> i could just see it in their faces, just like everything had been sucked out of them. it was just any life that was there, was gone. >> as sure as police were that reagan was their victim, official identification would still have to be made by a family member. reagan's uncle lived within driving distance. >> i just kept remembering, i

was praying all through the night that it was just going to be a mistake, and he was going to get there, and he was going to call me, and he was going to say no. they made a mistake, it's not her. but that's not the phone call we got. >> reagan was gone at just 21 years old. now that their victim had a name, police had to figure out who killed her. brian davidson supervised the detective division. >> any risk factors in her life? was she in to drugs, anything you found that could have led her down this path at all? >> no, that was the thing, she was a brilliant student. she was getting ready to graduate. i mean, she was just a great kid. >> i can remember the detective asking me, is there anybody that you know of, that would have wanted to hurt her. and i can remember, i was just like, why are you -- no, why would anybody want to hurt her? everybody loved her?

>> makenzie could see that too. >> when i went to apply for my first job when i turned 16, i walked in there, and said my last name. he was like, my sister worked for you last summer, and he's like, you're hired. >> reagan spent free time spending mission trips for her church. >> she knew she would be able to have a positive impact to make a difference. >> you must have been like, i'm just so proud of her. >> we were. she had a gift, and she would have done anything she set her mind to. >> at osu reagan's roommates say she was all about making friend, not enemies. >> she said that she looked me up on facebook before we moved in and she immediately knew we would be friends. she was right. >> why, what did you put on your facebook page? >> she's like, i looked at everyone, and picked you to be my friend. >> there didn't seem to be anything in reagan's history that would help shed lite on

what happened to her. but to detective's eyes, reagan's murder seemed personal. >> is your gut telling you this is someone she knew. >> at that time, we were really figuring it was probably someone she knew, you know, an ex-boyfriend or current boyfriend. >> remember, reagan and her boyfriend had just broken up. his name was jake. reagan's friends thought he was a sweetheart. >> we were just like, no, absolutely not. >> why were you so sure? >> because he loved her. and he was still our friend. she was just a good guy. there was not a mean bone in his body. >> but of course that's not the way a detective thinks. >> just the break up alone could be a red flag. >> yes. >> detectives paid jake a visit. they recorded the conversation. >> when was the last time you talked to her? >> probably a week and a half ago. >> is that normal? >> not usually. i talk to her every day, but we were breaking up kind of. >> did he give a reason why they were breaking up? >> the reason i guess was they

both wanted to concentrate more on their school work and they felt that dating was just kind of getting in the way. >> it was just we didn't have enough time really for each other. we had to focus on school. >> did he say they had fought? >> he said they had never fought. it was a mutual break up. >> she said in one of the texts, i'm one of her best friends no matter what. >> the detective asked to look at jake's phone, something he said about reagan after she died caught his eye. >> don't take this the wrong way, why in the world would you write that you're in a better place. >> i was talking to they are like she, i don't know, like she's in heaven. >> you just don't hear it very often, better place when somebody was living a good life. >> if i were to go today, i know i would go somewhere better. that's just what i believe. >> there was something else that seemed strange to police. >> you said you posted on instagram. >> yes, sir. >> you got some likes? >> he was talking about how many likes it had?

>> it did bring up a lot of red flags to us immediately. >> but there were other leads to chase, including one from an unlikely source. >> coming up. >> that's incredible, a garbage truck gives you a huge break in this case. >> it was definitely the break that we were looking for. >> and then an even bigger break from some security video. >> we see the suspect. >> what does he look like? >> when "dateline" continues.

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living a nightmare. a day earlier, she'd been the beating heart of their group. now she was dead. ripped from their lives in such a violent way. >> i don't think any of us slept at all. we all stayed together the whole night. we had a lot of people, i think all of our parents came to our apartment and were just there to console us. it didn't feel real at all. >> trying to figure out who killed her was equally confusing. they felt it couldn't be reagan's ex-boyfriend, her disappearance had hit him hard. >> i remember talking to jake that day. you could tell he was very worried throughout the day. >> detectives checked jake's alibi, and it was rock solid. >> he tells us that he was watching a movie with his roommates, and we were able to interview the other roommates separately, and they all backed up his story completely. >> did you literally cross him

off your list. >> we crossed him off the list. >> truth be told, their list had no promising names on it. so they traced reagan's steps that last day, starting with the moment she left her apartment for work that afternoon. rick forney was the lead detective on the case. >> we were able to obtain that video whether every she left, to see if there was anyone around the area, whenever she left in her car, another car seemed to follow her, and we didn't find anything. >> they also took a look at bodega's surveillance video. here you can see reagan walking out after her shift around 9:45 p. m. >> i kept expecting to see someone get up and follow reagan out of the bar. we didn't see any of that. >> there was no customer who was giving her a hard time or anyone stalking her, following her. >> no one. >> police did receive a tip that a man posing as an uber driver had been preying on intoxicated women around town. >> there were several attacks and even an alleged rape surrounding this man posing as

a driver? >> i believe there was seven or eight individuals that reported this person posing as a ride share driver, was inappropriately touching them. >> that didn't seem to fit reagan's case. she had driven herself to work. >> she had her car there, and she wasn't intoxicated. she wasn't drinking. she was just leaving work. >> perhaps reagan's car was the key, no one had seen it since she was murdered. >> big city, her car could be anywhere. >> it could be anywhere in the state of ohio. at this point in time, it could be out of state. we just didn't know. >> they entered her car into a data base, it turned up nothing. detectives tried another private data base. one that collects information from license plate readers mounted on commercial vehicles. sure enough. >> a private trash truck had picked up reagan's license plate near children's hospital. >> that's incredible. a garbage

truck gives you a huge break in this case. >> it was. it was definitely the break that we were looking for. >> we want to immediately get over to the area. the camera captured the car in this neighborhood a few hours to us being notified it was there. >> the car could be gone. >> it could be gone. >> but when they pulled up, there it was. reagan's silver accra. >> this is the street her car was parked on, facing that direction. >> the first thing detectives noticed, burn marks on the backseat and the overwhelming stench of gasoline. >> what was that telling you? >> most likely that the individual tried to destroy evidence, tried to destroy the car. >> he obviously failed because the car was in tact. >> failed miserably. >> inside the car, they found atm receipts from different banks from the night reagan disappeared, though only $60 had been withdrawn from her account. police suspected she had been forced to withdraw the

money as part of a robbery. also inside the car they found cigarette butts. >> do you know if reagan smokes. >> we asked her roommates and friend and family if she smoked. they said absolutely not. >> these buts could be the killer, and be buts come. >> dna. >> they rushed the cigarettes off for testing. >> did you find her cell phone? >> her cell phone was not in the car. when we opened the trunk of the car, there was a gasoline can that was in there that was tipped over. it appeared to be relatively new. >> police started calling around to see if that can had been bought in the area. they got a hit at a columbus gas station. >> surveillance video? >> surveillance video, yes. they can't get the video to download for us so we have to take pictures of it with our cell phones, and we bring it back, and we're showing everybody. but we see the suspect. >> what does he look like?

>> he's got on a hoodie, and he has on something around his head. >> was this reagan's killer? detectives weren't sure, but that's not the only video they uncovered. here's reagan withdrawing money at one of those atms. next to her, a shadowy figure in the passenger's seat. but who was he, and most importantly, where was he? with their friends'murderer at large, reagan's roommates were too scared to return to their apartment. >> it was your mom who pointed out, you guys can't go back to your apartment, that person has her keys. >> or driver's license, really. >> really he had access to our house for 24 hours before we realized. that was a terrifying after thought. >> turns out they had good reason to be afraid because around columbus, ohio, reagan's murder wasn't the only recent act of violence. >> coming up --

>> he just kept slugging me with his fist, and i kept screaming, and the only words he said were shut up. >> stories of alarming encounters. >> he grabbed me, had a knife, put it to my neck. >> i heard a voice say don't turn around, i'll shoot. instinctively, i just turned around and the gun was pointed right at my forehead. >> when "dateline" continues.

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>> welcome back to "dateline." i'm natalie morales. detectives were working and the clock to find reagan tokes'killer. they caught a glimpse of the suspect on security video and were hoping cigarette butts found in her car would yield his dna. there was young local woman who suspected she knew who shot reagan, because she said he had threatened to kill her, too. here again is andrea canning with "unchecked evil." >> you just think about what she had to endure and what she was ultimately clinging on to at the end was just to live and be able to go home. >> it's hard to imagine the torment reagan's parents experienced in the days after her murder. the grief, the what ifs, the impossible question. could they have done anything to prevent their daughter's

senseless death? >> taught our kids at a very young age about awareness and safety and being smart. not putting yourself in bad situations. >> and in toby's mind, that including going home after working a night shift near downtown columbus. >> it's pretty rough around there. >> you had safety concerns? >> yes. >> we did, we had even talked about the last time we had been in home visiting her for a game. we said, "you know, you have to be extra vigilant because this is not campus. this is the city." >> and in the weeks before reagan's murder, vigilance was called for. especially in and around german village, a historic section of town not far from bodega. >> so, you were just going to get into your car to head out? >> i don't know. i felt a presence, something. >> josie merkel, a local theater actress, was the first resident to come face to face with violence.

>> so, i turned around and he must have come up that alley, he came in and was right in the corner. he had a hoodie pulled down almost to his eyebrows, and then he had a mask up around his nose, so all i saw were eyes, so i just started screaming. >> oh, my gosh. >> and he just ran to me and just kept beating me, beating my face. i fell to the ground between the two cars. and he just kept slugging me with his fist, and i kept screaming and the only words he ever said were "just shut up." >> did you think this man might actually kill you? >> totally. this was somebody who wanted to do evil and hurt someone. that's what i saw, so yeah, i thought he was going to kill me, so i just stayed on the ground. >> and then as suddenly as he appeared, the attacker was gone. >> and then after he just left. >> near the same neighborhood,

several days later, vanissa edwards was on her way to work in the early morning when she noticed a man with a hoodie and mask walking toward her. >> i jaywalked and as i stepped up on to the grass, i looked over my shoulder to get a feel for where he was, and he was right there. >> and this time, the mysterious attacker was armed with more than his fists. >> he grabbed me. he had a knife, he put it to my neck. and he said, "shut up. don't yell." >> and so i screamed, and he push it in a little bit harder, and he said, "you need to shut up or i'm going to kill you right here." and somebody's going to come get me. >> you screamed anyway. >> he goes, "no, they're not, i'm slicing your throat right now." and i screamed one more time, and he pushed it in a little bit, and then he shoved me away, he grabbed my bag, and he took off down running down

the island. >> columbus pd had a crime spree on his hands when three more people were assaulted around german village. they increased patrols but couldn't prevent the masked assailant from striking again. just two days when reagan disappeared, juliann beatty was taking luggage out of the trunk of her car, when she felt something against the back of her head. it was a gun. >> i heard a voice say don't turn around or i'll shoot, and instinctively, i just turned around, and the gun was pointed right at my forehead, and he said, "give me your bag or i'll kill you." i started screaming and yelling and struggling with him. he was trying to get the purse off and i had it over my shoulder, and as he was pulling, we struggled and he hit me with the butt of my gun. my shoes flipped off the street and he cracked a couple of teeth.

>> the man got juliann's purse and made his get away. >> this man was terrorizing. >> it was unchecked evil, terrorizing the area. >> i heard someone yell help, so i ran outside. >> the attacks, a total of seven in less than three weeks, were all over the news. >> village residents are on high alert tonight after last night's -- >> toby raised it with reagan. >> reagan and i did talk about it. there were a couple that occurred near downtown where reagan worked, just be careful. apparently, i think everybody was pretty certain that it was one individual that was creating this havoc around town. >> now, in his fog of grief, reagan's father didn't make any connections between the attacks and his daughter's death. but one of the victims did. >> as soon as they announced that reagan tokes was missing and they found her body, you know, a friend called me and said, "this is too coincidental, it's all within a 3-mile radius. i guarantee you that that individual that had

murdered reagan tokes is somehow connected to your case." >> were they connected? the attacks happened miles away from where reagan's body was found, in a different police district, so maybe not. lieutenant davidson had been on reagan's case nonstop for more than 30 hours when he thought about getting some rest. he'd barely been home when his phone rang at 10:30. one of his detectives was on the line. >> he had received a phone call from the dna lab, and we had a hit. >> that's incredible. >> it is. >> to get a hit that fast. >> yes. >> after finding a body. >> mm-hmm. >> it was a huge break, and what it revealed would stun this veteran investigator. >> what does he tell you, he says, "you're not going to believe this, but you know him." coming up -- >> very chilling. the way that he described it, the way that he told the story, we knew that he was the one that pulled that trigger.

>> a jolt for reagan's family. >> how did you feel when you were there and you're seein him? >> like my head was going to explode. it's amazing i didn't have a heart attack or stroke myself. >> when "dateline" continues. "dateline" continues to new patients without insurance - everyday. plus, patients get 20% off their treatment plan. we're on your corner and in your corner every step of the way. because your anything is our everything. aspen dental. anything to make you smile. book today at aspendental.com, walk in, or call 1-800-aspendental. find your rhythm. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c.

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call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. let's get ready for jalapeñoooo popperrrs! turns out, michael buffer speaks like that all the time. and it turns out the general is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage, go with the general. >> i mean, as soon as we entered the church, we pretty much all just started crying.

>> reagan's wake took place in the church where she and her family celebrated their faith. but when someone so young, so innocent, is suddenly gone, it's hard to say good-bye. >> and we all walked over to look at her, and we all just kind of locked arms and stood there, and, i mean, we talked to her. we talked to each other. i remember i always used to braid reagan's hair for her because she refused to learn to do it for herself, and i remember i just touched her hair, because how many times have i braided her hair before. it was just -- >> that's heartbreaking. >> it was surreal, yeah. we stood there for a while. that's the one comfort is that we have each other. >> the journey of healing had just begun, and step one in that long painful process was bringing reagan's killer to justice. that was lieutenant davidson's job. two days after the murder, he had a dna hit from reagan's car and a name.

and to the lieutenant's surprise, it was a name he knew. brian lee golsby. he put him behind bars for attempted rape and robbery six years earlier. wow, are you just floored by this news? >> i am. i am so floored by this, because i thought he was still in jail. i was shocked. >> lieutenant davidson learned goldsby was released three months before reagan's murder, and was living in a house less than a half mile from where her car was found. he constituent a s. w. a. t team to make the arrest and bring him in. >> brian, you're not here by accident. all right. we didn't just happen to stumble upon this. you're here because we have pretty good amount of evidence on what happened. >> detective forney was the lead inter gator. >> he wanted to know what we >> he wanted to know what we had on him, and that's all the had on him, and that's all the information he provided to us, information he provided to us, than what we already knew. than what we already knew. >> investigators had goldsby's dna inside reagan's car. he >> investigators had goldsby's

quickly copped to robbing her. dna inside reagan's car. he >> so you got in the car, right? and you went to chase. did you drive or did she drive? >> she drove. >> so how much money did you get officially? >> i got $60. >> you get him in the car with her, get him going to the atm with her, you're getting close, but are you getting a confession. >> we're not getting a confession to the murder. >> i didn't kill nobody, man. i don't know how many times i can say that, different ways to tell you i didn't kill nobody. i don't know how to tell you. >> then who could have? who else would have been out there? >> i'm not the only in this city who goes to these--. >> you're the only one there. >> i told you. i left as soon as i made her get out of the car. she looked back, i'm like, yeah, don't move for 30 minutes, i got in the car, i turned around and i left. >> goldsby, wasn't budging. >> i didn't shoot nobody, man.

i've never shot a gun in my life. >> so detectives set a trap. though they had no evidence that another person was involved in reagan's murder, they suggested to golsby. >> i know you didn't pull the trigger, i know somebody else was in the car, who was it? >> this person is not real? >> this person is not real. >> a fictitious character that you're -- does he take the bait. >> he does. he takes the bait. >> i'm in the passenger seat. he's in the backseat, behind her. now, we get down to the park. he says, "take off all your clothes, get out." he says, "walk until i tell you to stop." she walks. she's naked. he gets behind her. and then he goes pow. she falls. she's laying on the ground. i'm looking out of the car, and he

bends down and shoots her again. pow. >> this is a chilling account of this murder. >> it was very chilling, the way that he described it, the way that he told the story, you knew that he was the one that pulled that trigger. at the end of this interrogation, brian golsby was charged with aggravated murder, rape, kidnapping and robbery. >> reagan's dad toby showed up to brian court appearance. >> how did you feel when you were there, with this plan who killed your daughter? >> like my head was going to explode. amazing that i didn't have a heart attack or stroke myself during that 20 minutes in court. >> but what the family found out next turned their devastation and anger into unmitigated fury. and a call for action. >> i think it's outage times a thousand. it just -- so unbelievable.

>> coming up -- a jaw dropping revelation about brian golsby. >> they had this monster in their grasp and they let him slip through it. >> uncovering an astonishing gap in law enforcement. >> so, this is a man out on parole with an ankle monitor, and he's out committing heinous crimes. >> absolutely. >> and getting away scot-free? >> yes. >> when "dateline" continues.

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unanimous verdict? >> in march, 2018, brian golsby went on trial and was convicted for reagan's murder. >> we, the jury, find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. >> he was sentenced to life in prison, without parole. >> the first thing that went through my head is, this monster will never be able to harm another person, again, ever. >> but for the tokes family, justice in the courtroom was not enough. >> the more i started to hear and understand about who, how, why, i came to the realization that, this never should've happened. this never should have happened. >> they first learned that golsby had been out of prison for just a few months. and in prison, he had a history of bad behavior. still, by ohio law, there was no way to extend his sentence.

>> this man had 52 violations, in prison? >> yes. >> and yet, he still walks out? >> still, walks out. there's no punishment. 52 infractions and no consequences. >> golsby, a registered-sex offender, was assigned a parole officer. and what the tokes family learned next made them sick to their core. at the time of reagan's murder, golsby was wearing an ankle monitor. >> when i hear someone has an ankle monitor, i always thought it meant, like, if they went outside of their zone. or past their curfew, that an alarm would go off somewhere. and the police would show up, immediately. >> right. >> and arrest them. >> and most people do. and that is what's even more disturbing about it is most people think that. >> was anyone watching him? >> no. >> the tokes family was surprised to learn that police don't have direct access to the gps data from ankle monitors. it's usually collected by private companies that make and sell the devices and then share the data with parole officers. the information, generally,

isn't monitored by law enforcement in real time. and sure enough, a look back at golsby's gps trail revealed he was the masked assailant who, for weeks, had been terrorizing columbus. >> every time that there was a robbery, there is brian golsby. >> so, this is a man out on parole, with an ankle monitor, and he is out committing heinous crimes? >> absolutely. >> and getting away, scot-free? >> yes. >> i was outraged. i'm mad. all the signs were there. what more do you want? somebody should've put two and two together. >> did the system fail reagan tokes? did it fail all of the victims? >> it failed all the victims and everything went unchecked. >> i have never seen a community so outraged. >> state of ohio representative, kristen boggs, lives two blocks from where golsby kidnapped reagan. could an astute detective with all the robberies maybe looked at a list of the parolees in the area, and connected the dots?

>> well, had that information been available to our law enforcement, yeah, i think that, that could -- that could have happened. >> after reagan's murder, boggs decided to investigate and, possibly, legislate. she discovered that gps monitors can be and sometimes are, set up to send alerts if an offender violates a curfew or moves into a restricted area. but in golsby's case, boggs says ohio's department of rehabilitation and correction, or drc, told her this. >> they put a gps monitor on him, but they didn't have any exclusionary zones affiliated with that monitor. they didn't have any curfews affiliated with that monitor. >> so, no geographic restrictions and no curfew programmed into it. what is the point of it? >> exactly. >> is part of it that it's supposed to be a deterrent of some kind? >> i think drc believed that placing a gps monitor on him

would curtail his criminal activity but it didn't. >> the reality is nobody is monitoring him electronically. not in real time. >> martin horn, the former commissioner of probation for new york city and a critic of gps monitors is not surprised by any of this. is this a false sense of security? >> oh, absolutely. it is not an electronic tether. all it is, is something that after the fact, will either tell me where you were or where you weren't. and even then, it is not foolproof. >> it's a great monday morning quarterback tool. >> yeah, and it's, also, i think, a tremendous liability for the government agencies that use them. because now, they are holding the bag. >> there are no national statistics on crimes committed by people wearing gps monitors. but we did our own search of news reports and found numerous cases over a two-year span. armed robberies, rapes, and more than a dozen homicides. for instance, a man in virginia allegedly murdered his cousin while wearing an ankle monitor. a similar story, in houston,

where a parolee, with a monitor murdered his mother. and, in california, a gps tracked sex offender pled guilty to multiple sex crimes on a hiking trail. >> i think the important question is whether this type of technological solution makes us safer. and in my experience and based on my study, i don't see that it does. >> ohio's drc declined our request for an interview, citing pending litigation. the tokes family sued for wrongful death but the case was dismissed. >> they had this monster in their grasp and their control, and they let him slip through. >> to know that this continues to go on and will continue to go on until they change, the way the system currently is, it's maddening. and you can't put a price tag on innocent, human life. you just can't. >> this pain is something i can't even put into words.

>> toby and lisa have teamed up with kristen boggs and other ohio lawmakers to introduce a bill called the reagan tokes act. the law would mandate that restrictions are placed on every gps monitor. and make it easier for police to see monitor information. it would also allow the sentences of badly-behaving prisoners, like brian golsby, to be extended. the sentencing part of the bill was signed into law in 2018. the part that deals with gps monitors is pending. the ohio governor has also directed the drc to make changes, after a task force recommended many of the same reforms the family has been pushing. >> i refuse to let that one night define my daughter, reagan. >> toby, lisa, and makenzie, are also working hard to create a legacy for reagan that honors her bright spirit. >> whatever you have to do to strike and attack. >> they are promoting self-defense training for

women. they want to see classes, like these, taught at colleges and high schools, nationwide. >> reagan will, undoubtedly, save lives. >> yeah. >> she already has. >> absolutely. >> and they're holding rallies and raising money for a foundation that will give annual scholarships, in reagan's name. >> she would be so excited to know that she is sending people to college. especially, ohio state. >> we would like to take a moment to remember. >> on a blue sky, spring day, the girl who wanted so badly to go to ohio state did get to graduate. reagan's family accepted a posthumous degree, on her behalf. >> i, hereby, confirm the degree, bachelor of arts, upon reagan delaney tokes. >> she got a standing ovation that she deserved. >> and that spot. that lonely park, where reagan lost her life, that's been transformed. it's now a tranquility garden in her memory. >> i choose to believe, in my

heart, that her presence is still here. her legacy gets to be that she still is here in this world, changing this world and making a difference. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline. " i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline. " >> i just got home, and i opened the door, is my husband's dead on the floor. >> a husband and father suddenly gone. >> did he hit his head? did he have a heart attack? >> i said something's wrong, something's wrong. >> there was a lot of blood. >> then they found the bullets. he'd been shot with two different guns. >> two guns, does that mean two shooters? >> one could argue that. >> detectives would unravel a staggering plan of stone cold evil.