Rebecca Auborn must serve 60 years before she can seek parole, the judge ruled.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio judge sentenced Rebecca Auborn to four consecutive life prison terms Thursday, ordering her to serve at least 60 years behind bars for killing four men with fentanyl during robberies tied to meetups for sex, authorities said.
The sentence ends a case that shook Columbus and drew statewide attention as investigators described a pattern: men were targeted, drugged and robbed, and four of them never woke up. Prosecutors said Auborn used fentanyl in the attacks and took valuables that included cars and credit cards. Her punishment also includes a separate sentence for an additional man who survived an overdose attempt, a count Auborn admitted as part of a plea deal.
Auborn, 36, stood in Franklin County court as relatives of the victims filled the room, some clutching photos and wearing somber looks as they waited to speak. The judge imposed four life sentences for murder and made them run one after another, a structure that blocks any chance of parole until Auborn serves 60 years. The court also issued a fifth sentence for felonious assault linked to the surviving victim, but that term will be served at the same time as the murder sentences, not added on top of them.
The men who died were Wayne Akin, Robert Snoke, Joseph Crumpler and Guy Renda Jr., authorities said. Their deaths were part of five overdose incidents investigators tied to Auborn from late 2022 into mid-2023, with four ending in death. In court, family members described grief that has stretched across years and birthdays and holidays. “There is no punishment that is going to be sufficient enough to bring him back,” Mark Crumpler said of his brother Joseph, who died in January 2023. He told the court the family came seeking justice even while knowing no sentence could undo what happened.
One victim’s family focused on how the case changed the way they see ordinary days. Wayne Akin died in April 2023 and was found dead on his 64th birthday, his daughter, Christyn Akin, said. Addressing Auborn directly, she described her father as kind and giving and said he was not a threat to anyone. Her words landed in a quiet courtroom, broken only by sniffles and the scrape of chairs. The case, relatives said, was not only about stolen property but about stolen time, and about what it means to learn that a loved one’s final hours were spent with a stranger who then walked away.
When it was her turn to speak, Auborn offered an apology and described a life she said was spiraling during the period of the crimes. She told the court she was not the same person she had been then, saying she was a heavy drug user and was being sexually exploited when the overdoses happened. Auborn said she prays daily for the men who died and for their families. “I take full accountability and responsibility for my actions,” she said, adding that she respected the judge’s decision. The apology became a key moment in the hearing because it was one of the few times the families heard directly from the person who admitted causing the deaths.
After the hearing, Christyn Akin said the apology mattered to her, even as she backed the long prison sentence. She said she would have been upset if Auborn had stayed silent, and she added that she believed Auborn’s words. The family, she said, wanted two things most: for Auborn to accept responsibility and for the court to impose a life sentence. When the judge announced the structure of the punishment, Akin said she felt relief and called the decision what the family had hoped for.
Investigators and state officials have described the crimes as calculated and repeated. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the sentence reflected what he called a disregard for life and a pattern of killing “repeatedly.” The case began with information shared with the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, which authorities said learned that a sex worker was meeting men in northeast Columbus, giving them drugs and then stealing their belongings. That tip helped start an investigation that later linked Auborn to multiple overdoses and robberies.
The legal path to Thursday’s sentencing included a major shift in Auborn’s stance. She was indicted in 2023 and first pleaded not guilty, then later changed her plea. In December, she pleaded guilty to four counts of murder and one count of felonious assault tied to the survivor. As part of the agreement, other charges were dismissed, including counts tied to trafficking and involuntary manslaughter. Even with those counts dropped, the guilty plea still carried mandatory life sentences for each murder count under Ohio law, leaving the key question at sentencing focused on whether the judge would stack the life terms or run them at the same time.
By ordering consecutive life terms, the judge ensured Auborn will spend decades in prison even if she remains eligible to seek parole one day. Each murder count carries the possibility of parole after 15 years, but consecutive sentences mean those waiting periods add up. The final result, a 60-year minimum, places parole eligibility far in the future, a point repeatedly emphasized by families who said they wanted a punishment that matched the scale of the loss.
Authorities said the crimes spanned roughly six months, with the first known incident in December 2022 and the final fatal overdose in June 2023. Investigators said the pattern involved arranging meetings, providing drugs that included fentanyl and then taking property. The victims’ families said they were left to piece together a timeline from police updates and court filings, trying to understand how quickly the encounters turned deadly and how long their loved ones may have been alone. In statements after court, relatives described the weight of hearing the details repeated in open court, and the conflicting feelings of anger, sadness and exhaustion that can follow a long case.
Even with a sentence in place, some questions remain. Authorities have said the investigation was driven by reports of repeated drugging and robbery, and they have previously indicated they hoped any additional victims or witnesses would come forward. The sentencing hearing did not include new charges, and no further court dates were announced for Auborn. Still, officials framed Thursday’s outcome as a milestone for the families and for investigators who spent months connecting overdoses, hotel and motel visits, and stolen property reports into a single case.
For the families, the day ended with a kind of closing that still felt incomplete. Some hugged in the courthouse hallway; others left quickly, heads down, saying they wanted quiet. The names of the men were read again as the hearing ended, and relatives said that, for them, the case was always about keeping those names from being reduced to a headline. They said the sentence cannot restore what was taken, but it can keep Auborn from hurting anyone else in the same way for a very long time.
With the sentence now entered, Auborn will be taken into the state prison system to begin serving the terms, and the earliest parole eligibility date will come only after 60 years are served. The court record reflects four murder convictions and one felonious assault conviction, with no additional hearings scheduled in the case.
Author note: Last updated February 20, 2026.