Guy Renda, a 42-year-old man from Belpre, Ohio, died on June 17, 2023. His death was one of four homicides committed by the same perpetrator over a six-month period in the Columbus area.
The case began to take shape after the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force received information in 2023 that a woman was meeting men for sex in northeast Columbus, drugging them with fentanyl, and then stealing their possessions.
Columbus Division of Police homicide detectives and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation joined the case and connected a suspect, Rebecca Auborn, to a series of overdoses and robberies.
Investigators determined that between December 2022 and June 2023, Auborn was responsible for five separate overdose incidents. The first victim, a 61-year-old man, survived his encounter on December 13, 2022. However, four men who followed did not. The men who died were Joseph Crumpler, 30, on January 15, 2023; Robert Snoke, 54, on April 1, 2023; Wayne Akin in April 2023; and finally, Guy Renda.
Auborn was arrested and charged in connection with all five incidents. During legal proceedings, her lawyers stated that she was addicted to fentanyl herself and was being sold for sex by a man described as her handler and pimp. The prosecution did not dispute these facts but did not accept them as an excuse for her actions. In December 2023, Rebecca Auborn pleaded guilty to four counts of murder and one count of felonious assault. She was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences and will be eligible for parole after 60 years.
