Tavia Copley was a 24-year-old White woman described by her family as a loving mother with the biggest heart. She was devoted to her young son, who was about to turn two, and enjoyed her job at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Grove City. On the evening of September 13, 2023, Copley went to Double D's Pub on South High Street in Columbus, Ohio. According to a friend, she was there for a pre-birthday get-together, just two days before she would have turned 25.
While at the pub, Copley met
an acquaintance, 24-year-old Taya Mollette. Later that night, around 11:30 p.m., a physical altercation broke out among a group of people outside the establishment. In the midst of the confrontation, Mollette's 19-year-old brother, Joseph Bryan Howard, approached and fired a handgun into the group.
The gunfire struck Copley, Howard's sister Taya Mollette, and a man. Emergency responders arrived to find a chaotic scene. Copley was pronounced dead outside the bar at 11:46 p.m. Mollette, a mother of three who worked as a server at a local diner, was rushed to Grant Medical Center but died from her injuries at 12:29 a.m. The third victim was hospitalized and expected to recover.
Following the shooting, Howard fled Ohio, sparking a manhunt. Homicide investigators determined that after the initial shots, Howard had walked over to Copley as she lay on the ground and fired a second time. The search for him ended on September 25, 2023, when U.S. Marshals located and arrested him in Largo, Florida.
Howard was extradited to Columbus, where a Franklin County grand jury indicted him on a range of charges, including one count of aggravated murder, four counts of murder, attempted murder, and felonious assault. Joseph Howard was ultimately convicted of aggravated murder for the death of Tavia Copley and was sentenced to life in prison.
