Rebecca Auborn, a 33-year-old Ohio mother, has been indicted on multiple charges, including four counts of murder, for allegedly drugging and robbing men she met for sexual encounters.
The charges were announced by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who warned of the potential dangers of soliciting sex in Ohio.
Auborn is accused of carrying out these fatal attacks in Columbus during the first half of this year. In addition to the four murder charges, she is also implicated in a fifth incident that occurred in December, in which the victim survived an attempted overdose.
Yost, in his comments to the Columbus Dispatch, classified Auborn as a serial killer due to the pattern and timing of the killings. "For me, if you've got somebody that has a series of killings that are separated in time, they're a serial killer," Yost said. "We have the same MO here."
The investigation into Auborn began after an anonymous tip alerted authorities to a possible connection between several overdose deaths. The Columbus Division of Police and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation subsequently linked Auborn to multiple overdoses and robberies.
By September, Auborn had been indicted and pleaded not guilty to murder and drug-related charges in connection with the January death of Joseph Crumpler, 30. Court records obtained by the Dispatch reveal that Auborn admitted to Columbus police that she had laced a man's crack pipe with fentanyl after meeting him for sex. She reportedly confessed to knowing the man was overdosing, but chose to steal his vehicle and debit card instead of helping him.
Despite having no prior criminal record, Auborn now faces a litany of charges, including four counts of murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, five counts of aggravated robbery, five counts of felonious assault, five counts of corrupting another with drugs, one count of tampering with evidence, and four counts of trafficking in drugs. All of these charges are felonies.
Authorities suspect there may be additional victims and are currently reviewing records of similar overdose deaths. They are also encouraging anyone who survived a similar encounter to come forward, assuring them they will not face prosecution for soliciting sex. "We're interested in holding a killer accountable," Yost stated. "That's our focus."
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