Columbus homicides dropped by a considerable number in 2025, with the city finishing out the year with 84 homicides – a 33% decrease from 2024 and the lowest number of killings in Columbus since 2007.
The Dispatch tracks all homicides to get a sense of where violence is happening in the city and Franklin County and to remember the victims. This list is preliminary, and the number of homicides can change as law enforcement investigates each case and decides whether the killing was criminal, justified, accidental, or the result of suicide.
The Dispatch excludes fatal overdoses, accidents, suicides and hit-and-run deaths deemed unintentional by law enforcement. The information we compile comes from Columbus and Franklin County law enforcement, court records and interviews with family and loved ones of homicide victims and is subject to change.
One dead after Wedge Street shooting
Columbus police are trying to identify a person who was shot and killed May 30 on the city’s Northeast Side, according to a news release.
First reported by Dispatch news partner NBC4/WCMH-TV, officers responded to a report of a shooting at 1:35 p.m. in the 2700 block of Wedge Street, according to the release. They found a person suffering from a gunshot wound inside the front room of a home. Columbus Fire medics took the person to a local hospital, where they died at 2:11 p.m.
As of 10 p.m. May 30, investigators were still trying to confirm the victim’s identity, which they plan to release, pending notification of their family, according to the release.
Police said the gunshot wound was not self-inflicted but had no suspect information, according to NBC4/WCMH-TV. An preliminary investigation suggests the shooting may have been the result of an argument or fight within the home, according to the news release.
Man likely to be charged with murder in alcohol-related shooting
Columbus police say a 19-year-old man will likely be charged with murder after he told homicide detectives that he was “role playing” when he critically shot another man inside a home on the city’s Northwest Side.
Jacob Balyeat, of the Far West Side, is currently charged with felonious assault in the shooting, which happened in the early hours of May 20 in the 6400 block of Cranston Way.
According to a criminal complaint filed by city homicide detectives, police responded to that address on a report of a male who was suffering from a gunshot wound. The man, identified through court records as Daniel Sanders, was transferred to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital in extremely critical condition “with injuries that medical staff determined to be non-survivable,” according to the criminal complaint.
Witnesses told police that the shooting happened inside the residence. As police arrived, Balyeat fled the scene, jumping over a rear patio fence and running west through a courtyard. Police chased and arrested him in the 6400 block of Cobble Way, according to the complaint.
According to detectives, Balyeat knowingly shot Sanders while Balyeat said the two of them were “role playing.” Balyeat allegedly racked a single round into the chamber and shot Sanders, then placed the gun on a table and fled the scene, the complaint reads.
Columbus police also said that alcohol played a role in the shooting, but did not provide further details.
One dead, another injured in shooting on Columbus’ NE Side
Columbus police have identified a 22-year-old man killed in an early morning shooting on Columbus’ Northeast Side.
Officers responded at around 4:13 a.m. May 20 to the 4000 block of Migration Lane on a report of a shooting, according to a news release from the police division. On arrival, officers found Samir Mayes suffering from at least one gunshot wound, police said.
Mayes was transported to Mt. Carmel East Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:45 a.m., according to police. A second person also suffered a minor injury in the shooting and was not hospitalized police said.
Police have not publicly identified any suspects in the shooting. Anyone with information is asked to contact the police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477.
Columbus man, 29, charged with murder in blunt force trauma death of brother
A Columbus man has been charged with murder after police say he killed his brother and attempted to hide his body under a tarp and mulch, according to city homicide detectives.
Markus Yeanay, 29, of the city’s Northeast Side, is accused of killing 39-year-old Xavier Reynolds, who court records say was Yeanay’s brother. In addition to murder, Yeanay has also been charged with tampering with evidence, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records.
According to the complaint, Columbus police responded at around 9:54 p.m. May 11 to the 2400 block of Brocton Court on a report of a possible homicide. The 911 caller, identified in the complaint as the father of Yeanay and Reynolds, told officers he believed that Yeanay killed Reynolds, and that Reynolds’ body was lying on the side of the house. Officers went to the house and found Reynolds’ body wrapped in a rug and covered with tarp, and with mulch piled on top in what appeared to be an attempt to conceal the body, according to the complaint.
Medics with the Columbus Division of Fire arrived on scene and pronounced Reynolds dead at the scene at 10:07 p.m., according to the complaint.
Yeanay’s father told detectives that Yeanay has “anger issues” and that when the father got home, he noticed that Yeanay was acting strange in the driveway on the side of the house. He also saw Yeanay pouring mulch onto the pile, according to the complaint. When he approached the pile, he realized that it was a body.
The father confronted Yeanay and asked if it was Reynolds, the complaint states. Yeanay began crying and fled from the home on foot. The father called police and attempted to follow Yeanay, but lost sight of him in the woods, according to the complaint.
City homicide detectives arrived on scene and executed a search warrant at the home, where they found “a large amount of blood” inside the living room area and down the hallway to the bedroom. The detective said that there seemed to be so much blood that he believed that “homicidal violence” occurred at the home. Detectives also collected evidence from the trash cans on the side of the house, including discarded clothes and weapons that Yeanay possibly used to allegedly carry out the assault.
Yeanay was arrested on May 12 and is in custody at the Franklin County jail, according to jail records. He was ordered held in lieu of a $1 million bond, according to court records.
Authorities ask anyone with information to contact the Columbus police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or provide an anonymous tip to Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477.
Robbery led to fatal shooting at East Side gas station, police say
Two men were attempting to rob a third man when one of the suspects shot and killed him at a gas station on Columbus’ East Side, according to city homicide detectives.
Columbus police responded at 4:55 a.m. May 11 to a shooting in the parking lot of the Eagle Fuel Gas Station at 3851 E. Livingston Ave. On arrival, officers found Maceo Ve Aundreas Burton, 48, inside a vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds, according to a criminal complaint filed by homicide detectives.
Burton was transported to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to the complaint. Homicide detectives obtained video surveillance of the shooting and found that two males were robbing Burton when he was shot.
Detectives identified the vehicle used by the suspects and identified one of the suspects as 31-year-old Samuel Lovejoy of Columbus’ East Side. Police did not say if Lovejoy was the suspect who pulled the trigger.
Detectives said that Lovejoy was seen on surveillance video, and cell phone records placed him in the immediate area of the shooting. Lovejoy and the other suspect, who police have not publicly identified, drove away from the scene heading east on East Livingston Avenue, according to the complaint.
Lovejoy was arrested May 28 and slated into the Franklin County jail, according to Columbus police.
Three charged with aggravated murder in Far East Side shooting
Columbus police have identified a woman fatally shot after they say three men planned to kill her.
Nesya Casaleno, 26, was shot and killed on May 9 on Columbus’ Far East Side, according to a news release from Columbus police.
Three men, who police say were part of a “purposeful plan” to kill Casaleno, were arrested later that day.
Columbus Police report that they were called to a shooting at 8:20 a.m. where they found Casaleno on Elmsbury Court, located just north of Broad Street and west of Interstate 270.
Casaleno was transported to a local hospital where they were pronounced dead at 8:50 a.m.
Police arrested three people in connection with the incident: Renan Castro-Gil, 35; Jose Carlos-Martinez, 19; and Carlos Figueroa-Casro, 18.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in the Franklin County Municipal Court, detectives found that Casaleno had “a turbulent and violent relationship” with Castro-Gil. Figueroa-Castro told police that Castro-Gil offered him and Carlos-Martinez $3,000 each to shoot her, according to the affidavit.
Together, the men formulated a plan with staged vehicles at a location where they knew Casaleno would be, according to the affidavit.
Figueroa-Castro told police he was there when Carlos-Martinez shot Casaleno, according to the affidavit.
The three men were charged with aggravated murder and taken to the Franklin County jail.
Police are continuing to investigate the incident and asked that people call the homicide unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477 with any information.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Homicides in Columbus and Franklin County in May 2026
Reporting by Bailey Gallion, Anna Lynn Winfrey and Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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