Nearly 13 years after a young woman was found dead inside a northeast Columbus home, prosecutors have charged a suspect after newly released 911 calls surfaced describing an alleged "sacrifice" plot. The calls and court records identify the victim as 22‑year‑old Daivena Clay, whose body was discovered on March 5, 2013. Authorities say the suspect, Breyon Bryant, is due back in Franklin County court next Wednesday.
911 calls describe alleged 'sacrifice' plot
In the newly public 911 audio, Clay’s mother tells dispatchers, "My son and his daughter, his baby's mother, tried to kill me in my home," and says that "the devil" told her son he had to "sacrifice" her. The recordings, published alongside related court records by WSYX/ABC6, led officers back to the house on the 1100 block of Wildwood Avenue.
How investigators say the case shifted
Columbus and Fairborn detectives say the long-running investigation picked up momentum after a December visit to Bryant’s Fairborn residence, when officers collected a DNA sample and, according to court records reviewed by the Dayton Daily News, his wife later told investigators he had confessed. Prosecutors say that interview, combined with follow-up testing, prompted renewed forensic work and ultimately the recent charges in Clay’s death.
2013 autopsy and early reporting
Contemporaneous reporting in 2013 described Clay’s body as naked and partially covered in a sheet, with duct tape over her eyes. The Franklin County coroner at the time listed asphyxiation from compression of the neck but ruled the manner of death undetermined, according to coverage that originally appeared in The Columbus Dispatch. Early investigators also looked at whether the death happened during a consensual sexual act.
Where the case stands now
In April 2025, a Greene County jury found Bryant guilty of three counts of felonious assault after he allegedly fired at undercover detectives during an attempted arrest, the Springfield News‑Sun reported. WSYX/ABC6 reports that Bryant was recently indicted in Franklin County on the murder charge tied to Clay’s death and is scheduled to appear in court next Wednesday.
Officials say the case remains under active investigation. Anyone with information about the 2013 killing can contact Columbus police or the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The BCI lists cold case tip information on the attorney general's website at Ohio Attorney General's BCI.
