Prosecutors have filed new indictments against two men in a 12-year-old Franklinton cold case, reviving a July 31, 2014 shooting that left one man dead and another fighting for his life. The latest charges mark the newest chapter in an investigation that has already seen multiple filings and plea deals over the past year.
Charges, arrests and what prosecutors allege
Robert Wilson and Dewayne Lewis were indicted this week on aggravated murder and murder counts tied to the July 31, 2014 shooting at Hawkes Avenue and West Broad Street. Lewis was taken into custody the same day the indictments were returned. Police had found two gunshot victims inside a car at that intersection and rushed them to the hospital, where one of them, 30-year-old Dionte Agee, died hours later.
The case has been working its way back through the courts. A grand jury reindicted Brandon Wade in March 2025, and Wade pleaded guilty earlier this week to two counts of involuntary manslaughter, his attorney Sam Shamansky told reporters, according to ABC6.
What happened on July 31, 2014
On the night of the shooting, Columbus police responded to the Hawkes Avenue and West Broad Street intersection and found two people inside a vehicle, both suffering from gunshot wounds. Officers had the victims transported in critical condition. One did not survive the day, and the case slid into “cold” status as investigators ran out of fresh leads.
The killing unfolded during a particularly violent stretch on Columbus’ near west side in the summer of 2014, a period detectives have repeatedly revisited as they try to connect dots among multiple shootings in the area.
Names in the record
Some of the individuals now named in the latest indictments have appeared before in court documents tied to near-west-side shootings from that same summer, suggesting detectives have been piecing together threads from overlapping investigations. An appellate ruling that reviewed earlier proceedings mentions defendants and events from that period, as detailed in the Ohio Court of Appeals decision.
Those records offer a window into how cold-case work often unfolds: slowly, with years of re-examining witness statements, cross-checking incidents and looking for patterns that did not stand out the first time around.
Legal next steps
Under Ohio law, aggravated murder carries a possible sentence of life in prison or the death penalty, and a murder conviction is punishable by an indefinite term of 15 years to life, according to the Ohio Revised Code. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are found guilty in court.
Arraignments and pretrial hearings for the new indictments will run through Franklin County’s court system. Lewis is currently in custody, while Wilson remains at large. Prosecutors have not publicly detailed what new evidence or developments led them to seek these latest charges, according to ABC6.
