A 31-year-old Columbus woman was stabbed to death and a second woman was left with life-threatening injuries during an attack on the 1800 block of Twin Lakes Drive in Marion County late Wednesday night, and the man accused of killing her is now facing a murder charge after being tracked down in a neighboring county.
Marion County Sheriff's Office deputies were dispatched to the scene at approximately 9:27 p.m. on August 19, according to 95.3 WKTN. Arriving deputies found one victim already dead and another critically wounded, per the station's report. Authorities identified the woman who died at the scene as Taylor Rae Coleman of Columbus, according to Marion County Now.
The surviving victim, a 50-year-old woman, received emergency treatment from Marion Township Fire Department personnel at the scene before being taken to Marion General Hospital and then airlifted to a Columbus hospital, per the same account. As reported by 10TV WBNS, her identity was withheld immediately following the attack.
Suspect Fled to Delaware County Before Capture
The man accused in the killing was identified as 41-year-old Donald Alan Adams of Columbus, who fled the Twin Lakes Drive property before Delaware City Police apprehended him in neighboring Delaware County, the outlet notes. Adams was then returned to Marion County authorities to face charges. He has been booked into the Marion-Hardin Multi-County Jail, the regional detention facility that houses pre-trial detainees for both Marion and Hardin counties, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
Adams is currently held on one count of murder, and the sheriff's office said additional charges are expected once the Marion County Prosecutor's Office completes its review of the investigation, per 10TV. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 2903.02, murder is defined as purposefully causing another person's death, or causing death while committing a violent first- or second-degree felony, and it carries a mandatory indefinite sentence of 15 years to life under Section 2929.02, according to the Ohio General Assembly. Prosecutors must establish intent or an underlying violent felony to sustain the charge.
Multiple Agencies Responded Across County Lines
The response and investigation drew on a wide swath of local and state law enforcement. The Marion City Police Department, Marion Township Fire Department, Delaware City Police Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Crime Scene Unit all assisted alongside the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, according to Marion County Now. The involvement of agencies spanning municipal, county, and state jurisdictions reflects both the suspect's flight across county lines and the technical demands of processing the crime scene.
The motive behind the attack, and the relationship between Adams and the two women, has not been disclosed. Those details remain open questions as the investigation continues.
A Rare Level of Violence for Marion County
Fatal stabbings remain unusual in Marion County. The city recorded zero homicides during the first half of 2024, part of a longer decline in violent crime that saw aggravated and felonious assaults drop from 46 reported cases in 2015 to 27 by 2021, according to police department annual reports cited by Marion County Now in earlier coverage. Federal mortality data compiled by the National Institutes of Health shows Marion County averaged just three homicides per year between 2020 and 2024, translating to an age-adjusted rate of 5.7 per 100,000 residents — below both Ohio's statewide rate of 8.5 per 100,000 and the national rate of 7.6 per 100,000 during that same period.
