Man sentenced to life in prison for Liberty Twp. park killing

Tooson will spend at least 16 years in prison for role in murder of Cincinnati woman.

Credit: Butler County Jail

Credit: Butler County Jail

The last of three people charged in connection with a 2020 shooting death in Liberty Twp. was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Kaleb Tooson, 20, of Liberty Twp. was indicted for murder, aggravated robbery, felonious assault and grand theft motor vehicle for the fatal June 9, 2020, fatal shooting of Riah Milton.

In October, Tooson pled guilty to murder with a one-year gun specification. The remaining charges were dismissed.

Judge Dan Haughey sentence Tooson to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 16 years.

Co-defendant, Tyree Cross, 26, pleaded guilty to murder and received a 15 years to life sentence.

Tooson and Cross were two of three people charged in the slaying of the 25-year-old Cincinnati woman who detectives say was “lured” to a Liberty Twp. park so the suspects could steal her Camaro. A fight ensued, and Milton was shot to death in the 6000 block of Spruce Creek Drive. The suspects drove away in Milton’s car, which eventually was ditched in West Chester Twp.

Cross and Tooson had both been housed in the Butler County Jail on $1 million bonds since their arrests.

In July 2020, the third person involved — a 14-year-old Lakota East student — was sentenced to six months of home confinement for her role in the shooting. The juvenile had her six-month commitment to the Ohio Department of Youth Services suspended by Butler County Juvenile Court Judge Kathleen Romans. The girl pleaded true to the charge of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

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