Sierah Joughin and Josh Kolasinski: Murder, Trial, and Sierah’s Law

Sierah Joughin was a 20-year-old University of Toledo student abducted and murdered on July 19, 2016, while bicycling home in rural Fulton County, Ohio, after parting ways with her boyfriend of seven years, Josh Kolasinski. Kolasinski, then 22, was the last person to see her alive and was briefly investigated before being cleared; he later founded a nonprofit that teaches free self-defense classes in her memory. A neighbor named James Dean Worley, who already had a 1990 abduction conviction for a strikingly similar attack, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to death. The case also prompted Ohio to enact Sierah’s Law, which created a statewide violent offender database.

What Happened the Night Sierah Disappeared

On the evening of July 19, 2016, Joughin left Kolasinski’s house on her bicycle, heading to her grandparents’ home in Metamora. Kolasinski followed her part of the way on his motorcycle, recording two short videos of the ride. At her request, they split up a short distance from her house. “I kissed her, I told her I loved her and to text me when she got home,” he later recalled.¹

She never made it. When Kolasinski got no reply to his texts, he called her mother, Sheila Vaculik, and the two started searching by car.² A sheriff’s deputy soon found her purple bicycle abandoned in a cornfield about half a mile from her home. Nearby lay a screwdriver, men’s sunglasses, a sock, fuse boxes, motorcycle tracks, and broken, blood-streaked cornstalks. A local farmer handed in a bloodstained motorcycle helmet he had picked up along the roadside that same night.¹

Three days later, on July 22, a volunteer searcher spotted drag marks in a cornfield on County Road 7, roughly two miles from the Worley property. Joughin’s body lay in a shallow grave, face down, wrists handcuffed behind her back, ankles bound with duct tape, and feet tied to her hands. She had been gagged with a cone-shaped rubber dog toy secured by a shoelace.² The cause of death was asphyxia from the gag obstructing her airway.³

Why Josh Kolasinski Was Questioned and Cleared

Because Kolasinski was the last person to see Joughin alive and rode a motorcycle that could match tracks at the scene, detectives looked at him first. He cooperated fully, drew a map of their route, and consented to searches of his home, truck, and motorcycle. He was quickly ruled out. Her family told investigators he had taken good care of her.¹ The couple had been together for seven years and had talked about marriage, including looking at engagement rings.⁴

The Man Convicted of Her Murder

Attention turned to James Dean Worley, a 57-year-old man from nearby Delta. DNA on the motorcycle helmet and on a pair of sunglasses from the abduction site matched him. When police first questioned him, Worley volunteered that his motorcycle had broken down in the area and he had lost his helmet, screwdriver, sunglasses, and fuses there. Those items had not been publicly identified as recovered. He had fresh scratches on his arms and bruises on his legs.⁵

Cell phone data placed Worley at the abduction site for about two hours during the window Joughin went missing. A search warrant on his property turned up a barn containing a green crate of bondage clothing, restraints, white clothesline, latex gloves, and women’s lingerie. Behind straw bales were an inflated air mattress and a carpet-lined chest freezer buried in the barn floor with blood inside. Duct tape from the barn carried DNA from both Worley and Joughin. His vehicles held pepper spray, a ski mask, zip ties, duct tape, and work gloves.² He was arrested on July 22, 2016, initially on an abduction charge, with aggravated murder charges to follow.⁶

A Nearly Identical Attack in 1990

Worley had done this before. On July 4, 1990, he attacked 26-year-old Robin Gardner as she rode her bicycle on a rural road near Whitehouse in Lucas County. He struck her from behind with his pickup truck, hit her in the back of the head with a hammer, fracturing her skull, held a screwdriver to her throat, and told her, “Get in the truck or I’m going to kill you.”⁷ He had one of her wrists in handcuffs when a passing motorcyclist saw the struggle and intervened, letting her escape.³

Worley was convicted of abduction and sentenced to four to ten years. He served about three. Court records later surfaced in which Worley told a court-ordered therapist that he had “learned from each abduction he had done and the next one he was going to bury.”⁸ Twenty-six years later, that is what he did.

Trial, Death Sentence, and Current Status

Worley stood trial in Fulton County in March 2018. Kolasinski was the first witness called. He described the final ride, identified Joughin’s bicycle and clothing, and recounted his growing alarm when she failed to answer. Prosecutors played the videos he had recorded that night. Vaculik also testified.⁹

The state’s case rested on DNA linking Worley and Joughin to the abduction site, the barn, and the burial location; surveillance video of his motorcycle on the road that night; matching cell phone locations; and searches for violent sexual content on his computer in the year before the murder.¹⁰ Robin Gardner testified as the prosecution’s final witness, telling jurors, “I really thought I would die.”⁷ Prosecutors pointed to similarities between the two crimes: young women on bicycles in rural cornfield areas, skull fractures, and the same distinctive handcuffs.³

The defense argued the evidence was circumstantial, noting that Worley’s DNA was not on Joughin’s body, the gag, or the handcuffs, and that DNA under her fingernails matched an unknown male.¹¹ On March 27, 2018, the jury convicted Worley of aggravated murder with an escaping-detection specification, kidnapping, felonious assault, possessing criminal tools, tampering with evidence, and weapons under disability.¹² It unanimously recommended death. On April 18, 2018, Judge Jeffrey Robinson imposed the death sentence plus an additional 25 years and 11 months. Worley maintained his innocence at sentencing: “I am not the person I’ve been painted to be and I am not guilty of Sierah’s death.”¹³

On July 1, 2021, the Supreme Court of Ohio unanimously affirmed the convictions and sentence, calling the evidence of guilt “overwhelming.”² As of 2025, his execution has been stayed because of pending defense motions, and no new date is set.¹⁴

Sierah’s Law and the Ohio Violent Offender Database

The fact that Worley had served three years for a nearly identical attack and remained untracked drove a legislative push led by Vaculik and the Kolasinski family. Senate Bill 231, known as Sierah’s Law, passed the Ohio Senate 31-2 and the Ohio House 92-0, was signed on December 19, 2018, and took effect March 20, 2019.¹⁵

The law created Ohio’s Violent Offender Database, maintained by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. People convicted of qualifying violent felonies, including aggravated murder, murder, voluntary manslaughter, kidnapping, and second-degree felony abduction, must enroll in person at their county sheriff’s office within ten days of sentencing or release, re-enroll annually for ten years, and report address changes within three days. Failure to comply is a fifth-degree felony.¹⁶ In October 2021, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the requirements apply retroactively to offenders whose crimes predate the law.¹⁷ Nearly 6,000 offenders have been registered.¹⁸

In February 2026, State Senator Theresa Gavarone introduced Senate Bill 357 to expand the law. It would add second-degree felony strangulation as a qualifying offense, make database records available to the public online rather than only at sheriff’s offices, and improve law enforcement access through the LEADS system. The bill is before the Senate Judiciary Committee.¹⁹

What Josh Built in Her Memory

In the fall of 2016, months after Joughin’s death, Kolasinski founded Keeping Our Girls Safe (KOGS) to give women and girls free self-defense training. He serves as president, with his parents Bob and Nikki Kolasinski, his sister Mary Kolasinski-Troutman, and Sheila Vaculik on the board.²⁰

The classes run two hours: one hour on legal knowledge and situational awareness, followed by hands-on training from active law enforcement officers. KOGS has worked with schools, sports teams, and community groups across Fulton and Lucas counties, and Archbold High School made the program a requirement for all senior girls.²⁰²¹²² The Sierah Joughin Memorial Motorcycle Ride, held annually from 2016 through 2022, was its main fundraiser, raising roughly $40,000 a year, with 680 motorcycles joining the 2019 event.

A separate group, Justice for Sierah, administers scholarships in her name through the Greater Toledo Community Foundation and the University of Toledo, supporting graduating seniors at Evergreen High School and other Fulton County high schools along with M.B.A. students at the Neff College of Business.²³

Kolasinski has spoken often about his grief and his purpose. He described the loss as “very surreal” and said he takes life “day by day.” Of Sierah: “When she walked in the room, the room is just immediately was lifted up.” Of the work: “This is for her. I do it for her, and I just want to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”⁴

1
ABC News. Barn of Horrors: Investigators Recall Clues That Led to Body of Missing Woman
2
Supreme Court of Ohio. State v. Worley, 2021-Ohio-2207
3
Court News Ohio. State v. Worley Case Summary
4
13abc. Sierah Joughin’s Boyfriend Shares His Slain Girlfriend’s Memories
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CNN. Ohio Suspect in Sierah Joughin Killing
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Ohio Attorney General. Remains Believed to Be Missing Woman Found
7
NBC 24. James Worley to 1990 Abduction Survivor: Get in the Truck or I’m Going to Kill You
8
Teen Vogue. Sierah Joughin Murder Case
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NBC 24. Murder Trial Begins as Sierah Joughin’s Boyfriend, Mother Take the Stand
10
FindLaw. State v. Worley
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13abc. Prosecutors and Defense Give Jury Last Look at Case Against James Worley
12
Lenconnect. Guilty Verdict in Joughin Murder
13
NBC 24. Judge Sentences James Worley to Death
14
13abc. Execution of James Worley Halted
15
Justice for Sierah. Sierah’s Law
16
Supreme Court of Ohio. Senate Bill 231 Quick Reference Guide
17
Court News Ohio. State v. Hubbard and State v. Jarvis
18
Ohio Senate. Senator Gavarone Introduces Bill Safeguarding the Public From Violent Offenders
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Ohio Legislature. Senate Bill 357
20
The Village Reporter. KOGS Keeping Our Girls Safe Used by Archbold Coach for Students
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13abc. Keeping Our Girls Safe Looks to Replace Fundraising Lost Due to Coronavirus
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KOGS. Keeping Our Girls Safe
23
Justice for Sierah. Scholarship