That section of North High Street is probably the city's best known area for nightlight. It's also generally pretty safe. The area is frequently patrolled by Columbus Police as well as the Ohio Highway Patrol. Based on my 50+ hours of scanner listening a week, it is among the least likely places in the city for violent crime.
That area of North High (known as the Short North) is packed with high end businesses, restaurants and bars. Police should be able to easily track down security camera video of her movements.
Tokes was training to be a bartender on Wednesday night. I would imagine she wasn't walked to her car because she was getting out of work at 9:45 p.m. All the businesses around her were still open, so I think it is unlikely they would have worried about her making it to her car safely.
To drive home the point about how safe the area usually is from violent crime, of the 200+ homicides in Columbus over the last two years, none of them took place in the Short North.
In 2017, the majority of the city's homicides have occurred in West Columbus. It's very rare that we have a homicide that's unrelated to drugs, prostitution or a domestic situation.
