Mansfield Man Convicted in 2022 Hilltop Shooting of Teenage Runaway

Posted on 9/18/2025

Defendant: Jaheym Cheeks

A Mansfield man has been found guilty in the 2022 execution-style shooting of a 14-year-old runaway in a Columbus alley.
 
On Sept. 17, a Franklin County jury found Jaheym Cheeks, 23, guilty of all five felony charges, including Aggravated Murder and Kidnapping.  The jury also convicted the defendant of a firearm specification as to each charge.
 
Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 3.  The defendant faces a minimum term of life in prison with  parole eligibility after 26 years and a maximum term of life imprisonment without parole.
 
Case Background
 
Just before 8 a.m. on March 5, 2022, Columbus police were dispatched to the 300 block of South Terrace Avenue on the report of a possible shooting. When they arrived, officers located Brylan Butcher, 14, of Chillicothe, dead from a single gunshot wound to the head.
 
Video footage from the area captured the general movements of two men, now proven to be Cheeks and Butcher, along with co-Defendant Justice Vereen, who served as a lookout.  One video showed the murder from afar at 12:23 a.m.; specifically, two individuals close together, one dropping to the ground, and the other running back towards a vehicle.
 
Testimony produced at trial proved that Cheeks had deceived the victim that night and had planned the murder in advance.  To carry out his plan, Cheeks drove Butcher from Mansfield to Columbus. Three days after the murder, police stopped Cheeks and Vereen at a gas station in Tennessee.  Members of the Kimball police department in Tennessee recovered a gun a day later from that gas station where Vereen had discarded it.  Lab testing later proved it was the weapon that Cheeks used in the murder.
 
The Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office thanks the Columbus Division of Police, the Kimball, TN Police Department, and our own investigation team who spent countless hours working on this case. We’re also thankful for the civilians who stepped up and provided critical surveillance footage.