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Far East Side woman held in shaking death of 16-month-old girl

By Matthew Marx
The Columbus Dispatch
Thursday, January 25, 2007

A Far East Side woman was in the Franklin County jail last night, accused of beating and shaking a 16-month-old girl to death last October.

Columbus police charged Beth A. Neff, 22, with murder, involuntary manslaughter and child endangering in the death of Kylee Tolber.

"Doctors were telling me it was the worst case of shaken-baby syndrome that they had ever seen," said Kylee's mother, Jessica Rowan, of Nashville, Tenn.

"There was a bruise all across the side of her face, a large burn mark on her calf and two nail marks dug into her shoulder," Rowan said.

Kylee had been on a court-ordered visitation with her father, Louis Tolber, of Columbus.

Around Oct. 25, Tolber left Kylee with Neff, his fiancee, at her home at 7871 Chapel Stone Rd., while he went to work, police said.

The toddler was taken to Children's Hospital later that day with a head injury.

Neff told investigators that Kylee had gone to sleep, then wouldn't wake up.

Tolber called Rowan in Nashville, telling her that Kylee had suffered a seizure from some sort of fever, Rowan said.

As Rowan and her mother, Lisa Rouse, drove to Columbus from Nashville, doctors told her to be prepared for the worst.

Kylee died Oct. 27, 10 minutes after doctors took her off a respirator, Rowan said.

"I just held her, and her little heart kept beating for 10 minutes for her mom," she said.

Rowan and Tolber were together two years while she lived in Columbus.

The charges brought relief to Kylee's mother and other relatives, who said they understood the need to build evidence in such cases, but it made the waiting no easier.

"We are so thrilled with this — finally an arrest," Rouse said.

"She was 16 months old. She weighed 23 pounds. People need to know that this horrendous thing happened and should never have happened," said Rowan's stepmother, Jeri Rowan, of Toledo.

A cousin of Neff's said she was surprised to learn of the charges and that it didn't sound like something she would do. She refused to comment otherwise.

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Bail set at $1.5 million for woman charged in baby’s death

The Columbus Dispatch
Thursday, January 25, 2007

A Blacklick woman charged with shaking a 16-month-old girl to death in October remains in jail pending her trial.

Bail for Beth A. Neff, 22, was set at $1.5 million today in Franklin County Municipal Court.

Neff, of 7871 Chapel Stone Rd., was baby-sitting her fiance's daughter, Kylee R. Tolber, on Oct. 25. Police say the girl's father, Louis Tolber, was out of the home when Neff beat and shook the girl, causing her death.

Neff has no criminal record, a prosecutor told Judge Michael T. Brandt during Neff's initial court appearance this morning. She is charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter and felony child endangering.