Kriti Mehrotra
It was September 28, 1974, when everything turned upside down for the Nesson family as 15-year-old Lori Nelson suddenly disappeared, only to be found dead the following morning. She was actually located under a tarp nude with abrasions on different parts of her body, as chronicled in ‘Cold Case Files: Murder in the Midwest,’ yet her cause of death was still initially deemed accidental. To this day, her sister Toni can’t wrap her head around how anyone could have processed the scene and come to any other conclusion but homicide, yet she is glad justice was eventually served.
Toni Nesson Never Moved On From Her Sister’s Death
It was back in 1961 when Toni was born in Columbus, Ohio, as the younger of two daughters in a not-so-stable household, just to grow up feeling rather isolated. However, this wasn’t the case until her two years elder sister Lori was around – they were close, even with the latter being a genius of sorts as she juggled studies, extracurricular activities, plus chores. But alas, everything turned upside down around the mid-1960s as the parents divorced, and then on the evening of September 28, 1974, as then-15-year-old Lori was slain in a way no one could have ever imagined.
Toni still believes that if her sister was an only child, her mother wouldn’t have been able to carry on, but since she was still there and in need of her as a 13-year-old, she did her best. Though she wasn’t her preppy self and changed from a social butterfly to a homebody who only left home for work – nevertheless, she helped Toni move on, do well in school, date, and even attend college. After all, they had to gradually make peace with the fact they probably wouldn’t ever uncover the truth owing to Lori’s death being classified as accidental – they never could, but they tried.
Therefore, when an officer approached Toni in 2019 and said, “I’m not trying to open an old wound, but I need to talk to you about your sister,” all she could reply once she’d gathered herself was, “You can’t open something that’s never been closed.” Lori’s case hence reopened, giving her younger sister the courage to participate in productions delving into her unsolved case, inadvertently leading to the Adams family in Ohio. A family member had watched Lori’s case and contacted authorities, claiming it was eerily similar to Karen Adams’ 1975 murder, which then led to the official identification of the two perpetrators in December 2020.
Where is Toni Nesson Now?
When Toni was informed about the identities of her sister’s assaulters and killers, along with the fact they’d both actually died long ago, she asked if they could be exhumed because she wanted justice to be served – she was so angry she admittedly wanted to repeatedly drive over their bodies for some closure. But alas, she knew it wasn’t possible and gradually realized she’d have to find closure on her own, which she kind of did on her 60th birthday in 2021, right alongside her sister as well as her mother.
Toni traveled from her base in Greensboro, North Carolina, to Ohio, where they were buried side by side, and held a small memorial with the help of some of Lori’s old friends. There, she spoke to her family, stating, “Lori, these are the pictures of the men who assaulted and murdered you. These were the people that took your life and they are both dead. What we wanted to do here today was give you peace and give Mum peace, to know that we did everything we could to write a wrong.” She then set fire to the pictures of both men and watched their faces burn in a metal bucket.
As for Toni’s current standing, from what we can tell, she now goes by Toni Hastings and is happily settled in Greensboro, North Carolina, where she’s surrounded by a family of her own. She’s not married, yet she does have loved ones who care for her just as much as she does for them, helping her survive and thrive. We should mention she was struggling financially around the spring of 2023 as she’d recently undergone knee surgery and lost her job, but she appears to be doing much better these days. This travel enthusiast plus horse lover honestly just wants people to remember one thing after hearing her family’s tale: if you’ve lost a loved one and their case is now cold, do not lose hope because there is always somebody out there who’ll help you. To spread this message and to keep her sister’s memories alive is why she agrees to feature in different true-crime productions to this day.
Read More: Karen Adams’ Murder: Are Charles Webber and Robert Meyer Dead or Alive?
