Elyria Chronicle-Telegram | Scott Mahoney and Bob Finnan
ELYRIA — The arrest of accused rapist Samuel Legg III in Medina County has prompted police in Elyria to reopen the 29-year-old cold case of the homicide of his 14-year-old stepdaughter, Angela Hicks.
Legg, 49, appeared Thursday before Medina County Common Pleas Court Judge Joyce Kimbler to be arraigned on two counts of rape in connection with a 22-year-old cold case revived by advances in DNA testing.
It’s alleged that Legg raped a 17-year-old girl Sept. 7, 1997, after he picked her up at a truck stop in Medina County. He is being held in Medina County Jail on $1 million bond and the judge ordered that Legg, a former long-haul truck driver with what authorities say is a history of mental illness, be evaluated to determine if he is competent to stand trial.
Prosecutors used familial DNA testing to link to Legg to the rape and brought him back to the area last month from the group home he was living at in Chandler, Arizona.
Authorities said his DNA has been linked to four homicide victims — three in Ohio and one in Illinois. Those cases, according to timelines from authorities, happened before and after the Medina County rape…
The familial match is not as definitive as a full DNA workup, but it’s a very useful tool in trying to identify an unknown suspect, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Wednesday.
“The Medina case gave us the key to unlock the identity,” Yost said.