Competency hearing held for accused serial killer, rapist Samuel Legg

MEDINA — Accused serial killer and rapist Samuel Legg III, who is facing charges in Medina, possibly in Elyria and in Youngstown, was ordered to undergo further psychological treatment in hopes he could one day stand trial.Judge Joyce V. Kimbler said Friday at a competency hearing she wants to find out if Legg can assist in his own defense.A doctor hired by the Medina County Common Pleas Court recommended Legg undergo further psychological treatment at Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare in Northfield for not more than four months. Legg has suffered from schizophrenia and was living in a group home in Arizona, where he was arrested in February and extradited to Ohio.After four months, Legg is expected to return to court to determine if he can stand trial for the rape of a 17-year-old girl on Sept. 7, 1997. Legg was not prosecuted at the time for the case as then prosecutor Dean Holman deemed the evidence to be too weak.Current Prosecutor S. Forrest Thompson caught a break in the case from advanced DNA testing and a grand jury indicted Legg in February on a rape charge. The alleged rape had occurred at a truck stop in Westfield Township after the girl, now 40, was hitchhiking.Legg was an independent truck driver for a company in Hinckley at the time."I remain confident that he will stand trial," Thompson said Friday.He said he was not surprised by the judge's ruling although he argued that he believed Legg is competent to stand trial."He will be back in court in September to determine competency," Thompson said.Legg's DNA has been linked to four homicide cases in Ohio and Illinois, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has said. Those killings occurred before and after the rape in Medina County.Legg also linked is suspected in the murder of his stepdaughter, Angela Hicks, in 1990. He previously was married to an Elyria woman who was Hicks' mother.Elyria police questioned Legg about the murder, but no charges have been filed.Angela's best friend, Nikki Myers, said she believes Legg may be the person responsible for her friend's death."I have to see this through," Myers said in February. "I have to do it for her. I've never stopped looking."Legg also was charged with the 1992 murder of Sharon Kedzierski, whose body was found at an Austintown truck stop. Legg is being asked to take another competency evaluation in Mahoning County.Contact reporter Bob Finnan at (330) 721-4049 or rfinnan@medina-gazette.com.