Rape suspect Samuel Legg charged with Illinois murder

In addition to charges of rape and murder in Ohio, Samuel Legg is now accused of a 1997 murder in Illinois. Legg, who remains at the Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare Hospital in Columbus pending a trial in Medina County on rape charges, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, relating to the homicide of a woman whose body was found at an abandoned truck stop in Lake County, Illinois, which borders Wisconsin. An Illinois judge has issued an arrest warrant for Legg and set bond at $3 million, according to a news release from the Lake County State's Attorney's Office. "We are so thankful we were able to take the first steps of providing justice to Julie Konkol and her family," Sheriff John Idleburg said in a statement. "We always strive to be the voice of those who cannot speak anymore and always stand with victims as their advocates to ensure they can achieve justice. Even if investigative leads on a case begin to go cold, we will never allow a victim's case to collect dust on a shelf. Our Cold Case Unit regularly looks at them in our relentless pursuit of justice for victims." Julie Konkol, 39, was found strangled. The case went cold until 2006, when the Combined DNA Index System linked DNA from an unknown male found in connection with Konkol's death to homicides in Wood and Mahoning counties. In 2018, that DNA was tested for familial connections, leading to Legg's arrest last year, related to a 1997 rape in Medina County. It's alleged that Legg raped a 17-year-old girl on Sept. 7, 1997, after he picked her up at a truck stop. Legg, a former long-haul truck driver with what authorities say is a history of mental illness, was extradited from the group home he was living at in Arizona to Medina County, where he was interviewed by law enforcement from Medina and Lorain counties, as well as Lake County, Illinois. Legg also faces charges in the 1992 murder of Sharon Kedzierski, who was found near a truck stop outside Youngstown, in Mahoning County. It has been nearly a year since a Medina County judge ruled Legg was not competent to assist in his own defense and ordered him held for treatment for up to one year. The hope is that with treatment, Legg can eventually stand trial. Medina County Prosecutor S. Forrest Thompson said Legg's local competency hearing will still take place at some point but that new charges in Illinois could lead to him being taken there for another court appearance. "I don't exactly know when our hearing will be," Thompson said. "As you can imagine, the court schedule has just been a mess because of COVID. We had gotten a heads up from the detectives in Illinois that these charges were coming, but we agreed to keep it confidential. The judge could still have said no." "Normally, if there's no chance someone is going to be restored to competency, they'll call and tell us, 'This is just not going to happen in a year or perhaps,'" he added. "We haven't gotten that call. I don't know what kind of treatment (Legg) is undergoing, but I hope it's successful because our victim needs justice. It's been denied for way too many years."