Samuel Legg found responsible for 1997 Westfield Township rape

MEDINA — A judgment finding Samuel Legg III responsible for two rape offenses has been handed down stemming from a 1997 incident in Medina County. Legg had been accused of raping a 17-year-old girl 24 years ago while driving her home from a Westfield Township truck stop, charges that didn't hold up in the offense's immediate aftermath due to prosecution deeming the victim not credible. At that time, Legg was working for a Hinckley Township trucking company. Investigation of the cold case by Medina County Prosecutor Forrest Thompson in 2019 found that Legg had given the teenage girl a ride to Cleveland to see her boyfriend at Case Western Reserve University, drugged her and raped her in the cab of his truck on the return trip to her home in Lexington, Ohio. On Friday, Medina County Common Pleas Judge Joyce Kimbler ruled that Legg had committed the crime and ordered that he remain in Columbus' Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare facility, where he's been held since 2019 as the result of being declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. Kimbler's ruling followed testimony earlier in the month from Legg's 1997 victim. The term "guilty" has not been applied to Legg in regard to the new Medina County ruling. Kimbler stated that her court found "by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant has committed the offenses charged in the indictment, namely two counts of rape." Officials including defense lawyer David Sheldon concurred that "found responsible" was fitting due to the fact that Legg has never actually stood trial on those charges. Thompson believes this case demonstrates why advancements in forensic science and technology make Ohio's statute of limitations on rape obsolete. "You could say this is justice delayed," he said Tuesday. "When I first got back in touch with (the 1997 victim), I was expecting her to hang up the phone on me. She was never told the case was closed years ago. She just never heard about it again. Through all of this, she stuck to her guns, was willing to share her story, got on the witness stand and did everything she needed to do, which is tell the truth." Following the filing of charges in 2019, Thompson and Medina County Sheriff's Detective Kevin Ross traveled to Arizona to arrest Legg and collect a sample of his DNA before bringing him back to Ohio for court proceedings. "I told (the 1997 victim) that through it all, she's not only come through for herself but also for these other families out there," Thompson said. "She's given them more of a sense of closure after dealing with something unimaginable. I told her during the process that she was the only victim left alive to tell her story and provide this help. I'm so proud of her. She has been so strong through all of this, the entire way through." Legg is also a suspect in the 1990 murder of his stepdaughter, Angela Hicks. He previously was married to an Elyria woman who was Hicks' mother. Elyria police have questioned him about the murder since his arrest, but no charges have been filed. He's faced additional charges for the murder of Sharon Kedzierski, whose body was found on April 9, 1992, at an Austintown truck stop. Investigators determined that she died from blunt force trauma but were unable to identify her at the time, which led to a Jane Doe classification for more than two decades. Legg was indicted by a Wood County grand jury in 2020 on two counts of aggravated murder and single counts of murder, rape and kidnapping in connection with the slaying of Victoria Collins, 27, whose nude body was found Dec. 20, 1996, behind the Union 76 truck stop on Route 420, near exit 71 of the Ohio Turnpike. Julie Konkol, 39, was found dead after apparent strangulation in 1997 in Illinois. The case went cold until 2006, when the Combined DNA Index System linked physical evidence from an unknown male to the crime. Further analysis of that DNA in 2018 led investigators to Legg. Ensuing rulings across listed jurisdictions have spelled an effective lifetime placement in the Columbus mental health facility for Legg, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. It's also been determined that his mental capacity cannot be restored to the point of ability to stand trial. In mid-October, the Medina County Prosecutor's Office proceeded with a hearing for adjudication on the rape charge and placement in the mental health facility that also takes the Medina County case into consideration. Kimbler ordered that Legg remain detained for treatment for 10 years, the maximum sentence for a felony 1 rape when the offense was committed in 1997. "We found out about these two witnesses who weren't even interviewed (in 1997)," Thompson said. "It was the woman who went with her to the police department to report the rape right after it happened and her boyfriend from that time period. The boyfriend told us, 'I've been waiting for this call for 20 years.' That assistance and everything (the victim) has helped us with is what made this possible. She is a very, very strong person." Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330) 721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.