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DNA links Arizona man to 1997 Ohio cold case rape, 4 homicides

Posted at 2:47 PM, Feb 13, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-14 19:29:08-05

CHANDLER, AZ — An Arizona man, who previously lived in the Cleveland area, has been extradited from the Valley back to northeast Ohio to face a judge for a cold case rape from 1997.

Samuel W. Legg, III was taken into custody in Chandler and flown back ahead of an arraignment scheduled for Thursday morning in Medina County Common Pleas Court.

The 50-year-old was indicted last month and has been charged with two first-degree felony counts of rape. Legg is currently being held in lieu of a $1 million bond.

Authorities say the rape case, involving a 17-year-old victim, happened in 1997 and up until recently, went unsolved.

Legg, who was a truck driver at that time, was linked through DNA to the rape as well as the murders of at least four women in Ohio and other states, according to the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

The specifics regarding the homicide cases have not been released. Legg has not been charged in connection with those cases.

“This case illustrates that the advancements in science, particularly with DNA testing, in conjunction with the increasing education of law enforcement in learning how to apply these advancements in the field has allowed us to find justice for victims of crime where it may have been lost in the past,” Medina County Prosecutor Forrest Thompson said.