MEDINA, Ohio — An Arizona man, who has been extradited back to Northeast Ohio, appeared in Medina County Common Pleas Court for his arraignment on charges linked to a cold case rape from 1997.
RELATED: DNA links man to 1997 Medina County cold case rape, 4 homicides
Samuel W. Legg III, 50, was taken into custody and flown back ahead of his arraignment, where he faced a judge Thursday for two first-degree felony counts of rape.
The judge issued a competency hearing scheduled for April 14. No court dates will be scheduled until the results of the competency hearing is known.
Authorities say the rape case 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 four homicide cases, 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.
