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Samuel Legg pleads not guilty at arraignment for 1992 murder of Sharon Kedzierski

Jury trial set to begin in April
Posted at 2:25 PM, Feb 26, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-10 15:43:08-04

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Samuel Legg, the Arizona man who Ohio Attorney General calls a "serial killer," was arraigned Tuesday in a Mahoning County court on murder charges for the 1992 slaying of Sharon Lynn Kedzierski.

Legg is charged with three counts of aggravated murder and one count of murder. He pleaded not guilty to all four counts.

On April 9, 1992, a woman’s body was found at a truck stop on I-80 near Route 46 in Austintown, according to the Ohio Attorney General. The woman was listed as a Jane Doe for more than two decades after her body was found just west of Youngstown.

RELATED: Man accused of 1997 Medina rape has now been charged with 1992 Austintown murder

Legg was a long-haul truck driver at the time of the murder.

Authorities say the woman died from multiple blunt force injuries to the head, face and chest. Her official cause of death is listed as asphyxiation.

According to an article from The Vindicator in 2013, authorities said the woman appeared to have been killed at a different location and then dumped in the woods near the truck stop. She was found by a woman walking her dog. Police at the time told the paper that the woman’s body had been there for around a day, possibly two before she was found.

It wouldn’t be until February 2013 when authorities would positively identify the body as Kedzierski.

RELATED: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost calls Samuel Legg a serial killer

On the same day Legg was indicted on murder charges in connection with Kedzierski's death, he was also indicted on rape charges in a cold case.

Authorities say the rape case happened in 1997 and up until recently, went unsolved. Legg was linked through DNA to the rape as well as four homicide cases, according to the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

RELATED: DNA links man to 1997 Medina County cold case rape, 4 homicides

Legg is currently being held in jail without bond. His jury trial is scheduled to start on April 29.

RELATED: What we know about the alleged killer and rapist Samuel Legg