A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for a kidnapping and brutal assault in Avon nearly 40 years ago.
George Legere, 75, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced last month in Hartford.
Legere was arrested in May 2021 after DNA identified him as the suspect in a kidnapping and rape of a woman in Avon on April 13, 1984. A jury convicted Legere of first-degree kidnapping in May.
According to prosecutors, the victim was getting out of her car in the parking lot of her apartment building in the early morning hours of April 13 when Legere forced her back into the car and then blindfolded her with tape and tied her arms.
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He drove her to an unknown location where he tied her to a tree, beat and raped her, according to prosecutors. Legere then left the victim in the car and fled the area, prosecutors said.
The victim was able to blow the vehicle's horn for help. When police arrived, she was still bound by the wrists and naked.
The case went cold until 2019 when Legere was incarcerated in Massachusetts on an unrelated matter. His DNA was taken as part of the arrest process and that DNA matched a sample in a national database.
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"Special thank you needs to be given to the Avon Police Department for the work they did and in keeping this case on their radar," State's Attorney Sharmese Walcott said in a statement. "It is unfortunate that the victim had to relive this horrific nightmare while testifying before a jury, but we sincerely appreciate her willingness to come forward and see the process through."
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