Suspect in Connecticut cold case arrested; found dead in prison cell.

A Connecticut man, recently apprehended in connection with a decades-old murder case, was found unresponsive in his prison cell over the weekend. George Legere, 77, was declared deceased at a local hospital around 12:15 a.m. on Saturday, shortly after he was discovered at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, Connecticut. The cause of his death has not been disclosed and is currently under investigation by both the Corrections Department and Connecticut State Police.

Legere was arrested in September 2025 for the murder of 21-year-old Janet Couture, who was found dead in her apartment on Cannon Road in Mayberry Village on October 13, 1973. Couture had been brutally stabbed, with police indicating that an assailant gained entry by climbing through a window while she was home alone. Although Legere had been identified as a suspect shortly after the murder, law enforcement lacked sufficient evidence to formally charge him at that time, leading the case to grow cold over the years.

A significant breakthrough occurred in 2021 when Legere was taken into custody by Avon police for an unrelated kidnapping and sexual assault case from 1984. His incarceration in Massachusetts on an unrelated charge since 2019 allowed authorities to obtain his DNA, which ultimately matched a sample in a national database. This match was pivotal in linking Legere to Couture’s murder and reignited interest in the cold case.

While serving a 25-year prison sentence for the crimes committed in the 1984 case, Legere was facing charges associated with Couture’s slaying. His death comes at a time when the investigation into Couture’s murder was progressing, raising questions about potential further developments in this long-unsolved case.

As the investigation into Legere’s cause of death continues, officials and community members alike are left to ponder the implications of this sudden turn of events. The case remains a painful reminder of unresolved tragedies that often linger within communities, highlighting the complexities of justice that can evolve many years after the initial crime.

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