Kriti Mehrotra
It was October 4, 1982, when the entire community of Logan, Ohio, was left baffled to the core as two teenagers suddenly went missing, never to be heard from or seen alive again. However, what’s worse is that their remains were recovered almost two weeks later, only for a family member to then be accused of murder. This much has even been explored in ID’s ‘The Killer in the Corn,’ along with the fact that it was two strangers who came forward in 2008 to admit that they were responsible for this entire tragic ordeal.
Annette Cooper and Todd Schultz Went Missing For Days Before Their Remains Were Found
Margaret Annette Cooper was born on June 11, 1964, to Sarah and Ben McClellan “Mac” Cooper in Xenia in Greene County, Ohio. Yet, in the early 1970s, after her parents separated and her mother found love again in Dale Johnson, the couple relocated to a farm outside Logan, Ohio, alongside Sarah’s two daughters, Annette and Michelle. Little did they know that everything would turn upside down for them in October 1982 when 18-year-old Annette and her 19-year-old fiancé, Todd Leroy Schultz, would disappear without a trace. These proud Hocking College students, and a recently engaged couple, had their whole lives ahead of them, but it was snatched away in the blink of an eye.
Annette was a beauty pageant contestant, hobbyist horsewoman, and aspiring computer programmer, whereas Todd (born June 26, 1963) was a quirky young man with ambitious dreams of his own. According to records, the couple had fought and quickly made up on October 4, 1982, following which they were seen walking together on the railroad tracks before crossing a trestle bridge over the Hocking River. As per reports, they were last seen at the end of Gallagher Avenue and Front Street, and when they didn’t return home, Todd’s mother, Sandra, and eldest brother, Greg, grew worried.
Ultimately, Annette and Todd were officially reported missing, and an extensive search for them was conducted, only for both families’ worst fears to be realized precisely 10 days later on October 14. That’s when their torsos were found floating in the Hocking River, and around two days later, the rest of their remains were recovered from a shallow grave in a cornfield between the river and the tracks. It was then positively ascertained that both Annette and Todd had been shot to death before being dismembered. Thus, of course, their manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Annette Cooper’s Stepfather Was Initially Believed to be the Killer
As per records, Annette and Todd were allegedly living together at the latter’s childhood home, which his mother once claimed was owing to her being allegedly abused by her stepfather, Dale Johnson. In fact, when Sandra contacted Annette’s mother, Sarah, on the morning of October 5 to tell her that the kids hadn’t returned home, her response to being asked why the young girl was living with her was “because Dale can’t keep his hands off her.” She made allegations of sexual abuse and molestation, which were backed as rumors by many others, but Dale, Sarah, and Michelle all vehemently denied it.
As if that’s not enough, Sandra even made it clear that Dale had come over on the morning of October 9 before the kids’ remains were found, but he was already talking about them as if they had passed. According to her accounts, he had come by their household to ask for Annette’s clothing and belongings, and when Sandra said no, he replied, “That’s all her mom has to remember her by.” In fact, Todd’s brother also corroborated this incident, stating he thought it was weird that he had already been talking about them in the past tense when everyone was holding on to the belief that they were only missing.
With all this, as well as the hypothesis that Dale killed both Annette and Todd in a fit of rage over not being able to have his stepdaughter, he was arrested for murder in September 1983. There were also reports indicating that Dale was opposed to the couple’s relationship from the get-go, so the prosecutors argued he had followed the couple, kidnapped them, and killed them at his mobile home ten miles outside of town. They accused him of butchering the teens and carting them to be disposed of, so following three weeks of trial, he was found guilty of two counts of murder and sentenced to death by electric chair.
Annette Cooper and Todd Schultz’s Real Killers Were Convicted in 2008
Although Dale Johnson was sentenced to death in March 1984, with his execution also scheduled for October 4, 1984, things took a turn when a stay was ordered in June 1984. The case against him was always largely circumstantial, but it subsequently came to light that it was actually built on rumors, a disputed footprint expert, as well as key eyewitness testimony obtained through hypnosis. Therefore, in October 1988, his conviction was tossed, and a retrial was ordered based on evidence that the prosecution had violated his civil rights by using improper methods, allowing testimony that never should have been admitted, and withholding possible exculpatory evidence.
In the end, in 1990, the Franklin County Court of Appeals ruled that much of the evidence presented in Dale’s first trial could not be used in his second one, so the prosecutors dismissed the case against him. He was released from behind bars in May of the same year, but he continued to live under the dark cloud of suspicion for years as he wasn’t officially cleared in any manner. He did try to file a wrongful conviction and imprisonment claim early on, but it was denied in 1993 – it was only after Annette and Todd’s real killers came to light that he was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
It was September 2008 when two men came forward to take responsibility for Annette and Todd’s case, resulting in them being arrested for the same crime not long after. While Chester McKnight confessed to killing the teens to cover up his crime of rape or intended rape, Kenneth Linscott confessed to being involved in the dismemberment and disposal of the remains. Their confessions were backed by a polygraph taken by the former as well as actual physical evidence in the form of a blood-covered item that had been recorded from the scene all those years ago. So, finally, with their ensuing plea deals, Dale was officially declared innocent in 2012, and he received $775,000 from the state of Ohio in 2020.
While Chester McKnight Remains Behind Bars, Kenneth Linscott Has Passed Away
When 50-year-old Chester and 47-year-old Kenneth were arrested for Annette and Todd’s double homicide in early September 2008, they were both charged with two counts of aggravated murder. The latter was a father of four who was actually taken into custody from his Logan home, but the former was already incarcerated at the Madison Correctional Institution in London, Ohio. Chester was serving 12½ years on his 2005 convictions for multiple counts of attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, pandering obscenity involving minors, pandering sexual material involving minors, and importuning. So, to seemingly avoid further drawing out this ordeal, they both confessed.
It was in December 2008 that Chester pled guilty to two counts of murder so as to avoid the death penalty, following which he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. On the other hand, Kenneth pled guilty to misdemeanor abuse of a corpse in June 2009, for which he received time served (6 months) and was subsequently released. Therefore, today, at the age of 67, the convicted killer remains incarcerated at the Marion Correctional Institution.
As for Kenneth, from what we can tell, he returned to his home and his family after his release, trying to do his best to continue living life to the best of his abilities. However, things changed on November 25, 2013, as he passed away at the Hocking Valley Community Hospital at the age of 52 – his precise cause of death has never been made public. We should mention that he is preceded in death by his parents, a brother, and a daughter named Betty Jo Stevens, but he lives on in the hearts of his 3 sisters, son Kenneth Linscott Jr., daughter Judy Stump, daughter Jessica Gang, as well as several grandchildren.
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