Murders of Annette Cooper and Todd Schultz
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On October 4, 1982, Annette Cooper, 18, and Todd Schultz, 19, both of Logan, Ohio, and who were engaged to one another, went missing. Their dismembered bodies were recovered two weeks later in the Hocking River and a cornfield in West Logan. Both had been shot before being dismembered.
Cooper's stepfather, Dale Johnston, was arrested in 1983, convicted, and sentenced to death by a three-judge panel in 1984. Johnston was later retried, found not guilty, and released from prison in 1990. In 2008, two other men, including Chester McKnight, confessed to the killings and dismemberments. In 2012, Johnston was declared innocent. In 2020, Johnston received a settlement of $775,000 from the state of Ohio.
Annette Cooper, her mother Sarah, sister Michelle, and stepfather Dale Johnston moved from Xenia, Ohio, to a farm outside Logan, Ohio, in the 1970s.[1] On October 4, 1982, Annette, a Hocking College student, went missing with Todd Schultz, to whom she was engaged.[2][3] Their torsos were recovered on October 14 from the Hocking River and their heads and limbs were found on October 16 in several shallow graves in a cornfield in West Logan, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) from where the couple had last been seen.[4][2][3][1] Both had been shot before being dismembered.[3]
Investigation and trials
Cooper's stepfather, Dale Johnston, had been known to be opposed to the couple's engagement.[5] Rumors had spread that Johnston had molested Annette; these were denied by Johnston, Sarah, and Michelle.[1] Logan police and prosecutors focused on Johnston as their primary suspect immediately, although there were reliable witnesses whose accounts disputed their theory of the crime, which was that Johnston had killed and dismembered the couple at the Johnston farm, then bagged the body parts and transported them to the river and the cornfield.[1]
Johnston was arrested in September 1983. He was tried before a panel of three judges, comprising Joseph Cirigliano of Lorain County and Michael Corrigan of Cuyahoga County, with James E. Stillwell of Hocking County presiding.[1][6] The prosecution's theory was that Johnston was in love with his stepdaughter and killed her and her fiancé in a jealous rage.[2][7] The prosecution failed to disclose the statements of witnesses who could have placed the murder at the cornfield, rather than at the Johnston farm, and the panel allowed evidence that had been obtained through hypnosis to be presented. The panel convicted Johnston in March 1984 and sentenced him to death.[2][4][5][1] His execution was scheduled for October 4, 1984, but a stay was granted in June 1984.[1]
Second trial
In October 1988, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered a new trial based on evidence the prosecution had withheld and improper admittance of testimony that should not have been allowed.[1][4] The decision, written by Ralph S. Locher, said that Johnston's rights had been violated by the prosecution's decision to withhold exculpatory information from the defense.[1] In 1990 the Franklin County Court of Appeals ruled that much of the evidence presented in the first trial could not be used in the second trial, and the case was dismissed.[2] Johnston was released in May 1990, but many in Logan still believed him guilty.[2][5][4][1]