Man charged in 1973 killing of woman in Connecticut after confessing to detectives, warrant says

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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A man with a lengthy criminal history has been charged with the 1973 killing of a woman in Connecticut, a few years after receiving a 25-year sentence in another cold case for kidnapping and sexual assault, police said Thursday.

George Legere, 77, was charged with murder while in a prison Wednesday after confessing to stabbing 21-year-old Janet Couture to death in East Hartford while trying to steal money for drugs, police said in an arrest warrant affidavit.

“I went into the apartment looking for money and unfortunately the person woke up and recognized me and that left me no choice to do what I did,” Legere said, according to police. “I ended up stabbing her.”

The interview with police came after Legere had told a fellow prisoner that he killed Couture and even signed a confession in July that was written by the other inmate and also signed by a correctional officer, the affidavit said. Legere told the other inmate not to release the confession until after he died, because he didn't want anyone labeling him a “creep” or a “pervert,” the warrant said.

The other inmate called police about Legere's confession after new posters were placed in the prison seeking information about the cold case investigation into Couture's death, police said.

The public defender's office will be representing Legere, but an attorney had not been assigned to him as of Thursday, the office said.

Police said Legere was an early suspect in Couture’s killing, but there was not enough evidence to charge him back in the 1970s.

Couture's sister, Shirlene Couture, 76, of Greenville, South Carolina, said it was a relief to know that an arrest has been made after so many years, and it represented some closure for the family.

“It was just such a shock because it’s been so long, you know, and we’ve always wanted it resolved and to know who did it,” she said in a phone interview Thursday. “I feel bad because my parents died not knowing. That was my mom’s last wish before she died.”

Janet Couture was a tall woman with a flair for art and designing her own clothes, her sister said. At the time of her death, she was doing office work and some modeling, Shirlene Couture said.

“She was a good person,” she said. “You never heard her get mad. She never yelled at anybody. She was very soft spoken. She was very sweet. She was kind. She always helped people. She loved to cook and bake and stuff like that. She was just a good person. Anybody that knew her loved her. She didn’t deserve what she got.”

She said her sister and Legere didn't know each other too well, and that Legere hung out with two other men who lived next door to her sister. Legere told police he had gotten information that Janet Couture had recently gone to an ATM, and he broke into her apartment through a window, the warrant said.

In 2021, Legere was arrested in connection with a 1984 kidnapping and sexual assault in Avon, Connecticut. Police said Legere had given a DNA sample when he was released from a prison in Massachusetts and it was entered into a database that matched it to evidence in the Avon case.

Police said Legere kidnapped a woman from her apartment complex parking lot, blindfolded her and bound her arms, and drove to another location where he beat and raped her. The victim survived the attack and was found bound, naked and slumped over the steering wheel of a vehicle with the horn sounding.

He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in that case in 2023.

Legere is a former Windsor, Connecticut, resident who attended the University of California, Los Angeles, and has a master’s degree in computer science, a public defender said after Legere’s arrest in 2021. He has a lengthy criminal record dating to the 1960s that includes arrests and convictions in more than 30 criminal cases, including other convictions for sexual assault, kidnapping and negligent homicide.