Man sentenced to life in prison in decades-old Toledo murder, rape

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - A man who was convicted of multiple rapes and a murder in Toledo was sentenced to life in prison on Monday.

According to the prosecutor, Kenneth Marshall, of Hammond, Indiana, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 130 years.

Marshall was found guilty of multiple felony charges including aggravated murder and rape in May 2022, more than 20 years after police say he raped three people and murdered a woman in Toledo. He was arrested in 2021 in connection with the 2000 rape and murder of Chrishana Logan.

According to police, Logan’s murder was the first in a string of crimes for Marshall. In the summer of 2000, a 17-year-old was raped near the University of Toledo and a few months later in October, a 13-year-old was raped while walking to school.

In 2005, DNA from the crime scene where Logan was found matched with DNA found at the other two crime scenes. The suspect was later identified as Marshall after a CODIS hit revealed that the DNA at all three crime scenes belonged to him.

“Oh, it was absolutely essential, and some of the labs we worked with, as well as genealogy that they do from DNA, what they got was hands-down one of the most important things that happened in this particular case, along with good police work in the beginning to preserve that DNA for testing in the long-term,” says assistant Lucas County prosecutor Michael Bahner.

Bahner says they were all proud to be able to bring this case to a successful conclusion after decades of hard work.

“We feel good for the victims obviously. It’s a crime that happened 22 years ago now, and members of the cold case unit and Toledo Police Department kept looking for him,” says Bahner. “I think it just sends a good signal to the community that even if something bad happens to you we’re not going to stop looking.”

Bahner says police will continue to use DNA to help solve crimes in the future.

“Let’s remember each case is it’s own individual animal so not everything is going to be cookie-cutter, but DNA is certainly essential in trying to help identify people.”

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