He also is charged in the beating death of Belinda Anderson, a former Springfield resident, whose body was found in a shallow grave in a South Fountain Avenue garage in 1995 after she had been missing for several years.
A Clark County grand jury on Monday indicted Sapp on nine counts of aggravated murder; four counts of rape; four counts of kidnapping; three counts of tampering with evidence; three counts of abuse of a corpse; two counts of attempted aggravated murder; and two counts of arson.
The grand jury also indicted him for the attempted murder and rape of Hazel Pierson in 1993 near the Springfield Family YMCA. The former Springfield woman was found brutally beaten and stabbed in the downtown area.
Sapp, whose alleged crimes were described by Springfield Police Chief Roger Evans as `serial killings,' is serving 15 to 55 years in prison for the attack and attempted rape of Una Gail Timmons last year. He was found innocent of attempted murder in the Timmons case.
Sapp, who is now being held in the Lucasville Penitentiary, was interviewed by detectives last week in Springfield, a source close to the investigation said.
Clark County Prosecutor Stephen Schumaker offered few details on the arrest during a press conference Monday at police headquarters. He would not answer why it took five years to connect Sapp to the deaths of Morrow and Leach. `That'll have to be answered in front of a jury,' Schumaker said.
He also would not reveal what led investigators to Sapp.
Two men - David Marciszewski and John Balser - already are serving prison time for their involvement in the girls' deaths, and Jamie Turner is awaiting trial in the Clark County Jail for his alleged role in the killings.
Schumaker said the status of the three men already charged will not change despite Sapp's arrest and described the cases as `perplexing, puzzling and heart-wrenching.'
A source close to the investigation who asked for anonymity, said Sapp was the `main player' and the `controlling force' in the murder of the two girls.\ Sapp was never mentioned when other suspects were interviewed during the investigation, the source said. Physical evidence was the key in charging Sapp with the murders, according to the source, who declined further comment.
While he was being held in the Timmons assault, Sapp reportedly confessed to killing a Florida woman 15 years ago, but authorities in Jacksonville, Fla., are not pursuing the case.
`Since Sapp had so many charges against him in Ohio, the attorney general's office thought it would be too long a wait to prosecute him in Florida,' said Sgt. Scott McLeod of the Jacksonville County Sheriff's Homicide Unit.
Springfield Police Capt. David Walters said numerous agencies cooperated in the investigation during a difficult case for families and the community.
`I hope we can begin some kind of healing process,' Walters said. The arson charges are the result of two fires Sapp allegedly set in the county.
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