Killer convicted of 1976 death of Toledo woman

3/7/2009

BOWLING GREEN - A former Wood County man suspected in 1976 of the strangulation of a Toledo woman pleaded no contest Thursday to murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life.

Larry E. Scott, 54, was convicted in Wood County Common Pleas Court of the murder of Mary Burns Brooks, whose nude body was found March 14, 1976, in Lake Township Cemetery.

County Prosecutor Paul Dobson said Scott was a suspect then, but it was DNA evidence linking Scott to the victim that enabled prosecutors to take the case to a grand jury in 2007.

Scott was to be in court Friday for a motion hearing, but Mr. Dobson said during preparations for the hearing Thursday, prosecutors and defense attorneys reached an agreement. Scott appeared before Judge Alan Mayberry, who accepted his plea and sentenced him on the charge.

Mr. Dobson said Scott did not tell the court what happened that day in 1976. "There wasn't really any value in making any mitigating statements, since he's already serving a life sentence without parole," Mr. Dobson said.

Scott has been in prison in Michigan since his 1977 conviction in Monroe County for the death of Florence Hemminger, 26, of Weston, who was murdered in 1976 in Bedford Township.