FOXWELL CASE: Prosecutors charge suspect with murder, will seek death penalty

2-9-2010 Maryland:

SALISBURY — The Grand Jury for Wicomico County has indicted the sole suspect in the murder of 11-year-old Sarah Haley Foxwell, a move that has been expected for more than a month as prosecutors mounted a case against him.

“The evidence has been developed as such that the state will file a notice of intent to seek the death penalty and the notice of intent to seek life without possibility of parole,” Davis Ruark, the Wicomico County State’s Attorney, said in a news conference this morning.

Thomas Leggs Jr., a 30-year-old convicted sex offender from Salisbury, has been charged with Foxwell’s murder and also with first-and-second degree sex offenses. Police discovered Foxwell’s badly burned body on Christmas morning, a somber end to a manhunt effort of more than 3,000 people, many of whom were volunteers.

Since his arrest on Dec. 23 for burglary and kidnapping charges, Leggs has been held without bond at the Wicomico County Detention Center. Davis said it is impossible to predict when he may be brought to trial.

"This is the start of a very long process. This is not the end of the investigation," Ruark said. ..Source.. Staff Report