William Sapp (serial killer)

William Kessler Lilly was born on March 22, 1962, in Springfield, Ohio. He had one younger brother, and according to Children's services, young William showed toward women he came in contact with. When he was nine, his parents divorced, and he and his brother went to live with his brother, whom they later claimed physically and mentally abused them.[2]

Lilly committed his first crime on March 20, 1980, when he was arrested on charges of animal cruelty. The next year, he moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where he was legally adopted by a man named Al Sapp, which caused Lilly to change his last name to Sapp. In 1988, Sapp married a woman named Karen, and together they moved back to Ohio, settling in Sapp's hometown of Springfield. In 1991, Sapp set fire to a log cabin close in proximity to his father's home.[2]

On August 23, 1992, the bodies of 12-year-old Phree Marrow and 11-year-old Martha Leach were discovered near a pond behind Penn Street.[2] The girls were described as “best friends”, and they were determined to have been killed the previous day, when to two were returning to Martha's home from a bakery.[1][4]

On July 8, 1995, a couple found the body of 30-year-old Belinda Fay Anderson under their garage in Springfield. Anderson was found to have been killed back in September 1993, after she went missing on her way to her parents house.[2]

On February 27, 1996, Sapp was arrested on charges of attempting to kill Una Timmons whom, on February 5, was beat and stabbed by Sapp after he offered her a ride and smoked cocaine with her. On September 9, he went on trial, pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. During the trial, investigators from Jacksonville, Florida visited Sapp at his jail cell, as at the time they were investigating his possible involvement in unsolved cases that occurred while he was living there. Sapp gave information, but blamed crimes on a man named Robert Lancaster, whom he claimed killed 56-year-old Shirley Ogden on West Main Street in April 1981.[5][2] At the same time, a Sample of Sapp's DNA was seized and collected by the FBI, who were able to confirm his role in the murders of Phree Marrow and Martha Leach.[2]

Detectives sought to interview Sapp after the tests were complete. In the interview, Sapp confessed to the murders, as well to the murder of Anderson. By the time Sapp was connected to the crimes, two men, David Marciszewski (born June 3, 1959)[6] and John Balser (born December 21, 1969)[7] were already serving time for their role in the murders of Marrow and Leach. Despite this, investigators proved that both men were involved as accomplices, while Sapp was the ringleader, and their convictions were upheld.[5] Another man, Jamie Turner (born November 11, 1971),[8] was also convicted for his role in Marrow and Leach murders, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment on November 13, 1998. On October 13, 1999, Sapp was convicted in the murders of Phree Marrow, Martha Leach and Belinda Anderson, and days later he was sentenced to death.

• List of serial killers in the United States
• List of death row inmates in the United States

• Carol J. Rothgeb (June 2011). Hometown Killer. ISBN 9780786026883.

• State v. Sapp (2017)
• State v. Sapp (2004)