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Massillon rape suspect was convicted before

The man arrested Wednesday for the abduction and rape of a nine-year old Stark County girl has been convicted of a similar crime before.  But back in 1999, Dennis Leroy Menefee left his victim along the side of a frigid road near Laramie, Wyoming to die.

The man arrested Wednesday for the abduction and rape of a nine-year old Stark County girl has been convicted of a similar crime before. But back in 1999, Dennis Leroy Menefee left his victim along the side of a frigid road near Laramie, Wyoming to die.

Menefee was 28-years old when he sexually assaulted Cindy Lee Dixon, then kicked her body out of his vehicle on the side of the road on a bitter winter night. She later died of hypothermia.

Officials in Albany County Wyoming confirm to Channel 3’s Chris Tye that Dixon was the mother of Russell Henderson who was convicted in the high profile murder case of gay teenager Matthew Shepard in 1998.

The Associated Press reports Menefee “pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to four-to-seven years in prison”.

Since his release he’s been convicted of marijuana possession and took up residence in Port Washington, Ohio in Tuscarawas County.

On Wednesday he was arrested in Fairfield County, southeast of Columbus, and is charged with the assault and rape of that nine-year old Massillon girl .

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