A jury will resume deliberations Thursday morning in the trial of a Greensburg man charged with the murder of a Vandergrift woman whose charred remains were found at a secluded Derry Township campsite four years ago.

Jurors deliberated about four hours Wednesday and did not reach a verdict in the trial of Walter Cable before they were sent home for the night by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger. The jury was told to return to the courtroom at 9 a.m. to continue deliberations.

Cable, 28, of Greensburg is charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy, robbery and abuse of a corpse in connection with the February 2017 death of 34-year-old Ronny Cable, who was not related to her accused killer.

In his closing argument to the jury, Assistant District Attorney Pete Caravello said Walter Cable planned the murder as part of a plot to steal the woman’s money and drugs. Caravello asked jurors to convict Cable of first- and second-degree murder, saying evidence showed the killing was intentional and took place during commission of a robbery.

The prosecution claims Cable struck the woman multiple times with a hammer, choked her until she was dead and removed cash and bills from her purse before burning her body. The blaze raged for hours as Cable used a shovel to break up her remains and destroy other evidence of the crime, Caravello told jurors.

Ronny Cable, according to testimony, was a mother of two young boys and struggled with addiction issues since the age of 16. She was last seen Feb. 16, 2017, when she, Walter Cable and her former boyfriend, Devin Akamichi, spent the evening together. They were first seen shopping at the Harrison Walmart, then at her Vandergrift home and later at a bar in Oklahoma Borough.

“The evidence shows Walter Cable is the one who killed her,” Caravello said.

During the seven-day trial, prosecutors presented 18 witnesses and introduced more than 500 pieces of evidence they claimed backed up testimony from Akamichi, who said he watched as his former girlfriend was killed by Cable.

Akamichi, 28, of Export faces criminal homicide, conspiracy and abuse of a corpse charges in connection with Ronny Cable’s death. He claimed that while at the bar, Walter Cable directed him to shut off his cellphone and said he planned to kill the victim just an hour before the group drove out to a wooded area near Keystone State Park.

After a series of police interrogations in early March 2017, Akamichi told investigators that Cable killed the woman and threatened him if he didn’t help burn her remains. He testified it took hours to burn Ronny Cable’s body. At one point, they left the woods, drove to a convenience store in Delmont to buy snacks and gasoline for the fire and returned to finish the job.

Akamichi took police to the burn site on March 10, 2017, where investigators found hundreds of small bone fragments and jewelry linked to Ronny Cable.

Caravello argued the physical evidence corroborated Akamichi’s testimony, including charred debris found on Walter Cable’s clothing, DNA evidence from beer cans left at the burn site and security video from several businesses and Ronny Cable’s neighbor.

“This was almost a perfect crime except the defendant made one mistake: The defendant relied on Devin,” Caravello said. “The one mistake he made was counting on Devin.”

Defense attorney Tim Andrews told jurors Akamichi was the killer. He said Akamichi’s testimony could not be believed and suggested his story was an effort to cover up his own actions.

Cable testified earlier this week that he and Akamichi dropped Ronny Cable off at her home just before midnight on Feb. 17, 2017, and never heard from her again.

Cable said he went home to Greensburg, slept for several hours then was picked up for work by Akamichi at 4:30 a.m. and while en route, stopped at the convenience store near Delmont.

Andrews attempted to cast doubt on the physical evidence. He said no blood evidence was found among Walter Cable’s belongings and suggested Cable was too smart to leave his DNA behind at the scene of the crime.

Andrews said police never properly questioned Akamichi’s description of the murder.

“They just bought his story, hook line and sinker,” Andrews said.

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