Police say video refutes Greensburg man's alibi in woman's murder

The man prosecutors contend killed a Vandergrift woman and burned her remains four years ago claimed he was at home and asleep when she died, a detective testified Monday.

Westmoreland County Detective Ray Dupilka said Walter Cable admitted he was with 34-year-old Ronny Cable the night she disappeared but that he and another man dropped her off at home at midnight then drove back to Greensburg to spend the remainder of the night.

Security video from a convenience store told a different story, Dupilka testified during the fifth day of trial.

Walter Cable, 28, of Greensburg is on trial on charges of criminal homicide, conspiracy, robbery and abuse of a corpse.

Prosecutors contend he hit Ronny Cable over the head with a hammer at least 10 times and choked her to death before he and another man burned her body in a Derry field near Keystone State Park in the early hours of Feb. 17, 2017.

Dupilka said Walter Cable was questioned hours after Ronny Cable’s charred remains were found May 10, 2017, and denied involvement in her death.

Dupilka told jurors Walter Cable claimed Ronny Cable ended their evening together when she asked to be taken home from the bar to prepare for a business appointment with an older man, who she worked for as an escort and provided sex for money.

“He said they went to her house and dropped off Ronny Cable at midnight,” Dupilka testified.

He said Walter Cable told police at least twice he and Ronny Cable were distant cousins. Ronny Cable’s mother testified her daughter and Walter Cable were not related.

Police identified Walter Cable as a suspect in Ronny Cable’s disappearance and death after Devin Akamichi, her former boyfriend, in a series of interrogations described her final hours and identified her alleged killer. Akamichi claimed in court that, while they were together at a bar in Oklahoma Borough on Feb. 16, Walter Cable told him he planned to kill Ronny Cable that night as part of a plan to steal her money and drugs.

Akamichi told jurors he drove from the bar with Walter and Ronny Cable to the Derry campsite, where he watched Walter Cable kill her then helped burn the body, a process that took hours, during which they drove to a convenience store in Delmont for snacks and gasoline before returning to the woods to finish their effort to hide traces of the killing.

Dupilka testified surveillance video from a GetGo near Delmont showed Walter Cable and Akamichi in the store at 4:48 a.m. Feb. 17 wearing the same clothes they had on hours earlier while with Ronny Cable at a Walmart in Natrona and a nearby liquor store.

Akamichi, 28, of Export is awaiting trial on charges of criminal homicide, conspiracy and abuse of a corpse.

Dupilka said he confronted Walter Cable with Akamichi’s accusation in which he identified his friend as Ronny Cable’s killer.

“He told me that was Mr. Akamichi’s version,” Dupilka testified.

The trial will continue Tuesday.