Trial for Greensburg man charged with robbery, murder of Vandergrift woman set for June

The murder trial for a Greensburg man charged with the 2017 bludgeoning and strangulation death of a Vandergrift woman is set to begin in June.

Prosecutors contend that Walter Cable, 28, is one of two men who robbed 34-year-old Ronny Cable. They are not related. She was beaten with a hammer and strangled before her body was burned in a secluded section of Derry Township, according to police.

Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger this week ordered jury selection in Cable’s murder trial to begin June 7. The trial was originally scheduled to begin last year but was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cable has been in jail without bond since his arrest in March 2018, a year after Ronny Cable’s remains were found. He is charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy, robbery and abuse of a corpse.

Defense attorney Tim Andrews said Walter Cable has denied involvement in the murder.

“The guy who is testifying against him did it. My client didn’t do it,” Andrews said, adding Cable claimed he was elsewhere when the murder was committed.

Also charge in the crime is Devin Akamichi, 28, of Export, who prosecutors said cooperated with investigators and implicated Cable as the man who robbed and killed Ronny Cable. Akamichi, who also is awaiting trial for murder, had his case delayed on Tuesday.

Akamichi testified at a preliminary hearing in 2018 that Walter Cable claimed Ronny Cable owed him money for pills, beat her with a hammer at least 10 times and stole money and drugs from her purse after she was killed.

The trial is expected to take more than a week and Assistant District Attorney Pete Caravello said about 15 to 20 witnesses are expected to testify.