Albert was a yearslong person of interest in the 2015 homicide. He was indicted for aggravated murder, murder, aggravated burglary, felonious assault, having weapons under disability and tampering with evidence.
Springfield Police Division detective Ron Jordan said that information about the case was presented Monday afternoon to a grand jury, resulting in the indictment.
Driscoll said that he and detectives collected evidence in 2015 following Prunty’s death, but the “technology wasn’t there to fully explore” the evidence collected. As time passed and advancements in crime scene investigation technology were made, the Springfield Police Division and the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office were able to look again at evidence and gain “a clearer picture” of what may have happened, Driscoll said.
Prunty, 26, was shot and killed in October 2015 at her house on West Mulberry Street. She was shot in her head and neck, according to a police report.
Family members found her on the kitchen floor after she didn’t show up to get her children from school. Prunty’s sons were 1, 4 and 7 at the time of her death.
Years passed in the homicide investigation, with no arrests made. In 2018, the Springfield Police Division attempted to gather more information about Prunty’s death, as well as more information about other local cold cases, through a billboard campaign. A billboard on Spring Street featured Prunty’s picture, as well as information about her death and a phone number to call with tips.
The SPD identified a person of interest in the homicide in 2015, Jordan said, and he confirmed that individual was Albert.
Prunty’s mother Patricia Beard told the News-Sun that for her and her family, the indictment of Albert doesn’t necessarily bring “closure,” as whatever results from a trial, she said, will not bring her daughter back. However, she and her family are “overwhelmed” at the development in her daughter’s case, which will be six years old this October.
“It seems like heaven opened up and showered blessings upon us,” she said. “Justice … that’s what we wanted.”
Albert is in prison on counts of attempted murder and aggravated robbery from Franklin County, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction. He has been an inmate since July 28, 2018, and he is not eligible for parole until 2045, according to prison records.
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