Walter Cable testifies he had no role in Vandergrift woman's murder

Rich Cholodofsky, Tribune-Review, Greensburg, Pa.
·4 min read

Jun. 9—Walter Cable told a Westmoreland County jury Tuesday he and another man dropped Ronny Cable off about a block from her front door about midnight Feb. 17, 2017, and never heard from her again.

Cable, 28, of Greensburg testified during the sixth day of his murder trial that he had nothing to do with the death of the 34-year-old Vandergrift woman.

Police contend he repeatedly beat Ronny Cable with a hammer, choked her to death and burned her remains over the next 10 hours in a secluded Derry Township field near Keystone State Park.

In his first question posed to his client, defense attorney Tim Andrews asked Walter Cable if he played any role in the woman's death.

"No I did not," Cable replied.

He is charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy, robbery and abuse of a corpse.

Andrews said Cable was expected to be the lone defense witness.

Closing arguments are set to begin Wednesday morning.

Walter Cable testified for more than two hours Tuesday and admitted to being friends with Ronny Cable. They are not related.

Walter Cable said he and the victim's former boyfriend, Devin Akamichi, spent hours with her in her home and later at a local bar the day she disappeared. Cable said they drove her back to her Vandergrift residence so she could meet an "older gentleman" who hired her as an escort.

Cable said he and Akamichi then drove back to Greensburg, where he greeted his roommate about 1 a.m. before he went to sleep.

Cable told jurors Akamichi picked him up a few hours later, at 4:30 a.m., to drive him to work near Delmont and they stopped at a GetGo store on the way for coffee and food. Security video played for jurors Monday showed Walter Cable and Akamichi at the store.

Akamichi, 28, of Export, who is charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy and abuse of a corpse, described a different scenario to the jury last week. He said the pair drove to the convenience store while in the midst of burning Ronny Cable's body. They bought snacks and gasoline before returning to the campsite to finish burning her remains, a chore he said took them well into the next day.

Akamichi claims Walter Cable announced his plan to kill Ronny Cable while they were together at an Oklahoma Township bar before driving her out to the woods. He told jurors he watched Walter Cable hit the woman with a hammer at least 10 times before strangling her and stealing money and drugs from her purse. Akamichi claims Cable forced him to help set fire to and burn the woman's body before using a shovel to break up her remains.

On March 9, 2017, after being led to the site by Akamichi, investigators found her charred remains, hundreds of small bone fragments and several items of jewelry scattered among other debris at the site.

Rachael Eilerman-Rodriguez, a forensic analyst at the Pennsylvania State Police Crime Lab, testified the remains contained DNA linked to Ronny Cable. At least four beer cans had Walter Cable's DNA, she told jurors.

Cable denied those allegations when confronted by investigators.

"He (Westmoreland County Detective Ray Dupilka) said 'No, you are a stone-cold killer.' I told him, 'No, I had nothing to do with that,' " Cable testified.

Cable said he didn't know how Ronny Cable's remains got to the secluded campsite formerly owned by his family or how beer cans with his DNA were found in a bag hanging from a tree feet away from where her burned remains were found.

"That's a place that I frequently go to, so things that are out there are probably mine," Cable testified. He said he dumped personal belongings at the campsite after a fire at his Greensburg home.

Walter Cable said he knew Ronny Cable since 2015 but had no romantic interest in her. He said he allowed her to stay at his home for several months in 2016.

The prosecution rested its case Tuesday afternoon after calling 18 witnesses and introducing more than 500 pieces of evidence.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293, rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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