Thomas Albert/Photo courtesy of People
A six-year-old crime has finally seen some movement. Thomas Albert was recently charged with the murder of ex-girlfriend Candance Prunty while her children were at school in 2015.
Albert, 28, was indicted this week by a Clark County, Ohio grand jury in Prunty’s death. He was indicted for aggravated murder, murder, aggravated burglary, felonious assault, having weapons under disability and tampering with evidence, reported the Springfield News-Sun.
Albert has been a person of interest in the crime since it first happened six years ago.
Although police had evidence, the technology was not available at the time to thoroughly process what they had collected and arrived at a likely suspect. As time progressed and advancements were made, the Springfield Police Division and the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office took another look.
Prunty, a mother of three, was shot in the back of the head and neck. When she did not come to pick up her children from school, her family checked on her and found her body on the kitchen floor.
At the time of her murder, her children were one, four, and seven.
Patricia Beard, Prunty’s mother, said that she and her family are overwhelmed at how her daughter’s case has developed over the last six years.
“It seems like heaven opened up and showered blessings upon us,” she said. “Justice … that’s what we wanted.”
However, she was clear that Albert’s indictment did not bring closure because nothing would ever bring her daughter back.
Albert has been in prison since 2018 for the attempted murder and aggravated robbery he committed in Franklin County. On those charges, he is not eligible for parole until 2045.
Family members said Prunty had broken up with Albert a few months before the murder, and Springfield police say he believed he was upset and wanted to be with her.
“When we arrived at the scene, the injuries that we saw, the nature of this crime led us to believe that it was something personal. Someone was very upset over something and essentially took it out on our victim,” an investigator said.
Albert has not entered a plea to the new set of charges. If he is convicted of the new charges, he faces life in prison as this is not a death penalty case. His attorney has not commented.