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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Soft-touch prosecutor let felon walk free... before crook 'slit Auburn professor's throat in random attack' |
| 2025-09-11 |
| [DM] The suspect in the brutal murder of a beloved college professor was previously charged with a gun-related felony, but soft prosecutors let himserve just 60 days in jail, it has been revealed. Harold Rashad Dabney III, 26, the alleged killer of veterinarian professor Dr. Julie Gard Schnuelle, 59, in Auburn, Alabama, was previously arrested in December 2023 in Virginia on gun charges. According to an arrest warrant first shared by Fox News, Dabney was homeless at the time when cops were called to reports of him trespassing in a business parking lot in Virginia Beach. Dabney was caught sleeping in the driver's seat of a car and told an officer he was 'f***ed up' before refusing to say anything more. When the officer searched the car, they found a handgun under the driver's seat with its serial number removed, a sawed-off shotgun in the backseat, and white pills, the arrest affidavit said. He was charged with felony possession or use of a shotgun and misdemeanor removing or altering serial number or other identification on a firearm, unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon, public intoxication, and trespassing. According to court records, the alleged would-be killer was handed a lenient deal where he pleaded guilty to several misdemeanors if prosecutors dropped the felony charge, which would have resulted in a prison sentence of two-to-10 years if convicted. He was instead handed a sentence of 12 months unsupervised probation and 60 days behind bars, which would have ended nine months before he allegedly killed Schnuelle this month. The prosecutor in charge of Virginia Beach at the time that Dabney was let free on felony gun charges was Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney Colin Stolle, a Republican. In a statement to the Daily Mail, Stolle's office said that Dabney's felony charge of Possession of a Sawed-Off Shotgun 'didn’t meet the statutory requirements because the barrel length was determined to be within the legal requirements; therefore, we were prohibited from being able to proceed on that charge.' Schnuelle was a professor emerita at Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine from 2003 until her retirement in 2021. In grisly details released by cops, officials said that Schneulle was walking her dog in Kiesel Park in Auburn when Dabney allegedly dragged her several hundred yards into the woods and stabbed her multiple times. Dabney, 28, has now been charged with two counts of capital murder — murder during a kidnapping and murder during a robbery. He was arrested the next day around 8:30am after cops received reports of a 'suspicious person' in the area. Officers said they 'made observations that led them to believe Dabney had involvement with the homicide' of Schnuelle the day prior. Dabney also allegedly stole Schnuelle's Ford F-150 truck during the killing. Dabney was arrested Sunday afternoon and made his first appearance in court on Monday. He is being held in Lee County Jail without bond, and if convicted he faces the possibility of the death penalty. The coroner pronounced Schnuelle dead at the scene, with investigators yet to offer a motive for the killing. It is also unclear if Dabney personally knew Schnuelle – who is understood to have visited the park daily – or if he targeted her at random. Another former student told the news outlet Schnuelle was 'amazing' and a 'force' to be reckoned with, despite being relatively small in stature. 'She was only a little bit over 5-foot-2, not your typical large animal veterinarian,' Destinee Bearden Patterson said. 'She was a force in this world, such a bright, bright light, just an all-around wonderful human being that is going to be missed terribly.' |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Grom the Affective 2025-09-11 12:14 |