A grand jury will hear the case of Harold Dabney III, the man charged in the murder of retired Auburn University professor Julie Gard Schnuelle.
Lee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gerald Tickal ordered the case bound over to the Grand Jury after a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
“The Court finds that PROBABLY CAUSE DOES EXIST to believe that the Defendant committed each of the offenses charged,” the order stated.
Dabney, 28, is charged with two counts of capital murder: one count for committing the murder during a robbery and one count for committing the murder during a kidnapping, in the death of Schnuelle.
Schnuelle, 59, was murdered on September 6 while walking her dog in Kiesel Park.
WSFA was in the courtroom during the preliminary hearing. The outlet reported that video footage showed Schnuelle entering the park and walking her dog. Less than an hour after Schnuelle began walking her dog, surveillance video shows a suspect emerging from a hayfield.
When police arrived on the scene, they followed a trail of blood to Schnuelle’s body, which was located 30 yards from the walking trail. Schnuelle had seven stab wounds to her neck, chest, forearm and hand. Investigators believe that after the murder, Dabney stole his victim’s truck.
Prosecutors revealed that when Dabney was arrested the next day, they found Schnuelle’s credit card in his underwear.
Schnuelle’s truck was later located and investigators said the truck had blood in the driver’s seat and steering wheel, along with Dabney’s fingerprints on the door.
Dabney is considered innocent until proven guilty.
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