Ex-Akron police captain Douglas Prade asked for public's help in ex-wife's murder in 1997

AKRON, Ohio - The former Akron police captain exonerated of his ex-wife’s murder on Tuesday begged the public for information during a 1997 interview with NewsChannel5.

Douglas Prade spent 15 years behind bars in the death of Margo Prade, a 41-year-old doctor who was found dead outside her office on Nov. 26. 1997. A judge ruled new DNA evidence proved that the ex-cop did not kill his ex and he walked out of Madison Correctional Institution shortly before 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

When Douglas Prade, now 66, spoke to NewsChannel5 on Dec. 4, 1997, he said he hoped someone with details about the person who killed the mother of his children would come forward.

“I’m sure my daughters would appreciate it. They’re both a little fearful of this incident and the fact that this person is still at large. They can’t understand why someone would hurt their mother. No one can,” Prade said.

A group of people gathered a Prade’s house that day to discuss ways to help the investigation, which included offering a $5,000 reward. A reward poster with Margo Prade’s picture sat on a shelf in the living room.

“She has thousands of friends who feel that this person should be caught. Not to mention that he, he or she, is still out there among every citizen in this city,” Douglas Prade said.

The 30-year veteran of the Akron Police Department also spoke briefly about being a suspect. The interview came way before a jury convicted him of aggravated murder because of a bite mark that supposedly matched Douglas Prade’s teeth.

“For four days there I was a victim and also a suspect, and that’s very difficult. The most difficult thing was that my daughters overheard people discussing whether or not I had done it. And they had to come to me and say ‘Dad, did you do it?’ And obviously, I said ‘No.’”