Family of murdered Akron doctor, Margo Prade, stunned by judge's decision to set ex-husband free

AKRON, Ohio - The family of murdered Akron doctor Margo Prade is stunned by a Summit County judge's decision to set her ex-husband, Douglas Prade, free.

All Veronica Sadler has left of her sister are memories and pictures that are pressed between the pages of a scrapbook.

Sadler's sister, Dr. Margo Prade, was a well respected and well-know Akron doctor who was shot and killed inside her minivan outside of her office in November 1997.

In 1998, a jury convicted her ex-husband, former Akron police captain Douglas Prade, of killing her.

On Tuesday, a judge set Douglas free after he served nearly 15 years for Margo's murder. Summit County Court of Common Pleas Judge Judy Hunter ordered the 66-year-old Prade be set free based on new DNA test results.

It was a shocking move to Sadler.

"Oh, I know he did it, yeah, I know he did it," Sadler said. 

Margo and Douglas Prade had two daughters. Sahara Prade was just 9-years-old when her mother was murdered. She and her sister, Kenya, grew up without a mom or dad, raised instead by their grandmother.

"It's hard when you see your friends and they're talking to their moms and dads," Sahara explained.

Sahara, now a singer in Las Vegas, said after seeing the new DNA evidence presented by the Ohio Innocence Project that her dad is innocent.

"I feel like this is a second start for all of us," said Sahara.

For Sadler, life will never be the same. She thinks of her sister every day. Pictures and the sign from her sister's medical practice sit in the living room of her Akron home, a reminder of what she lost.

The Summit County Prosecutor's Office plans to appeal the exoneration.