MIDDLETOWN MUNICIPAL COURT
Killer accused of abduction, threat
He is released on bond following his ex-girlfriend's testimony about the incident.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
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MIDDLETOWN — A convicted killer is back on the streets within three days of allegedly coming after his ex-girlfriend with a crowbar and threatening to kill her and her son, according to police.
Cory Pruden, 33, was released from Middletown City Jail on Monday, June 30, after posting $500 — 10 percent of a $5,000 bond — on charges of abduction, domestic violence and burglary.
Judge Mark Wall said he didn't know about Pruden's 1996 conviction for voluntary manslaughter when he set the bond, but he said given his alleged victim's testimony, it probably wouldn't have made a difference.
Rachel Frye, 26, asked Wall to go easy on Pruden, blaming her statements to police on her mother.
"She said she'd cut all ties with me if I didn't put Mr. Pruden in jail," Frye said of her mother. "I do not agree with the domestic violence and I do not agree with the kidnapping."
Frye, who lived with Pruden since a month after he got out of prison in April 2007 until she moved out a week ago, told police Friday that Pruden had grabbed her 7-year-old son off the playground at Mayfield Elementary, forced the boy into his car and threatened him saying, "'Show me where you live or I'll whip you,'" according to the police report. Pruden then allegedly forced entry into Frye's home, smashed a coffee pot, and came after Frye and a male friend with a crowbar, she told police. Frye's friend stepped in to protect her and neither was injured, though Pruden did smash a microwave before leaving the home in the 3300 block of Goldman Avenue, according to police.
"While he was there he told her he was going to kill all of them," said Middletown police Detective Fred Shuemake, who interviewed Pruden, Frye and her son after the altercation.
On Monday, Frye denied her son was frightened when the "only father he's ever known" pulled him off the playground.
"He was scared because we were arguing," she said. "He's been taking care of my son for the last year."
Pruden was convicted in the March 1995 shooting death of Kevin Moore, 34, of Middletown.




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Cory Pruden