ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - A Dougherty County murder case that has stretched on for more than a decade is returning to trial Monday. A woman once convicted of killing her husband will again face a jury.

On June 28, 2014, investigators found 46-year-old William “Jake” Embert dead from a gunshot wound inside his Dougherty County home. His wife, Susan Embert, told authorities he had taken his own life. Investigators initially accepted her account.

Jake’s children did not. They hired a private investigator and pushed for the case to be reopened. What followed would unravel their deepest fears: that Jake did not die by suicide, but by murder.

In 2015, a grand jury indicted Susan Embert on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Investigators also believed Jake may have been poisoned in the weeks leading up to his death, with antifreeze and insecticide detected in his hair fibers.

The private investigator’s findings were turned over to Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards, whose office conducted a deeper review and ultimately brought the case forward.

After several delays, the case went to trial in 2019. During that period, the Embert family filed a lawsuit accusing county authorities of failing to conduct a reasonable investigation, noting that no autopsy or toxicology testing was performed.

Prosecutors argued Susan Embert sought Jake’s money and property, pointing to statements she allegedly made to others suggesting her husband “wouldn’t be alive much longer.”

In February 2024, Embert’s legal team argued that roughly nine years had passed since her arrest before she received what they described as a “proper trial,” claiming her right to a speedy trial had been violated. Judge Stephen G. Lockette dismissed the case, ruling that Embert’s own counsel was responsible for a three-and-a-half-year delay.

In June 2025, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed the dismissal, determining that the earlier trial still counted despite an ineligible juror being seated. The ruling allowed the murder case to move forward once again.

In August, a judge ruled that Embert’s constitutional rights had not been violated and ordered her to stand trial a second time. She later received bond with strict conditions.

Now, more than 11 years after Jake Embert’s death, both sides are preparing to present their cases again at the Dougherty County Courthouse. Prosecutors say they will rely on much of the same evidence used during the 2019 trial, while the defense has indicated its strategy may significantly differ this time.

For Jake’s family, the second trial reopens wounds they believed had finally begun to close. For Susan Embert, it marks another fight for her freedom. For the Albany community, it raises new questions about how the justice system handles delays, mistakes and decade-old evidence.

The state is expected to call many of the same witnesses from the first trial, including forensic experts, medical examiners and family members.

Jury selection begins Monday morning.

Stay with us on air and online for continuing coverage of the trial.

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