Daughter of slain 83-year-old Deer Park man suing Department of Corrections over supervision of his killer

The daughter of an 83-year-old Deer Park man who was stabbed and beaten to death in his home three years ago is suing the Washington State Department of Corrections for failing to supervise the killer, who was on community custody and had 14 felony convictions before the murder.

Gary B. Ault, 40, was sentenced in 2024 to life in prison without parole for first-degree murder in the death of Richard Purdy.

“We’re alleging that the state was negligent in the way that they supervised this guy and it contributed to him being able to run around and walk into Mr. Purdy’s house and basically stab him to death and beat him to death with a hammer,” said Sean Malcolm, attorney with Malcolm Law Firm in Redmond, Washington.

Chris Wright, Washington Corrections Department communications director, wrote in an email the state agency cannot comment on pending litigation.

Renee Purdy, Richard Purdy’s daughter, said Ault violated his terms of community custody before the killing, but the state did nothing.

She said Ault and others on community custody are frequently not placed in jail after they violate their probation or parole conditions. She hopes this lawsuit, filed last month in Spokane County Superior Court, helps change that.

“He violated his parole numerous times, and rather than held accountable and go back to jail, they just kept slapping his hands,” Renee Purdy said of Ault.

Malcolm, who is representing Renee Purdy, said some of those violations included not meeting with his community custody officer.

Richard Purdy was found dead by his longtime girlfriend on Dec. 26, 2022, in his North Dalton Road home.

Ault broke into Richard Purdy’s home and stabbed him more than 28 times. Richard Purdy sustained blunt-force trauma to his head and also suffered a brain hemorrhage, the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled.

The home was ransacked, according to court documents. Multiple firearms were taken from a gun safe.

Detectives later found a knife sticking out of the snow that had blood on it. The blood matched Ault’s DNA, prosecutors said during trial. The state lab found DNA under Richard Purdy’s fingernails was also a match to Ault.

Ault has an extensive criminal history and spent significant time incarcerated and under DOC’s supervision, the lawsuit says. Some of his convictions include assault, burglary and theft.

He was released from prison in August 2022 and placed on community custody, according to the lawsuit. Ault stepped up his criminal behavior to random violence that December.

On Dec. 17, 2022, two women were sitting outside Wheatland Bank in downtown Spokane when Ault sprayed the women with apparent bear spray and kicked them in the head before walking away, according to court documents.

Video surveillance then showed Ault getting on a Spokane Transit Authority bus downtown and getting off near the north Spokane “Y,” court records show. Police say Ault then assaulted a woman at the nearby Rosauers.

The woman, an employee at Rosauers, was standing outside the building when Ault approached her, smiled, sprayed her in the face with a spray canister and kicked her in the hip, according to court documents.

Ault pleaded guilty in 2024 to two counts of second-degree assault for the incidents and was sentenced to six years in prison, which will run at the same time as his murder sentence.

Two days after the assaults, Ault, who had not been arrested, met with a state community corrections officer, who told him to report back on Dec. 27, 2022.

The next day, on Dec. 20, police say Ault attacked a man with a hammer in a north Spokane Target. The first-degree assault charge was dropped after prosecutors said the victim did not want to cooperate.

Six days after the alleged Target attack, Ault killed Richard Purdy. The Washington State Court of Appeals affirmed Ault’s murder conviction in a published opinion filed earlier this month.

Police were able to piece the assaults together and arrested Ault the day after the murder on Dec. 27, 2022. Law enforcement didn’t tie Ault to the murder until two weeks later.

The lawsuit states the Corrections Department had a duty to protect the public from Ault and failed to terminate his release despite “numerous and varied violations of the conditions of his release, including criminal violations.”

That “negligence” led to Richard Purdy’s death, the lawsuit says.

Renee Purdy seeks financial relief in an amount to be proven at trial.

But she said it’s not about money. She wants this to be taken seriously.

“My dad was 83 years old,” she said. “He walked into his house and was beat to death.”

Renee Purdy said her sister has since died from a heart problem related to the stress of their father’s death.

“It’s just been tough, it’s been really tough,” she said. “My dad didn’t deserve this.”