ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A man convicted in the fatal attack of a founding member of the Ann Arbor Independent Community Police Oversight Commission was sentenced on Friday to life without the possibility of parole.
Ricky McCain, 57, was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree home invasion and criminal sexual assault in connection with the April 2023 murder of Jude Walton, 51, inside her Ann Arbor home.
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According to investigators, security cameras near Walton’s home captured McCain pacing around her house just after midnight while Walton was likely sleeping alone inside.
“A sound of glass is heard. He is seen on the porch for a minute and light to enter the residence,” an official said.
McCain was apprehended by police approximately 48 hours after Walton’s body was discovered upon receiving a call to do a welfare check. He also has a history of criminal sexual conduct and assault, police said.
Former Ann Arbor Interim Police Chief Aimee Metzer said Walton was a beloved pillar of the community, calling her murder a major shock and “an enormous loss to those who had the pleasure to know her personally.”
“Her community work really is the embodiment of Ann Arbor,” she said.
In addition to serving on the police oversight committee, Walton dedicated her career to helping the homeless population by serving as the director of employee experience at Avalon Housing.
“It’s hard to put into words what Jude meant to this community,” Walton’s neighbor Nina Jackson Levin said. “She’s the old guard of Ann Arbor.”