Police: Murder Victim Willingly Let Suspected Killers Into Apartment
ANN ARBOR (WWJ/AP) - Three young men accused of killing a 71-year-old man inside his Ann Arbor apartment apparently knew and had even worked for the victim beforehand.
Twenty-year-old Rikky Ranger and 19-year-old Mark Paling, both of Melvindale, along with 19-year-old Richard Thompson, of Flat Rock, are currently jailed on several charges in the death of David E. Maurer.
Authorities say the men killed Maurer on Nov. 23, stealing a computer, money, drugs, credit cards, a cellphone and firearm from the elderly man's apartment at Lurie Terrace senior housing, located on Huron Street just west on Main Street. Maurer's body wasn't discovered until a week later.
Police told reporters that Maurer was acquainted with the suspects and willingly allowed them into his apartment. Ranger's stepfather, James Ryan, told the Ann Arbor News that Maurer at one time had personal relationships with at least two of the suspects.
Ryan said when his stepson and Paling were teenagers, both worked at a booth Maurer ran at the Gibraltar Trade Center in Taylor. But Ryan didn't like Ranger working at the weekend market and said he eventually made his stepson quit his job.
Still, Ranger continued his friendship with Maurer despite his family's disapproval, Ryan said. That friendship apparently continued after Ranger moved out of his family's home to live with Paling, according to Ryan.
Authorities haven't yet released Maurer's cause of death, although they did say he was not shot. The Washtenaw County Public Defender's Office declined comment on the case.
Paling, Ranger and Thompson were arraigned Sunday on charges of open murder, unarmed robbery, conspiracy to commit unarmed robbery, larceny in a building, and larceny of a firearm. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Dec. 26.
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