Tonkawa police arrest Ponca City man convicted in 1974 murder of a former PCPD officer on new charges

TONKAWA — Tonkawa police with assistance from Ponca City police arrested 71-year-old Jay Walls of Ponca City on a stalking complaint Friday.

In a press release TPD reports that on Oct. 6 a resident filed a complaint regarding abuse and harassment. After an investigation, police identified Walls as the suspect. It was reported that Walls had been stalking and harassing the victim throughout Kay County for several days prior to the report. Further investigation revealed that Walls had recently been released on parole for a 1978 first-degree murder conviction stemming from the 1974 shotgun death of a Ponca City man. 

According to the Oklahoma City Times published on Feb. 22, 1978, Walls was arrested at the age of 23 in the shooting death of James R. Thurber, who was a former Ponca City police officer. Thurber was reportedly shot and killed at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 22, 1978, at the Anco manufacturing plant when he was trying to “block a shot gun wielding man” from entering the building.

Walls was arrested as he ran from the Anco, Inc. plant after the shooting. Thurber worked eight years as a PCPD officer and had left the force to work as a plant supervisor at Anco. He was shot outside his office in the side and chest by two blasts from a 20-gauge shotgun.

Then PCPD Det. Al Sheldon told the OKC Times that the shooting followed several previous confrontations between Walls and Thurber in which Walls had been refused entry to the plant to see his estranged wife who was employed there. Sheldon told the newspaper that officers had answered several disturbance calls from Mrs. Walls in recent weeks over alleged attempts by Jay to force his way into her house. Mrs. Walls was treated for shock at the hospital following the shooting. Over 24 dozen plant employees witnessed the shooting. 

Thurber is buried in Pawnee County.

Walls was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Walls was released on June, 4 2025 and was under the supervision of the Ponca City Probation and Parole Office at the time of this new incident.

On Oct. 10, Tonkawa Police, assisted by PCPD located and arrested Walls near his residence in Ponca City. He was booked into the Kay County Detention Center, where he is currently being held on a $100,000 bond.