You can read more about the victims and when the crimes occurred in this LA Times article.
John Floyd Thomas, Jr.
Photo ~ LA Times
Accused rapist, murderer pleads guilty to decades old killings.
LOS ANGELES – A 74-year-old accused serial rapist and murderer pleaded guilty today to seven counts of special circumstance murder.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George Lomeli sentenced John Floyd Thomas, Jr. to life in prison without the possibility of parole with six additional life terms.
Deputy District Attorneys Rachel Moser Greene and Darci Lanphere prosecuted the case.
Thomas pleaded to seven counts of first-degree murder and admitted special circumstance allegations of multiple murder and murder while engaged in the commission of rape and burglary.
Thomas, who was convicted of sexual assault in 1978, was originally charged in April 2009 with two counts of murder after a DNA match identified him as a suspect. Five months later, prosecutors filed five additional counts and added special circumstance allegations.
The defendant’s victims ranged in age from 56 to 80 years old. The killings occurred between the fall of 1972 and the summer of 1986 in Los Angeles, Inglewood, Claremont and the Lennox area of Los Angeles County.
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2 comments:
John Floyd Thomas was arrested two years ago after submitting to a DNA swab as a registered sex offender. The LAPD was looking for the Grim Sleeper and caught Thomas, the Westside Rapist, instead. The Grim Sleeper suspect was finally arrested last summer.
David In TN
You're absolutely correct David.
I remember where I was when the announcement on Thomas was made.
My husband and I were taking a tour of the LAPD & LA Co. Sheriff's crime lab. We were chatting with Dr. Lynne Herold and Steve Schliebe, a fellow senior criminalist in the trace analysis department.
A friend of Steve's in the LAPD DNA lab dropped by to mention the breaking news conference about Thomas's capture and linking him to 30 cases, most via DNA.
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