West Side Serial Rapist / Killer Gets 7 Life Sentences
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A 74-year-old man pleaded guilty Friday to the killings of seven women in the Southland in the 1970s and 1980s and was immediately sentenced to seven life prison terms, one without the possibility of parole.
John Floyd Thomas Jr. pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree murder. His victims ranged in age from 56 to 80 years old. Los Angeles police also believe Thomas is responsible for two dozen or so sexual assaults.
Thomas was initially charged April 2, 2009, with murdering Ethe Sokoloff, 68, on Nov. 25, 1972, in her Mid-Wilshire home, and Elizabeth McKeown, 67, in Westchester some time between Feb. 15-18, 1976.
Los Angeles police said then that he had been linked to the two killings through DNA evidence, but were looking into as many as two dozen other murders and rapes that occurred between 1955 and 1978.
Later in 2009, Thomas was charged with five additional killings involving three women who lived in Inglewood, one who lived in the Lennox area and one who resided in Claremont — killed between September 1975 and June 1986, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Thomas was arrested March 31, 2009.
I am betting that there are women sleeping much better now.
Thomas’ prosecutor, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Rachel Moser Greene, said the decision to not seek the death penalty against Thomas was approved at the highest levels of her office.
She said that because of Floyd’s advanced age and the lengthy appeals process for inmates sentenced to death, Floyd would likely reach age 100 before being executed.
A sentence of life without parole “achieves the same end, pragmatically speaking,” as a death sentence, Greene said.
“He’s going to be denied his liberty until nature takes its course,” Greene said.
I understand that. It makes sense to not push for the D.P. in this case. He will still be a draw on tax payers maybe even more so because of his age, but hopefully his heart will give out soon.
Before people think I am too hard and too cold remember what he did.
Prosecutors eventually charged Thomas with seven counts of murder for slayings committed between 1972 and 1986. Most of the the victims, who ranged in age from 56 to 80, were also sexually assaulted.
Police said Floyd targeted older women who lived alone. He would break into their homes, rape them, then strangle them to death while obscuring their faces with bedding such as a sheet or pillow.
Floyd’s DNA sample was obtained in October 2008 by investigators who were building a DNA database of sex offenders.
Floyd had twice been convicted of sexual assault, most recently in 1978 for the rape of a Pasadena woman.
This is not some sweet old grandpa here. This is a cold blooded killer who targeted weaker older woman. He is a predator. Society tried to ‘reform’ him before and it did not work.
Bonnie’s Blog of Crime has more links. It is also where I got the list of known victims from.
Known Victims
Elizabeth McKeown, 67 [1976]
Ethel Sokoloff, 68 [1972]
Cora Perry, 79 [1975]
Maybelle Hudson, 80 [1976]
Miriam McKinley, 65 [1976]
Evalyn Bunner, 56 [1976]
Adrienne Askew, 56 [1986]
Real Life Monsters 