Los Angeles Police Detain Serial Murder Suspect

By Sarah Harper

Published on May 06, 2009

Los Angeles police believe they have found the notorious Westside Rapist, who committed a series of rapes and murders in the 1970s and 80s. Authorities have charged John Floyd Thomas, Jr., 72, with the murder of two elderly women (both were sexually assaulted and strangled in the mid-70s) and linked his DNA to three other crime scenes in the 70s and 80s. Authorities suspect Thomas committed at least 25 additional murders.

Between 1957 and 1983, Thomas was incarcerated several times for sex crimes. During his incarcerations, authorities took samples of his DNA. Beginning in the mid-1970s, a man known as the "Westside Rapist" entered the LA homes of dozens of elderly women, raped, and choked them; seventeen of the women died. The attacks stopped in 1978, the year in which Thomas was re-incarcerated (for rape). The attacks resumed in 1983, the year Thomas was released. Police have since linked his DNA to several crimes, and they may re-investigate unsolved rape and murder cases committed in the 1950s and afterward.

If Thomas is convicted, he will be the most prolific serial killer in Los Angeles history.

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