very strange story !
Police call man LA's 'most prolific serial killer'
The Associated Press
Thursday, April 30, 2009 2:29 PM EDT
(AP) Police believe a 72-year-old insurance claims adjuster arrested earlier this month is the most prolific serial killer in the city's history, having raped and strangled as many as 30 older women over two decades. The break in the cold case came in October when John Floyd Thomas Jr., who had twice been convicted of sexual assault, had a DNA sample taken as part of an effort to build an offender database.
Thomas was charged April 2 with murdering one woman in 1972 and another in 1976. DNA matching Thomas' was found at three other crime scenes in the 1970s and '80s, Los Angeles police cold case Detective Richard Bengston told the Los Angeles Times in a story published Thursday.
Detectives now consider Thomas also a suspect in two waves of killings that left at least 22 women dead based on the circumstances of the crimes, the newspaper reported. It could not be immediately determined where the other killings took place.
"When all is said and done, Mr. Thomas stands to be Los Angeles' most prolific serial killer," Bengston told the newspaper.
Thomas was being held in county jail and could not be reached for comment. Authorities reached by phone by The Associated Press did not know whether he had obtained an attorney.
Thomas was sentenced to six years in 1957 for burglary and attempted rape in Los Angeles. Two parole violations sent him back behind bars until 1966.
In the first wave of killings in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, a man police dubbed "The Westside Rapist" entered the homes of dozens of elderly women who lived alone, raped them and choked them until they passed out or died. The 17 people killed were found with pillows or blankets over their faces.
During that time, Thomas was a social worker, hospital employee and salesman. The attacks stopped in 1978 the year Thomas went back to prison for the rape of a Pasadena woman.
After his 1983 release, he moved to Chino in San Bernardino County and took a job as a hospital peer counselor in nearby Pomona. That year, a series of attacks on elderly women began that included five slayings in the nearby Los Angeles County town of Claremont. The attacker also used blankets or pillows over his victims' faces.
Despite some 20 survivors, detectives didn't connect the two cases. There were conflicting descriptions from victims, a lack of communication between agencies and an absence of DNA technology.
Since 1989, Thomas worked at the State Compensation Insurance Fund in Glendale. He was arrested at his South Los Angeles apartment on March 31.
Detroit woman's underwire bra deflects bullet
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 2:58 PM EDT
DETROIT (AP) The metal underwire in a Detroit woman's bra was credited with deflecting a bullet fired at her during a break-in at a neighbor's home. Detroit police Officer Leon Rahmaan said the 57-year-old woman apparently looked out her window Tuesday when one of three men fired the shot.
He said the slug smashed through her window pane before hitting the bra's underwire. It did not penetrate her skin.
Police said she may have gone to the window after a burglar alarm at the house next door sounded. Her neighbor was not at home at the time.
2nd strange story
Cops: Pregnant woman tries to rob bank, gets call
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 3:07 PM EDT
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) Police are looking for a pregnant woman they say tried to rob a North Carolina bank at gunpoint but left empty-handed after answering her cell phone. Fayetteville police spokeswoman Teresa Chance said Wednesday the woman had a handgun and demanded money when she entered a Carter Bank & Trust branch at 9:43 a.m. Tuesday.
But she got distracted when her cell phone rang. Police said she began talking to the caller and left the bank without taking any money. No one was hurt.
Chance said investigators talked to a teller who heard the woman but aren't releasing details.
Police said the woman is in her late 20s to early 30s. She wore a dark, knee-length skirt and had a multicolored scarf or bandanna on her head.
The suspects drove away after the shooting.
Police call man LA's 'most prolific serial killer'
The Associated Press
Thursday, April 30, 2009 2:29 PM EDT
(AP) Police believe a 72-year-old insurance claims adjuster arrested earlier this month is the most prolific serial killer in the city's history, having raped and strangled as many as 30 older women over two decades. The break in the cold case came in October when John Floyd Thomas Jr., who had twice been convicted of sexual assault, had a DNA sample taken as part of an effort to build an offender database.
Thomas was charged April 2 with murdering one woman in 1972 and another in 1976. DNA matching Thomas' was found at three other crime scenes in the 1970s and '80s, Los Angeles police cold case Detective Richard Bengston told the Los Angeles Times in a story published Thursday.
Detectives now consider Thomas also a suspect in two waves of killings that left at least 22 women dead based on the circumstances of the crimes, the newspaper reported. It could not be immediately determined where the other killings took place.
"When all is said and done, Mr. Thomas stands to be Los Angeles' most prolific serial killer," Bengston told the newspaper.
Thomas was being held in county jail and could not be reached for comment. Authorities reached by phone by The Associated Press did not know whether he had obtained an attorney.
Thomas was sentenced to six years in 1957 for burglary and attempted rape in Los Angeles. Two parole violations sent him back behind bars until 1966.
In the first wave of killings in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, a man police dubbed "The Westside Rapist" entered the homes of dozens of elderly women who lived alone, raped them and choked them until they passed out or died. The 17 people killed were found with pillows or blankets over their faces.
During that time, Thomas was a social worker, hospital employee and salesman. The attacks stopped in 1978 the year Thomas went back to prison for the rape of a Pasadena woman.
After his 1983 release, he moved to Chino in San Bernardino County and took a job as a hospital peer counselor in nearby Pomona. That year, a series of attacks on elderly women began that included five slayings in the nearby Los Angeles County town of Claremont. The attacker also used blankets or pillows over his victims' faces.
Despite some 20 survivors, detectives didn't connect the two cases. There were conflicting descriptions from victims, a lack of communication between agencies and an absence of DNA technology.
Since 1989, Thomas worked at the State Compensation Insurance Fund in Glendale. He was arrested at his South Los Angeles apartment on March 31.
Detroit woman's underwire bra deflects bullet
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 2:58 PM EDT
DETROIT (AP) The metal underwire in a Detroit woman's bra was credited with deflecting a bullet fired at her during a break-in at a neighbor's home. Detroit police Officer Leon Rahmaan said the 57-year-old woman apparently looked out her window Tuesday when one of three men fired the shot.
He said the slug smashed through her window pane before hitting the bra's underwire. It did not penetrate her skin.
Police said she may have gone to the window after a burglar alarm at the house next door sounded. Her neighbor was not at home at the time.
2nd strange story
Cops: Pregnant woman tries to rob bank, gets call
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 3:07 PM EDT
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) Police are looking for a pregnant woman they say tried to rob a North Carolina bank at gunpoint but left empty-handed after answering her cell phone. Fayetteville police spokeswoman Teresa Chance said Wednesday the woman had a handgun and demanded money when she entered a Carter Bank & Trust branch at 9:43 a.m. Tuesday.
But she got distracted when her cell phone rang. Police said she began talking to the caller and left the bank without taking any money. No one was hurt.
Chance said investigators talked to a teller who heard the woman but aren't releasing details.
Police said the woman is in her late 20s to early 30s. She wore a dark, knee-length skirt and had a multicolored scarf or bandanna on her head.
The suspects drove away after the shooting.
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I'm only a Daytonian by association really. Just moved here in January. =P