Westside Rapist gets life in prison

Los Angeles: A former insurance claims adjuster who was suspected of terrorising women in the 1970s as the Westside Rapist has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for seven murders that were committed in two waves of killings and sexual assaults.

John Floyd Thomas Jr, 74, sat with his hands manacled to a waist chain and used sheets of paper to shield his face from a photographer as he was sentenced for the killings that took place in a swath stretching from Inglewood to Claremont in the Los Angeles area.

Detectives describe Thomas as one of the region's most prolific serial killers, saying that he remains a suspect in at least ten to 15 additional slayings, based on the dates of the crimes and his method of killing.

Worst nightmare

"He has been my worst nightmare," said Tracy Michaels, who flew from Austin, Texas, to witness Friday's conclusion of a 35-year search for justice after her great-aunt, Elizabeth McKeown, was raped, strangled and stuffed in the trunk of her car.

"For me the death penalty would've been too easy." Michaels, who as a teenager lived with her great-aunt, asked Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli to "remove any comfort from this man's life.... Make the rest of his life feel like what he's made our lives feel like."

Police said the attacks targeted women who ranged in age from their 50s to their 90s, many of whom lived alone. The killer broke into their homes at night and raped and choked his victims until they passed out or died. Before he left, he covered their faces with a pillow or blanket. Thomas' sentence was part of a plea deal with prosecutors that Deputy District Attorney Rachel Moser Greene described as "an act of pragmatism" rather than "an act of mercy."

She noted that capital punishment was not legal in California when all but one of the killings Thomas admitted to were committed. She said the death penalty would not have been relevant in this case because Thomas would probably die in prison during his appeals, given his age.

"This provides certainty and finality for surviving family members who lived with this for so long," Greene said.

Thomas was born in Los Angeles and was raised by an aunt and his godmother after his mother died when he was 12.

He attended public schools and briefly joined the US Air Force in 1956. At Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, a superior described him as often late and slovenly.