CRIME HUNTER: Who is sex maniac cops call worst L.A. serial killer?

John Floyd Thomas Jr. — who would be known as Westside Rapist — had penchant for raping and murdering older women

Published Sep 19, 2026  •  Last updated 21 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

John Floyd Thomas Jr. Photo by Handout /Los Angeles Police Department

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source

Article content

When Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives anoint you the most prolific serial killer in the city’s history, you are as my sweet old Irish Nan would say, beyond the beyonds.

Article content

Article content

And remember, Los Angeles is no shrinking violent in the multiple murderer sweepstakes.

The names are etched in blood. Monsters like Harvey Glatman, Samuel Little, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, the Toolbox Killer, the Freeway Killer, and too many others to count.

UBER CREEP: Harvey Glatman lured victims with promises of fame. GETTY IMAGES

But rub the sleep out of your eyes, pour yourself a coffee and allow me introduce you to John Floyd Thomas Jr.

A native Angeleno, Thomas’ mother died when he was 12. He moved between his aunt and godmother’s homes. Not the best of starts but in these matters, he would not be the first or the last child thrust into an existence they did not ask for.

Like a lot of poor and working class kids, the military became his college and Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1956. So far, so good, right? It turned out the military wasn’t such a great fit for Thomas.

Article content

Article content

LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER

Superiors slammed him as perpetually tardy and worse, “slovenly” in appearance, and he racked up a dishonourable discharge. On civvy street, things did not improve. He was busted for burglary and attempted rape in his hometown of L.A. in 1957 and convicted. That earned him six years in the Big Q — San Quentin Prison. Due to parole violations (these matters were once taken seriously) he remained in the slammer until 1966.

Slithering in the netherworld of late 1960s California, he remained unremarkable. He eventually found work as an insurance adjuster as his sinister hobbies escalated.

Targets were elderly women

John Floyd Thomas Jr. — who would become the Westside Rapist — had a penchant for raping and murdering older women. By some estimates, cops believe he would rape and strangle as many as 30 women over the course of two decades.

They believe the first to die was 68-year-old Ethel Sokoloff, discovered raped and strangled to death in her Wilshire area home on Nov. 25, 1972. Thomas may have had a brief cooling off period before raping and strangling Cora Perry, 79, on Sept. 20, 1975.

Article content

Next came Elizabeth McKeown, 67, on Feb. 18, 1976; Maybelle Hudson, 80, April 1976; Miriam McKinley, 65, June 1976, and Evalyn Bunner, 56, Oct. 29, 1976. Thomas took a 10-year hiatus before raping and murdering Adrienne Askew, 56, in June 1986.

The killer in 1971 and 1982.

Detectives also suspected the same fiend in the murder of Askew’s 85-year-old mother. Her body was discovered two years after her daughter was murdered.

And then the murders stopped and the then-unknown killer faded into obscurity in the form of a banker’s box in the basement. Contemporary serial killer Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. — AKA the Golden State Killer — also suddenly called it quits.

But for the Westside Rapist, time was on the side of the angels.

Twice convicted of sexual assault

Thomas had already been twice convicted of sexual assault. Then the cops came calling in October 2008, something about looking to build their DNA data base for sex offenders. Thomas fit.

He was charged in April 2009 with murdering Sokoloff and McKeown.

Article content

DNA matching Thomas was found at three other crime scenes in the 1970s and ’80s, police robbery-homicide Capt. Denis Cremins told the Los Angeles Times. Detectives began scouring unsolved murder files with Thomas’ M.O., some dating to the 1950s.

“If he turns out to be the guy, he probably would be the largest ever (serial killer) in the city of Los Angeles,” Cremins said, adding investigators “believe that Thomas is likely connected to many more sexually motivated murders.”

All 30 victims were older, low income white women. Often they were widows living by themselves making them vulnerable to a predator like Thomas. Besides the murder victims, 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 murder victims all had pillows or blankets over their faces.

Sent to prison for rape

Cops began delving into the killer’s past. He had been a social worker, hospital employee and salesman. The attacks abruptly stopped in 1978 when Thomas was sent to prison for raping an older Pasadena woman.

Article content

According to the Times, after he was sprung in 1983, Thomas drifted to Chino in San Bernardino County taking a job as a hospital peer counsellor in nearby Pomona.

And then, the attacks began again with the death tally going up by five. The murders were all in the L.A. County town of Claremont. The killer used blankets and pillows to cover the victims’ faces.

But cops didn’t connect the pre-1978 cases to the ones in the 1980s. Cops said there were conflicting descriptions from the 20 survivors and poor coordination between law enforcement agencies. The biggest roadblock was lack of DNA tech.

As in the 1970s, the murders stopped as suddenly as they began in 1989. Thomas was working at the State Compensation Insurance Fund in suburban Glendale by then.

“As far as why he stopped, we don’t know for sure if he stopped,” Det. Rick Jackson said. “Who knows? It could be age-related, we just don’t know enough about him at this time.”

One pal described Thomas as “very engaging, very involved, seemed very informed.”

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

On April 2, 2011, the Westside Rapist was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for seven of the slayings. He remains a suspect in 10 to 15 additional cold case murders.

“He has been my worst nightmare,” McKeown’s niece, Tracy Michaels, told reporters. “For me the death penalty would’ve been too easy.”

Another survivor called him “a sadistic predator who preyed on the vulnerable.”

Now 90, Thomas remains behind bars.

[email protected]

@HunterTOSun

Article content