Police in Los Angeles have caught a break on a decades old cold case.
From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Westside Rapist claimed dozens of victims, mostly older white females. At the time, police were unable to narrow down their list of suspects and lacked the technology to make a conclusive identification. But in 2002, while reviewing 6000 cold cases and using more advanced science, police were able to match DNA from several of the cases.
Then, in March of this year, a match was finally made with a suspect, 72-year-old John Floyd Thomas Jr., who had recently provided a DNA sample for California’s sex offender database.
Thomas’ history matches the modus operandi and circumstances of the earlier murders. Should the identification prove conclusive, police may have finally captured one of the worst serial killers in U.S. history.