Police say man, 72, tied to SoCal serial killings

[April 30, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Los Angeles police believe a 72-year-old man charged with two cold-case killings is tied to two waves of Southern California serial killings involving as many as 25 victims.

LAPD Detective Richard Bengston says DNA matching former insurance adjuster John Floyd Thomas Jr. was found at five crime scenes spanning the killing-and-rape rampages in west Los Angeles in the 1970s and Claremont in the 1980s.

Police plan to reveal details of the case at a press conference Thursday.

Thomas was charged April 2 with murdering a 68-year-old woman in 1972 and a 67-year-old woman in 1976. He's being held in a county jail and couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Officers reached by phone Thursday morning had no information on an attorney for Floyd.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/

[Associated Press]

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