"Westside Rapist" John Floyd Thomas Jr. gets 7 life terms in prison for L.A. slayings

(CBS/KCBS) LOS ANGELES - A 74-year-old man also known as the "Westside Rapist" pleaded guilty Friday and was immediately sentenced to seven life prison terms, one without the possibility of parole, for the murder of seven women in Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s.

John Floyd Thomas Jr. pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree murder. His victims ranged in age from 56 to 80. Los Angeles police also believe Thomas is responsible for about two dozen sexual assaults, reports CBS station KCBS.

Thomas was initially charged April 2, 2009, with murdering Ethe Sokoloff, 68, on Nov. 25, 1972 and Elizabeth McKoewn, 67, some time between Feb. 15-18 in 1976, the station reports.

Thomas was linked to the two killings through DNA evidence, but the LAPD was also looking into as many as two dozen other murders and rapes that occurred between 1955 and 1978, reports KCBS.

Later in 2009, Thomas was charged with five additional killings of women between September 1975 and June 1986, according to the District Attorney's Office, the station reports.

Thomas was arrested on March 31, 2009.