On August 11, 1981, Rose Lederman, an 80-year-old female residing in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, was found dead in her home. Rose Lederman was one of several elderly women targeted in a disturbing series of violent crimes that plagued the East Hollywood-Silver Lake area during the early 1980s. Her death was part of a broader investigation into what authorities later identified as the work of a serial killer.
The victim, an elderly white female, was discovered strangled in her
residence, which was located within walking distance of a rehabilitation center attended by the eventual suspect. Her murder was one of the earliest in a string of homicides that would later be attributed to Brandon Tholmer, a Black male born in 1949 and previously convicted of rape. Tholmer had a history of violent offenses, including a 1975 rape of a 79-year-old woman, for which he served time in Patton State Hospital as a mentally disordered sex offender. After his release in 1979, he continued outpatient treatment but remained under suspicion for further crimes.
Following a renewed investigation into the deaths of 32 elderly women between 1981 and 1983, authorities began to connect Tholmer to several of the cases. Surveillance was initiated in November 1983, and Tholmer was arrested while allegedly attempting to burglarize the home of another elderly woman. Evidence linked him to merchandise stolen from Rose Lederman's home, and his shoe matched a footprint found at another crime scene.
Tholmer was ultimately charged with the murders of four elderly women, including 80-year-old white female Rose Lederman, and convicted in 1986. The charges included rape, sodomy, arson, and burglary, with special circumstances that made him eligible for the death penalty. He was sentenced to four consecutive life terms. Although suspected in up to 34 murders, he was formally charged in only the cases where the evidence was strongest. Rose Lederman's death marked the beginning of a chilling pattern that would haunt Los Angeles for years.
