A 78‑year‑old white female, **Una Cartwright**, was found **raped and murdered** in her **Los Angeles, California** apartment on **April 8, 1975**. Her front door was discovered ajar and a television set had been stolen, indicating forced entry and a possible burglary that escalated to sexual assault and homicide.
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Investigators later determined that Una Cartwright's death shared the same brutal MO as several other elderly female victims from the same era: forced
entry, rape, strangulation or suffocation, and often with pillows or blankets placed over the victim's face or body following the assault.
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In **2009**, cold-case detectives reopened decades-old unsolved homicides of elderly women in Los Angeles and Inglewood following advancements in DNA analysis and the launch of the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Homicide Unit. In October of that year, a DNA sample taken from convicted sex offender **John Floyd Thomas Jr.**—a 72‑year‑old black male working as a state insurance claims adjuster—was matched through California's CODIS database to biological evidence recovered from several crime scenes, including the April 1975 murder of Una Cartwright.
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As a result, on **March 31, 2009**, **John Floyd Thomas Jr.** was arrested and initially charged with killing two elderly victims. Subsequent charges added five additional murders—including that of **Una Cartwright**, age 78—spanning from **September 1975 to June 1986**. Investigators now believe Thomas may be tied to **10–15 or more** murders of elderly women dating from the early 1970s into the 1980s.
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In **April 2011**, Thomas, then 74, pleaded guilty to **seven counts of first-degree murder** to avoid the death penalty. The court heard that all seven confirmed victims ranged from **56 to 80** years old, encompassing sexual violence followed by strangulation and sometimes cover-up with bedding. Among them was **78‑year‑old Una Cartwright**. The confession was accompanied by the revelation that Thomas would not face execution due to the timing of the crimes.
He received **seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole**, effectively ensuring he will remain incarcerated for the rest of his life.
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To this day, no arrest has been made for any additional murders beyond those seven. However, law enforcement continues to suspect Thomas in **two dozen or more** other unsolved rapes and homicides of elderly women in southern California from the 1970s and 1980s. No other suspects have been named or interviewed in connection with those cases since Thomas's conviction.
