Lilian Kramer, a 67-year-old white female, was found murdered in her Los Angeles apartment on November 14, 1975. Her death was part of a disturbing pattern of killings that plagued the city during the 1970s, targeting elderly women living alone. Kramer's case bore striking similarities to other unsolved murders from that era, prompting investigators to suspect a serial offender. The nature of her death—along with the age, gender, and circumstances—aligned with a series of attacks attributed to a figure known as the “Westside Rapist.”
Authorities later identified the suspect as John Floyd Thomas Jr., a Black male born in Los Angeles in 1936. Thomas was eventually linked through DNA evidence to multiple murders of elderly women, including Kramer's. His modus operandi involved breaking into homes, sexually assaulting the victims, and then strangling them. In Kramer's case, investigators noted “certain points of similarity” with other victims, such as forced entry and the use of household items to obscure the victim's face post-mortem.
Thomas was arrested in 2009 after a DNA match connected him to several cold cases. He was charged with seven counts of murder, including that of 67-year-old white female Elizabeth McKeown, and later pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. Though Kramer's name was not among the officially charged cases, law enforcement strongly suspected Thomas's involvement due to the consistent pattern and forensic evidence. Her murder remains one of several attributed to Thomas, who is believed to have killed as many as 15 women during his spree.
The arrest of Thomas brought long-awaited closure to many families, though some cases—including Kramer's—were never formally prosecuted. Nonetheless, her death is considered part of the broader investigation that ultimately led to the conviction of one of Los Angeles's most prolific serial killers.
