On January 31, 1992, a young man named Carlos Adkins was shot and killed during an argument inside an apartment in Los Angeles County, California. Very little is publicly known about Carlos, a man whose life was cut short in an act of violence that would later be linked to a notorious serial killer. His death was the first in a series of murders committed by a man who would go on to kill two police officers the following year.
The man responsible for Carlos Adkins's death was Regis Deon
Thomas, a member of the Bounty Hunter Bloods street gang from South-Central Los Angeles. Born in 1970, Thomas had a criminal record that included a perjury conviction from 1990. For a time, he worked as a security guard at a liquor store, but he lost his job when the building was burned down during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. This left him unemployed for a year leading up to his most violent crimes.
The investigation into Carlos's murder was fraught with challenges. Thomas was initially charged with the killing and spent four months in jail. However, the case against him fell apart and was dismissed in the fall of 1992 after one witness was murdered and another recanted their testimony. For a time, it seemed as though justice for Carlos Adkins would not be found. The case grew cold, but it was not forgotten.
The crucial break in the case came more than a year later, following a crime that shocked the city. On the night of February 22, 1993, Compton Police Officer Kevin Michael Burrell, 29, and Reserve Officer James Wayne MacDonald, 24, conducted a routine traffic stop on a red pickup truck driven by Thomas. As the officers approached his vehicle, Thomas exited and opened fire, shooting both officers multiple times. The brazen and brutal killings of the two officers, who were the only Compton police officers killed in the line of duty in the department's 65-year history, sparked a massive manhunt.
The intense investigation into the officers' murders led authorities to re-examine the killing of Carlos Adkins. Investigators discovered that the same type of gun used to kill Officers Burrell and MacDonald had been used to kill Carlos. On April 6, 1993, Regis Deon Thomas surrendered to a KTLA television reporter and was taken into custody. He was subsequently charged with all three murders.
During his trial, the jury heard testimony that linked Thomas to all three killings. He was ultimately found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances for the deaths of the police officers, and second-degree murder for the death of Carlos Adkins. In addition to the murder convictions, Thomas was also found guilty of perjury, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a concealed firearm in a vehicle. On August 15, 1995, Regis Deon Thomas was sentenced to death for the murders of the officers. For the second-degree murder of Carlos Adkins, he received a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Regis Deon Thomas currently resides on death row at San Quentin State Prison.
