One of the worst serial killers in Orange County’s history was denied parole Friday and won’t be able to seek his freedom again for seven years.
Orange County prosecutors had sought a 15-year parole denial for Brett Matthew Paul Thomas.
Thomas was denied parole for five years in October 2012, but was able to petition for an earlier hearing, held today at the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said before the hearing he opposed parole for Thomas because, “he is a serial murderer who has not and cannot reform.”
“This inmate refuses to rehabilitate while in prison,” Rackauckas said. “He’s racked up 56 prison rules violations, including many for force and violence. He’s spent two decades participating in a white supremacist gang.”
Despite an admonishment from parole board officers to behave in prison if he ever wanted to win his freedom, Thomas grew violent while disobeying a correctional officer, Rackauckas said.
Thomas, was 18, and partner, Mark Wayne Titch, was 17, when they rampaged through Orange County in 1977 on a nine-day killing spree, killing four.
The two pleaded guilty abruptly in October 1977 as jurors were awaiting to be seated for testimony in their trials. The two were neighbors in a Stanton apartment complex nicknamed by authorities as “The Zoo” because of its crime issues.
Their first victim was 20-year-old Laura Stoughton, who interrupted the pair Jan. 21, 1977, as they were breaking into her Garden Grove home, according to prosecutors.
The two abducted the potential witness, put her in the trunk of their car and drove her to an abandoned field in Orange, where Titch tried to sexually assault her, prosecutors said.
Clutching a rosary and in a fetal position, the victim escaped death as Thomas tried to shoot her with a stolen gun that misfired, prosecutors said. Titch, however, shot and killed her at close range with a stolen .22-caliber rifle.
The next victim was 35-year-old Ephraim Jacob Christian on Jan. 24, 1977, at Rockview Dairy in Garden Grove. Thomas was the triggerman in the robbery, but the pair failed to get a cash register open and fled.
On Jan. 29, 1977, the duo planned a robbery of a billiards hall, the Cue and Cushion. They followed the owner, Aubrey Duncan, home to Anaheim where Thomas gunned him down, prosecutors said.
The victim’s wife, Nadine Duncan, heard the gunshots and opened the door only to be met by Thomas’ stolen shotgun, prosecutors said. Her 18-year-old daughter, Denise Duncan, who was standing behind her mother, was shot in the heart and died in her home, but Nadine survived.
Lynette Duncan, who was 17 at the time, and another sister, who was also home at the time, survived unharmed. Another sister, just 11 at the time, was at a neighbor’s home.
The pair returned to the Cue and Cushion to burglarize it but fled when someone pulled up to the business.
Police caught up with Thomas and Titch in February 1977 in a stolen car in San Bernardino, and evidence of their crime spree was found.
Titch died in prison on April 22, 2014.
— City News Service