Jury Finds Man Guilty of Rape, Slaying of Apartment Manager

After deliberating only four hours, a Van Nuys Superior Court jury found a Panorama City man guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder for strangling and stabbing the new manager of his apartment building.

Mark Alan Bradford, 27, a convalescent home cook, was also convicted of rape, sodomy and residential robbery in connection with the April 18, 1988, attack on Lynea Kokes, 28. Bradford was acquitted of one count of residential burglary.

Because Bradford was convicted of a special-circumstance allegation that he killed Kokes to keep her from being a witness, the jury must decide whether to recommend that he receive the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Judge Michael J. Farrell scheduled the penalty phase of the trial May 23.

Kokes was to become the on-site manager as part of an effort by the apartment’s new owners to evict drug dealers and prostitutes from the complex in the 9500 block of Van Nuys Boulevard and encourage young families to move in, officials said.

During the trial, a key piece of evidence was a tape recording in which Bradford confessed to police that he choked, raped and sodomized Kokes after helping her move into the apartment she was to share with her husband and infant son. He also said he had been drinking before the attack.

Then, he told police, he took a kitchen knife and went back to Kokes’ apartment and killed her.

Police were called after Kokes’ husband, Alex, came home and found her dead about 8:40 p.m., several hours after the killing. The couple’s child was with a baby-sitter at the time of Kokes’ murder, officials said.

Bradford was arrested at his apartment later that night after his roommate found a broken knife blade in Bradford’s laundry and turned it over to police.

Deputy Public Defender Dennis G. Cohen did not present a defense and said he would not comment on his reasons until the case is completed.