Jury Recommends Death in Woman’s Rape, Murder

A jury recommended Wednesday that a 27-year-old Panorama City man should die in the gas chamber for raping, strangling and stabbing to death the manager of his apartment building.

The Van Nuys Superior Court jury took just over a day to decide that Mark Alan Bradford should receive the death penalty for murdering Lynea Kokes, 28, on April 18, 1988. Kokes was moving in with her husband and infant son to become the manager as part of an effort by the apartment’s new owners to evict drug dealers and prostitutes from the complex and encourage young families to move in, officials said.

Judge Michael J. Farrell can accept the jury’s recommendation or sentence Bradford to life in prison without of parole. He set sentencing for July 3.

Bradford confessed to Los Angeles police that he choked, raped and sodomized Kokes after helping her move into the apartment in the 9500 block of Van Nuys Boulevard. He said he killed her to keep her from testifying.