Rape-Slaying of Woman Draws Death Sentence
Mark Alan Bradford was sentenced Tuesday to die in the gas chamber for raping, strangling and stabbing to death the manager of his Panorama City apartment building in 1988.
“The circumstances of this crime are appalling,” Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael J. Farrell said before sentencing Bradford, who was convicted in May of murdering Lynea Kokes, 28, on April 18, 1988.
Bradford, 27, a convalescent home cook, confessed to Los Angeles police that he choked, raped and sodomized Kokes after helping her move into the apartment building.
He said that he went home and then showered before deciding to come back and kill Kokes with a kitchen knife in order to prevent her from reporting the crime.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
