LOS ANGELES — A man has been charged with killing an 11-year-old boy who disappeared while walking home from an Inglewood elementary school nearly 30 years ago.
Edward Donell Thomas, 50, of Pomona, was charged yesterday with one count of murder as well as ‘special circumstance allegations of murder during the commission of a kidnapping and lying in wait’, making him eligible for the death penalty. He also faces one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
On May 24, 1990, William Tillett, 11, had been walking home from Kew Elementary School when he was kidnapped. Hours later, the boy’s body was found in a carport.
Police did not say how they linked the suspect to the killing.
If convicted as charged, Thomas faces death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. A decision on whether to seek the death penalty will be made a later date.
