The family of an 11-year-old boy kidnapped and killed on his way home from school in Inglewood nearly 30 years ago is relieved and grateful that police have made an arrest in the case.
The mother of William Tillett choked back tears Wednesday at a news conference as police announced the arrest of a 50-year-old man and that they were seeking a second suspect in her son's death.
"The Inglewood Police Department has never given up and has been actively pursuing this case for 29 year," said Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta, who was a beat cop when the crime happened.
Edward Donell Thomas, of Pomona, was arrested Thursday and is now being held without bail in connection with the child's death. Thomas faces charges of being a felon in possession of a gun and murder with special circumstances, which makes him eligible for the death penalty.
William was a fourth grader at Bennett-Kew Elementary School when he disappeared May 24, 1990 while walking home from school.
NBC4's coverage from 1990 shows the carport where the boy's body was discovered six hours after he disappeared, behind an apartment complex in Hawthorne. There were signs his wrists had been bound and he'd been suffocated.
In 1990 two men were seen speeding away from the apartment complex where the boy's body was found, police said.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
According to coverage of the story in the Los Angeles Times, William had just said goodbye to two of his classmates near a shopping center six blocks from home and was never seen again. The newspaper described him as "a witty, likable youngster who liked to make funny faces and draw Bart Simpson cartoons."
"I wish the police would catch the killer," a student said at the time, according to the newspaper. "It's sad that a boy can't live to be 20."
Police aren't giving details about how they linked Thomas to the crime, saying only it was advanced technology that helped solve the case, one that police officers have never forgotten.
"An 11-year-old innocent child," Fronterotta said. "It' certainly had indelible mark in my heart."
