A man convicted of murdering a 55-year-old Beaumont businessman in the Cajon Pass was found dead in his cell Monday, April 29, at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Tuesday.
John Wayne Thomson, 64, died in his cell at the Medical Facility hospice unit, and his cause of death will be determined by the Solano County Coroner’s Office, the corrections agency said in a news release.
Thomson was sentenced to death on April 4, 2014, for fatally stabbing Charles Hedlund after the victim offered Thomson a ride in 2006. It was that Thomson was in a stolen vehicle that had broken down when Hedlund stopped to help him.
Additionally, Thomson was convicted of second-degree robbery, aggravated mayhem, carjacking and two counts of attempted carjacking stemming from a crime spree in Victorville just a few days after Hedlund’s murder.
Authorities said Thomson attacked a 70-year-old man with a hammer and stole his car, then tried to steal cars from two women.
At trial, prosecutors called Thomson a serial killer since he was linked to the Washington state homicides of James Ehrgott, 73, and Lori Hamm, 36, who both went missing in the summer of 2006.
