The Region - News from Dec. 8, 1985

A 24-year-old Compton-area man was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for his role in the kidnap, gang-rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in June, 1982. Henry Lee Thomas is the fourth and final suspect to be imprisoned in the murder of Tammy Jo Trafecanty of San Gabriel, whose body was found in a Compton field with three bullet wounds to the head. Two of Thomas’ accomplices, Donnell Gray and David Norvell, also received terms of life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Cedric Sanders, who cooperated with prosecutors, was convicted only of the rape charge and sentenced to seven years in prison. According to testimony, Sanders joined in the repeated rapes, but left the scene when the others decided to kill the girl.