1. Lloyd Gomez, known as The Phantom Hobo Killer, was an American serial killer who robbed and murdered nine vagrant men across California from 1950 to 1951.
26 Facts About Lloyd Gomez
1. 2.
Lloyd Gomez was tried, convicted, and formally sentenced to death for the murder of Warren Cunningham, his second victim.
3.
Lloyd Gomez was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison in 1953.
4.
Lloyd Gomez was born on December 6,1923, in Caliente, Nevada to Indian-Mexican parents.
5.
Lloyd Gomez is known to have traveled extensively around the west coast through freight trains.
6.
Later in his life, Lloyd Gomez started to go under the pseudonym of Harry Jenks.
7.
In 1942, Lloyd Gomez was arrested but later released by Sacramento County deputies on suspicion of dodging the draft, since at the time the United States was at war with Germany and Japan during World War II.
8.
On March 26,1942, Lloyd Gomez accosted a 10-year-old boy in a field near Caliente.
9.
Armed with a knife, Lloyd Gomez forced the boy to hand over his rifle, and once in hand of it threatened the youth before fleeing the area.
10.
Lloyd Gomez was later arrested in Cedar City, Utah and was extradited back to Nevada, for which he was sentenced to four years imprisonment.
11.
In 1946 Lloyd Gomez was paroled, but was returned to prison after being convicted in 1948 for assault.
12.
Lloyd Gomez was brought to a prison camp, but one day when guards were not looking Gomez simply walked off, not to be seen again for the next two years.
13.
Lloyd Gomez chose fellow homeless men as his victims, roughly middle-aged whom he often preyed on while wandering around railroad cars.
14.
Lloyd Gomez used numerous methods in his murders, including shooting them, beating them with a wooden plank, smashing them with a bottle, and bashing their head's in with rocks.
15.
The second victim was 42-year-old Warren Hood Cunningham who, on November 11,1950, was shot to death after he accused Lloyd Gomez of stealing his beer.
16.
The only witness to the killing, John Kapusta, couldn't identify Lloyd Gomez based on the fact he was blind in one eye.
17.
Lloyd Gomez simply returned to the homeless lifestyle without killing anyone for the time being.
18.
On May 26,1951, Lloyd Gomez resumed his killing spree, this time claiming six more victims in little under four months.
19.
Lloyd Gomez beat to death Elmer Cushman who was sitting in a rail car, and pocketed $16.
20.
Lloyd Gomez snuck up behind him and bashed his head in with a rock, fracturing his skull and ultimately killing him.
21.
On January 15,1952, Lloyd Gomez was arrested after police stumbled upon him walking the streets with a large slash across his face.
22.
Lloyd Gomez agreed to help investigators, and took them to the crime scene.
23.
Lloyd Gomez' defense argued that due to the publicity surrounding the case, it would be impossible to select an impartial jury, and requested to superior court judge Raymond Coughlin that trial be moved elsewhere, something that he refused to do.
24.
On June 10,1952, Lloyd Gomez was sentenced to death and was transferred to San Quentin State Prison to await execution.
25.
On October 15,1953, Lloyd Gomez sat with interviewers and gave his final interview, in which he began eating his final meal, which was fried chicken, fried potatoes, peas, a tomato and lettuce salad, toast, apple pie and coffee.
26.
The next day, nine hours after the interview, Lloyd Gomez was executed by the gas chamber.