28-year-old John Joe Thomas has been arrested for the brutal murder of 70-year-old Murray Seidman. Thomas allegedly beat Seidman to death with a sock filled with rocks, in Seidman’s home in January.
Thomas told authorities that he was inspired to kill after reading in the Old Testament that homosexuals should be stoned to death, saying that stoning is what God says you should do to gays. He claimed that Seidman made advances toward him over a period of time. Thomas also told authorities that he had received a message in his prayers that he must kill Seidman. Thomas had been the older man’s companion for years and Seidman had made Thomas executor and sole beneficiary of his will.
The evidence indicates that Thomas bludgeoned Seidman in the head and face a dozen times with the sock of rocks. He then left the elderly man dead in his apartment, and threw his bloody clothing and the weapon in a dumpster.