Times coverage: Alleged home invasion killer evaded three-strikes law

Several months ago, a string of home-invasion robbery killings that occurred within several weeks of each other dismayed the Hawthorne community. Homicide investigators were puzzled by the discovery of older men and women found in their homes, violently killed and with their belongings missing. Were they connected? Were the crimes the work of another serial killer?
It wasn't until late October that detectives got a break in the case. Investigators obtained video footage of the alleged killer using one of the victims' ATM cards to purchase gas.
On Oct. 23, John Wesley Ewell, a 53-year-old black man, was apprehended by sheriff deputies and subsequently charged with four counts of murder in connection with the deaths of Hanna Morcos, 80, Denice Roberts, 53, and married couple Leamon, 69, and Robyn Turnage, 57.
Ewell had an extensive criminal history that included two robbery convictions in the 1980s. In …
John Wesley Ewell claimed to be a victim of an overly harsh criminal justice system, telling journalists over the last decade that with two strikes on his record he lived in fear that even a small offense would land him back in prison for life.
Broadus' body was found by a passerby Aug. 30 about 6:30 a.m. in the 300 block of East 56th Street. The person called 911 and Long Beach Fire Department officials found her body in a parkway. She had been shot more than once in the torso and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
Three months later, Eduardo Rodriguez was fatally shot at his home in the 1600 block …