Homeless man sentenced for stabbing death of woman who took him in

A homeless man was sentenced Sept. 22 to 26 years to life in prison for fatally stabbing a 45-year-old woman who allowed him to live at her home, according to Los Angeles County district attorney’s records.

Laevin Meikel Weatherspoon was convicted Aug. 31 of one count of first-degree murder in the death of Wanda Mittie Threadgill. Jurors also ruled that he used a knife to commit the crime.

On Dec. 17, 2013, Threadgill’s daughter broke into her mother’s Gramercy Park apartment after not hearing from her for about two weeks, prosecutors said. In the home, she found her mother’s decomposing body in a bedroom.

Threadgill had been stabbed to death by Weatherspoon on Dec. 5, 2013, prosecutors estimated. He stabbed her 27 times, according to evidence presented at trial, then fled to Chicago.

DNA evidence on a butcher knife found at the home tied Weatherspoon to the killing. During the trial, Weatherspoon admitted on the stand that he had stabbed Threadgill. 

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @jeromercampbell and @latimeshomicide on Twitter.