Thomas William Hawkins

Timeline

• 1980 — Thomas W. Hawkins Jr. pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in Berks in connection with the strangulation death of Karen Stubbs.
• 1981 — Thomas W. Hawkins Jr. served five years of a six- to 15-year sentence.
• 1986 — Thomas W. Hawkins Jr. was paroled.
• 1989 — Andrea Thomas was murdered in June 1989; her body was discovered on June 4, 1989.
• May 22, 1989 — Dawn Marie Mozino disappeared.
• June 1989 — Andrea Thomas was murdered inside her grandparents’ home on Old Reading Pike in West Pottsgrove.
• August 1990 — Thomas W. Hawkins Jr. was tried and convicted, receiving a death sentence.
• 1991 — The death sentence was in place after being sentenced to death.
• August 1994 — Thomas W. Hawkins Jr. was retried and was again convicted and sentenced to death.
• 1994 — The state Supreme Court overturned the 1990 conviction on a technicality and ordered a retrial; Hawkins was retried in August 1994.
• 2002 — A governor signed Hawkins’ death warrant; he later won a stay of his execution by filing notice of his federal appeals.

Background

Thomas W. Hawkins Jr. was born as Thomas William Hawkins and was described as having been on death row at the state prison in Graterford. He was 30 during a 1990 trial and was described as having been 45 at the time of a May 30, 2009 report. Hawkins had been convicted of two murders in his lifetime.

Hawkins was the nephew of Andrea Thomas. He was the son of Elmira and Thomas Hawkins Sr.

The offence

Murder of Andrea Thomas (June 1989)

Andrea Thomas, 14, was murdered in June 1989 inside her grandparents’ home on Old Reading Pike in West Pottsgrove. Prosecutor Castor alleged that Thomas was sexually assaulted, strangled with a cord, and stabbed in the neck and back with a fork inside the home.

Andrea Thomas’s body was discovered on June 4, 1989, in a bed on the second floor of the 455 Old Reading Pike home of her grandparents, Elmira and Thomas Hawkins Sr., who were Hawkins’ parents.

Detectives said the girl was sexually assaulted, strangled with a cord, and stabbed in the neck and back with a fork.

Murder of Karen Stubbs (1980; prior conviction)

In 1980, Thomas W. Hawkins Jr. pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in connection with the strangulation death of Karen Stubbs, 15, of Reading. Hawkins was convicted in Berks of third-degree murder.

Stubbs was murdered in a dormitory of a private school in Douglass (Berks). She was strangled, sexually assaulted, and stabbed in the neck with a paint scraper.

Investigation

Prosecutor Bruce L. Castor Jr. alleged that Andrea Thomas was sexually assaulted, strangled with a cord, and stabbed in the neck and back with a fork.

Castor tried to link Hawkins to the May 22, 1989 disappearance of Dawn Marie Mozino, a 23-year-old learning disabled Radnor woman with whom Hawkins once worked.

During the 1994 trial, Castor offered Hawkins a deal to reveal anything he knew about the Mozino case and avoid the death penalty for Thomas’ killing. Hawkins rejected the offer.

Testimony revealed Hawkins collected detective magazines and highlighted passages detailing murder techniques.

Arrest

Hawkins was retried in August 1994 after the state Supreme Court overturned the earlier conviction on a technicality and ordered a retrial.

Trial

1990 trial and death sentence after August 1990 trial

Hawkins initially was convicted of killing Andrea Thomas and sentenced to die after an August 1990 trial.

The state Supreme Court overturned that conviction on a technicality and ordered a retrial.

1994 retrial and conviction and death sentence

Castor retried Hawkins in 1994. The retrial resulted in a first-degree murder conviction and a death sentence.

During the 1994 trial, Castor offered Hawkins a deal to reveal anything he knew about the Mozino case and avoid the death penalty for Thomas’ killing; Hawkins rejected the offer.

Castor described Hawkins as a calculated killer and as having been methodical in covering up his crime and attempting to create alibis.

Quotes attributed to Bruce L. Castor Jr. included:

“He is the most calculating, evil criminal that I have encountered in 23 years in law enforcement,” said Castor, who worked as a Montgomery County prosecutor from 1985 to 2008. “I would characterize Hawkins as the most evil man I ever encountered in all that time, including some really notorious and heinous killers in the county’s history.” “And he has steadfastly refused to do so,” Castor, now a county commissioner, said recently as he reflected on Hawkins and the 20-year anniversary of Mozino’s disappearance. “Over time, I became convinced that Hawkins was responsible for her disappearance and probably her murder, and I wanted to be able to bring some peace of mind to the Mozino family and I’m disappointed I was unable to,” Castor said. “The most disappointing aspect of the Hawkins series of investigations and prosecutions is that we did not bring in the disappearance of Dawn Mozino.” “Even with all the successes, the ones you remember are the ones that you failed and this is one of them. Every time I hear Dawn Mozino’s name, my mind immediately flashes to a photograph of her wearing her Special Olympics medals, with her curly hair, smiling, that was in all the papers,” Castor recalled. “It’s one of those cases that if they ever did get a lead, if they could ever find her body and tie it to Hawkins, and if the district attorney wanted me to I would come back and prosecute it myself because I think Hawkins is a very dangerous, evil man and I want the Mozino family to have the peace of mind of knowing what happened to Dawn,” Castor added. “He engaged in a very elaborate killing in Berks and cover-up there. Then, in our case, it was exceedingly methodical the way he covered up his crime, began to try to create alibis for himself and set the crime scene up to look like a burglary,” Castor recalled. “He went to great lengths to cover his tracks in order to be able to engage a second time in a killing of a young girl.” “He’s very intelligent. Hawkins tests as a very intelligent man, would have had the whole world open to him had he decided not to be a criminal,” said Castor. “It is highly improbable that it’s an accident that the last person seen with Dawn was Hawkins, who two weeks later would murder Andrea Thomas,” Castor said. “When the governor signed the death warrant I thought that was an opportunity. I have long thought that the only time Hawkins will divulge the necessary information is when he’s about to actually get executed,” Castor said.

Castor called Hawkins “an evil serial killer,” and described him as “a two-time” killer in connection with prosecutions for the 1989 West Pottsgrove murder of 14-year-old Andrea Thomas.

Sentencing

1980 third-degree murder sentence

Hawkins pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in 1980 in connection with the strangulation death of Karen Stubbs. He served five years of a six- to 15-year sentence before being paroled in 1986.

Death sentence

Hawkins was sentenced to die after an August 1990 trial for killing Andrea Thomas.

The state Supreme Court overturned the 1990 conviction on a technicality and ordered a retrial.

After the 1994 retrial, Hawkins was again convicted and given a death sentence.

A governor signed Hawkins’ death warrant in 2002. Hawkins later won a stay of his execution when he filed notice of his federal appeals.

Appeals

Hawkins won a stay of his execution when he filed notice of his federal appeals.

Outcome

Hawkins had a conviction set aside on a technicality, was retried in August 1994, and was again convicted and sentenced to death.

Other details

Mozino disappearance (unrelated to a charge stated)

Castor tried to link Hawkins to Dawn Marie Mozino’s May 22, 1989 disappearance. Mozino disappeared about two weeks before Andrea Thomas was found murdered. Hawkins once worked with Mozino at Paoli Hospital and had asked for Mozino’s help in getting a job at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

Testimony revealed Mozino was last seen alive with Hawkins at a bus stop in Lower Merion on the day she disappeared.

Hawkins was named a suspect in Mozino’s disappearance but has not been charged in connection with the incident.

Castor said:

Castor also said:

Hawkins’ alleged behavior and cover-up

Castor described the killing and cover-up as elaborate and methodical, and said Hawkins created alibis and set the crime scene to look like a burglary. Castor also described Hawkins as having gone to great lengths to cover his tracks to be able to engage in a second killing of a young girl.

Statements on intelligence

Castor said:

Relationships and ages

Andrea Thomas was 14. Karen Stubbs was 15. Dawn Marie Mozino was 23. Hawkins was 30 during the 1990 trial and was described as having been 16 when he pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in 1981 per the case summary narrative. Hawkins later was described as having been 45.