A convicted California serial killer who went on a nine-day rampage that claimed the lives of four people has been denied parole and can not reapply for seven years . Brett Matthew Paul Thomas , now 56 , and his friend , Mark Titch , were convicted in 1977 after committing the murders during robbery or burglary attempts in Orange County . Thomas , who was 18 at the time , and Titch , who was 17 , were both sentenced to life with the possibility of parole . Titch died behind bars last year . Scroll down for video . Denied parole : Brett Matthew Paul Thomas ( pictured ) , who was 18 ( left ) at the time of his nine-day killing spree and who is now 56 ( right ) , was denied parole and can not reapply for seven years . Took her family : Lynette Duncan waits before giving a statement for the denial of parole for Brett Thomas , one of two teenagers who murdered her father and sister 33 years ago . The two were neighbors at a Stanton apartment complex that the police had dubbed 'The Zoo ' because of the criminal activity there , City News Service reported . Their first victim was Laura Stoughton , 20 , who interrupted the pair on Jan. 21 , 1977 , as they were breaking into her home . They abducted her and drove to an abandoned field , where Titch shot her at close range with a stolen .22-caliber rifle . Three days later , the two killed Ephraim Jacob Christian , 35 , during a botched robbery at Rockview Dairy . Five days after that , Thomas and Titch followed the owner of a billiards hall to his home with a plan to rob him . They gunned down Aubrey Duncan at his home , and then shot his 18-year-old daughter , Denise , in the heart after her mother opened the door to find out what was going on . Horrified : Lynette Duncan , one of the surviving daughters of Aubrey Duncan , still remembers telling her sister that her father and Denise were dead , she said . Duncan 's wife and two other daughters survived , as did an 11-year-old daughter who was at a neighbor 's house . Police caught up with Thomas and Titch the following month in neighboring San Bernardino County , where they were driving around in a stolen car . At a press conference before Friday 's parole hearing , Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Thomas was ' a serial murderer who has not and can not reform . ' Lynette Duncan , one of the surviving daughters of Aubrey Duncan , still remembers telling her sister that her father and Denise were dead , she said . 'That was the day she learned that the boogeyman was real and evil really did exist , and its name is Brett Thomas , ' Duncan said , according to the Orange County Register . Dead : Mark Titch ( pictured ) , who was 17 ( left ) at the time of the killing was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole but died behind bars last year at the age of 55 ( right ) On Friday , Prosecutors and relatives of the victims headed to a San Diego courthouse for the hearing to urge the parole board to grant a 15-year window before Thomas can apply for parole . 'When you do this , you relive all the pain , it comes right out onto the page , ' Duncan said on Friday . 'Then I 've got ta sit 15 feet from evil and be in the same room as evil ... It 's hard , ' she said . Duncan said attending the parole hearing is not as hard as seeing her family 's murderer on the street . 'This is hard , but living with him out on the street is going to be a whole lot harder , ' Lynette Duncan said of Brett Matthew Paul Thomas . 'So I will continue to appear at every parole hearing until he dies or I do , ' Duncan said as she joined prosecutors in court .
Convicted killer Brett Matthew Paul Thomas , now 56 , has been denied parole and can not reapply for seven years . Score: 6