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Author Topic: CA Serial Killer "Grim Sleeper" (Lonnie Franklin ARRESTED!)  (Read 54145 times)
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Mtnmom
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« on: February 26, 2009, 03:23:37 PM »

Cops Hunt for 'Grim Sleeper' Serial Killer

LOS ANGELES (Feb. 25) - They have a sample of his DNA, a description from a survivor and a $500,000 reward, but detectives investigating the city's most notorious serial killer have hit a wall.
On Wednesday, they released a recording of a 1987 emergency call in hopes of tracking down the man dubbed the "Grim Sleeper," who has killed at least 11 times in nearly a quarter century.
It's a long shot, that's for sure," said Detective Dennis Kilcoyne. "I am hoping a couple people call us. ... Maybe that will lead us to something."
Kilcoyne heads a squad of seven Los Angeles homicide detectives who for nearly two years have been assigned exclusively to the case. The killer most recently struck Jan. 1, 2007, and his first known victim was in 1985.
Police have pored over investigative files from all the killings and are now focusing on the January 1987 slaying of Barbara Ware, a 23-year-old with a history of prostitution who was found shot to death in a South Los Angeles alley.
A man saw a blue-and-white van dump her body. He called police with his account and gave the license plate number of the van. Within about an hour, police had tracked the van to its registered address at a church.
"The engine was still warm to the touch," Kilcoyne said.

Several congregants were inside the now-defunct Cosmopolitan Cathedral but no one seemed to know anything.
"Then the trail stops there," said Kilcoyne. "It sounds like it was a pretty good road map for the investigation at the time and it just fizzled out."
Kilcoyne and his men hope to track down former churchgoers or even someone who knows the voice on the emergency call.
On the two-minute call, a man described to a dispatcher how he'd seen someone drop the body off from the van, then throw a gas tank on top of her. He said he didn't see the man driving the van.
"I'd like to report a murder — a dead body or something," the caller said. "He threw her out ... the only thing you can see out is her feet."
When asked for his name, the caller declined.
"I know too many people," he said, then hung up.

Kilcoyne is accustomed to promising leads turning cold.
Six victims were found with the killer's DNA on them but a search of prisoner databases came up blank. Detectives went on to ask the California Department of Justice to run a DNA search that sought possible matches to the killer's relatives. It was the first time the controversial search was carried out in the U.S., Kilcoyne said.
"It didn't produce an answer," Kilcoyne said. "Nothing."
The suspect kills by gunshot or strangulation, in some cases both, usually after some kind of sexual contact. Ten victims were women, all were black and several were prostitutes. The bodies were all found outside, usually in dirty alleyways a few miles south of downtown.
The $500,000 award offer is thought to be the biggest ever in the city. Billboards announcing the offer loom over streets near where the victims were found.
"We still have no idea who this guy is," Kilcoyne said. "We've got a half-million-dollar reward out there on billboards and no one calls."
The killings were featured on "America's Most Wanted" and dozens of tipsters called detectives after the case was first made public last year, but leads went nowhere.
The first round of killings happened at a time parts of the city were suffering from extreme violence and many young women fell prey to newfound addictions of crack cocaine and other drugs.
Police Chief William Bratton assembled Kilcoyne's squad in June 2007 after the death of the killer's most recent known victim, 25-year-old Janecia Peters, who was found shot to death in a trash bin in a graffiti-tagged alley.

"We realized we've got a serious problem," Kilcoyne said. "This guy is still out there."
Because of the race of his victims, critics faulted the Police Department for not investigating the killings sooner and said the city was disinterested in the case.
Porter Alexander, 68, whose youngest daughter, Monique Alexander, was killed in 1988, said police initially seemed reluctant to investigate her death because there were signs she may have been involved in prostitution.
"They didn't show any strong concern," he said. "If I didn't call, I didn't get a call."
Police don't know why the killer took a 14-year hiatus. The gap led the LA Weekly newspaper, which first wrote about him, to dub him the "Grim Sleeper."
One description of the suspect exists — from a woman who survived an attack in 1988. She recalled him driving an orange Pinto and offering her a ride to her sister's house.
After exchanging some lighthearted banter, she agreed to the driver's offer. He had chiseled features, a low afro and wore a black polo shirt. He would now be in his late 40s to early 60s.
Shortly after she got in the car, she said, he shot her. "I woke up in the dark, I was in the middle of the street," said the woman, whose number was provided by police. She asked not to be named because she is the victim of a crime.
http://news.aol.com/article/grim-sleeper-serial-killer/357528
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« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2009, 04:57:28 PM »

Grim Sleeper a nightmare for LA

On New Year's Day, 2007, a homeless man rummaging for bottles and cans in a dumpster off Western Avenue in South Los Angeles - the notoriously neglected home of many of the megalopolis's poorest blacks and Latinos - made a grisly discovery.

Lying amid the trash, near a Christmas tree, was a black plastic rubbish bag. It covered a young black woman, naked but for a gold pendant. She had been shot in the back.

Police identified her as Janecia Peters, 25. The murder of a young black woman aroused little reaction, beyond family grief, as violent death in South LA is common and often unsolved. Indeed, Peters' murder was first misreported as a stabbing.

But this death was different. Late last month the Los Angeles Police Department stunned the megalopolis by revealing that Peters was the latest victim of the most prolific serial killer in California's bloody history.

The killer, dubbed the Grim Sleeper, has committed at least 11 murders since 1985; 10 black women raped and shot and one black man shot.

Disturbingly, he appears to have halted his grisly spree in 1988, after eight murders, only to re-emerge in 2002, then to disappear between 2003 and 2007.

In May 2007, following DNA analysis - the killer left traces of DNA on his victims' breasts - detectives finally concluded a serial killer was stalking their city.
"The day those tests came in, we realised we had a serial killer on our hands who has been active for 23 years," said LAPD Detective Dennis Kilcoyne, who heads the team of seven full-time investigators. Formed last May, the unit operated covertly until recently.
They have their work cut out. Their quarry may have killed others in what is at least a 23-year murder spree. Thirty-three cold cases - unsolved homicides - on LAPD files show similarities to the Grim Sleeper's known victims.

The news that a killer was in their midst provoked anger in South LA where residents asked why they were not warned earlier. "Leaving us out of the loop about something so important boggles the mind," said Bernard Parks, a former LAPD chief, who now represents South LA on the council.

Police say they had to walk a tightrope. Publicity would warn the public and might solicit tips but it could also alert the killer. However 18 months after the LAPD formed its task force, police seem no closer to catching the killer.

The biggest problem, says LAPD Chief of Detectives Charlie Beck, is the victims "all had some connection to high-risk street activity" - prostitution, drugs, or both - and warnings didn't "prohibit them from their activities".

The world's oldest profession is also one of the deadliest in LA where street prostitution is illegal. Beck rejects complaints police might have acted swifter had the murders occurred in a wealthy, white area. "That's nonsensical. There aren't any street prostitutes in Bel Air."


Besides assembling a team, the city has offered a $50,000 reward per victim and up to $500,000 for all the known cases - the largest reward ever offered by the city.

Porter Alexander, whose daughter Alicia was found dead in 1988 after she went to a local store, spoke at a press conference this month when the city posted its reward. "We hope they bring this menace to a halt," he said. "I know someone out there knows something or has seen something."

Little is known publicly about the suspect. The only witness, an unidentified black woman who survived a 1988 attack, says a black man in his mid-30s with short hair picked her up in an orange Ford Pinto, then raped and shot her in the chest. Amazingly, she persuaded him to let her jump from his car. This is the last known attack before 2002.

"Everything dried up," said Kilcoyne. "Detectives ran out of clues. They got on to other things."

At the time the Grim Sleeper murders were viewed as isolated crimes. But retrospective analysis shows striking similarities in his modus operandi. Besides selecting blacks, the killer shot his victims in the chest with the same .25 handgun.
Moreover, the female victims had all been found on or near Western Avenue, a long north-south boulevard through South LA. As for the only male victim - Thomas Steele, 36, found shot dead in the middle of an intersection - Beck says he "may have had some involvement with the prostitution business".

Based on the 1988 attack Beck says "we're looking for a male black, probably in his mid-50s". He cautions that this profile is vague as the witness was, and is, traumatised.
In 2001 Parks, then LAPD chief, instructed detectives to re-examine cold case murder books - over 9000 unsolved homicides dating back to 1960 - using new DNA technologies.

Four years later LAPD Detective Cliff Shephard found a match between Valerie McCorvey, 35, killed in 2003, and Princess Berthomieux, 14, killed in 2002 - both strangled and dumped near Western - and a preserved DNA sample taken from Lowe, killed in 1987.

When Peters was killed, and DNA linked her to the other murders, the LAPD quietly formed its task force. As is usual when hunting serial killers police also consulted profilers.

This may be of little value because, says Beck, the Grim Sleeper "may be outside the parameters of a 'typical' serial killer". Instead, the killer is likely to be a "regular customer who occasionally kills prostitutes. But not all prostitutes".

The biggest mystery, other than the killer's identity, is why he apparently stopped killing between 1988 and 2001, and between 2003 and 2007, although his bloody footprint may be linked to other cold cases from this period.

Detectives theorise he may have been abroad or out of the state. He may have been in prison but not had his DNA taken.

Currently, hopes are focusing on a "familial search" comparing the killer's DNA with a state database that may include relatives. If his familial DNA emerges in a search of over 1 million DNA profiles, police might be able to identify the Grim Sleeper.

It can't be done soon enough for people in South LA. The Grim Sleeper has been quiet for 20 months. The race for a familial DNA match is made urgent by the fear that the killer is biding his time waiting to strike again.

KNOWN VICTIMS
These are the victims and the dates they disappeared or were found.

* Debra Jackson, 29 - August 10, 1985.
* Henrietta Wright, 35 - August 12, 1986.
* Thomas Steele, 36 - August 14, 1986.
* Barbara Ware, 23 - January 10, 1987.
* Bernita Sparks, 25 - April 15, 1987.
* Mary Lowe, 26 - November 1, 1987.
* Lachrica Jefferson, 22 - January 30, 1988.
* Alicia " Monique" Alexander, 18 - September 11, 1988.
* Princess Berthomieux, 14 - March 19, 2002.
* Valerie McCorvey, 35 - July 11, 2003.
* Janecia Peters, 25 - January 1, 2007.
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« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2009, 08:43:15 PM »

I have also researched this case somewhat.  Is anyone else here researching this case? If so I would like to discuss and have info I can add to the board.
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« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2009, 02:46:44 PM »



3/20/2009
'The Grim Sleeper': A Dozen Black Victims, Two Decades, No Suspect

The LAPD is staking it's claim as the most inept police department in the country.

In nearly two decades, 11 or more people have been murdered by the same man, with the police department nearly powerless to stop it.

Recently, an emergency call from 1987 was released in hopes of getting a lead on L.A.'s most notorious serial killer, dubbed the "grim sleeper" for the significant time lapse in between his killings. The killer has been at large since 1985, despite a $500,000 reward and samples of his DNA on file. As far as the police know, all of his victims have been black.

So what's taking so long? ...

The man on the call gave the license plate number of the van and police eventually located the vehicle at a church. "Then the trail stops there," said Kilcoyne. "It sounds like it was a pretty good road map for the investigation at the time and it just fizzled out." Here, a billboard advertises a reward for information on the killer, who has murdered at least 11 times in nearly a quarter century.  (Note: Please disable your pop-up blocker)

On Wednesday, police in Los Angeles released a 1987 emergency call in the hopes of finding an elusive serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper." The two-minute call was made by a man who told police he saw a blue-and-white van dump the body of 23-year-old Barbara Ware, seen above.

Ware, who had a history of prostitution, was found shot to death in a South Los Angeles alley. Here, from left, Captain Denis Cremins, Detective Dennis Kilcoyne and Chief William Bratton stand behind a photo of the van described in the call.

The man on the call gave the license plate number of the van and police eventually located the vehicle at a church. "Then the trail stops there," said Kilcoyne. "It sounds like it was a pretty good road map for the investigation at the time and it just fizzled out." Here, a billboard advertises a reward for information on the killer, who has murdered at least 11 times in nearly a quarter century.

Journalists gather near a reward poster displaying some of the killer's victims. Kilcoyne and his men hope to track down former churchgoers or even someone who knows the voice on the emergency call. "We still have no idea who this guy is," Kilcoyne said. "We've got a half-million-dollar reward out there on billboards and no one calls." (Source: AP)

The suspect kills by gunshot or strangulation, in some cases both, usually after some kind of sexual contact. Ten victims were women, all were black and several were prostitutes. The bodies were all found outside, usually in dirty alleyways a few miles south of downtown. The Associated Press

The biggest lead the police have is a call from a man who says he saw a body being thrown out of a van. Unfortunately, the caller couldn't identify the driver and declined to identify himself.

Six victims were found with the killer's DNA on them but a search of prisoner databases came up blank. Detectives went on to ask the California Department of Justice to run a DNA search that sought possible matches to the killer's relatives.

http://www.newcriminologist.com/article.asp?nid=2134
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« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2009, 02:50:15 PM »

Bound Together by the Grim Sleeper
L.A. family of serial killer's victims meet at long last
By Christine Pelisek
Published on May 06, 2009 at 6:25pm

It was a warm Saturday morning in April when two unmarked Los Angeles Police Department cars pulled into the parking lot of the Freewill Missionary Baptist Church in South Los Angeles.

Armed with trays of sandwiches, cans of soda, and small bags of Ruffles potato chips and Doritos, several serious-looking detectives dressed in business attire made their way into the church’s kitchen.

It wasn’t a typical police investigation.

The confidential affair was invitation-only. The six detectives and two captains chose the church as neutral ground. They wanted as many of the invited as possible to show up, and worried that asking them to a police station might keep some away. Guests trickled into the dining hall, signing in before taking seats at two large cafeteria-style tables covered with pink-and-white tablecloths. Fake red roses and “Reward!” posters stacked next to the salt-and-pepper shakers added an unintentional but slightly morbid feel.

By 11:15 a.m., most of the 25 guests had arrived. A pastor welcomed them, asking them to join hands with the LAPD detectives in prayer. The group ranged in age from 5 to 65. They were strangers in almost every way but one: Several of them recognized one another because they’d recently been on the TV news in Southern California.

The guests were the families of the 11 victims of the Grim Sleeper, the longest-operating serial killer, ever, west of the Mississippi. And all of those gathered this day had lost a daughter, sister, aunt or mother. Little did they know that a few weeks later, in a development that seemed to highlight their shared heartache, police would arrest another long-elusive serial killer, the Westside Rapist, believed responsible for more than 25 killings during the 1970s and ’80s. According to police, in a story broken in the Los Angeles Times on April 30, John Floyd Thomas Jr., a 72-year-old state worker’s-compensation insurance adjuster, is now behind bars, linked by his own DNA to five cold-case Westside Rapist slayings.

DNA testing is also how the families pray police will catch the Grim Sleeper. As with alleged murderer Thomas, they hope, the LAPD or some other police force will eventually take a swab from the mouth of a man who matches the Grim Sleeper’s profile.

The Alexanders last saw their 17-year-old daughter Monique — a friendly teenager who had started to hang around with a bad crowd — 22 years ago when she walked out the front door on her way to the corner store. Sitting near them at the church meeting was a woman who was just a toddler when the body of her mother, Henrietta Wright, was found in an alley south of 2514 W. Vernon Ave.

Across the table from them sat stylishly dressed Larina Corlew, whose stepsister Barbara Ware was shot once in the chest and found in a heap of trash. A few seats from her was LaVerne Peters, who last spoke to her 25-year-old daughter Janecia about moving in with a friend, shortly before the beautiful young woman was found dead in a Dumpster on January 1, 2007, by a homeless man looking for recyclables.

“This has affected a lot of lives,” Los Angeles Police Department detective Dennis Kilcoyne told the families. “We have several generations of people here.... If you want it or not, you are connected.”

The killer, dubbed the Grim Sleeper by L.A. Weekly because he took a 13-year break before bizarrely resuming his slayings, began his awful crime spree on a warm August night in 1985 when the body of cocktail waitress Debra Jackson was found in an alley near West Gage Avenue, shot in the chest three times with a small-caliber pistol.

In total, DNA testing and ballistics matching have linked the Grim Sleeper to the deaths of 11 people, the most recent being Janecia Peters, found slain on the first day of 2007.

The roundtable discussion marked the first time that victims’ family members and detectives met at once to talk about the 10 women and one man murdered almost exclusively along, or near, a section of Western Avenue in South Los Angeles. The Weekly was invited to attend the meeting by the victims’ families, who conducted an impromptu vote to ask the newspaper to sit in.

Victim Barbara Ware’s stepmother, Diana, had asked detectives to bring the families together in the hopes of jogging old memories that might offer clues to police. Did any of the victims know each other? Is there some common thread yet to be recognized by investigators that the family members might unearth once brought together?

Ware, a woman with a persuasive personality, says she told the LAPD detectives, “‘Maybe there is some connection between the families,’ and [Det. Kilcoyne] said he would see if he could set it up.”

“We need your help,” Kilcoyne said matter-of-factly to them. “We don’t have a market on good ideas. If we did, he would have been caught 24 years ago.”

There were plenty of questions from the victims’ relatives. Are the killings ritualistic in some way? Why did he take a 13-year break before resuming his killings a few years ago?

“We can’t discount anything,” answered an amiable Kilcoyne, as the other five serial-killer task-force detectives listened intently to the spirited discussion.

Do the detectives believe the killer is still out there?

Kilcoyne couldn’t be certain. “We don’t have crystal balls.... The worst-case scenario is he is driving around ... or he could have died two years ago.”

“Did he move?” asked Barbara Ware’s aunt, Sherry, saying, “Maybe he went away for a while and is killing somewhere else.”

Family members and detectives theorized about who the mystery caller was, his deep voice recorded in January of 1987 as he told an LAPD dispatcher that he had just observed a man dumping a body from a van. The body turned out to be Ware.

And what about the easily recognizable, pimped-out orange Pinto or Pinto-like car with its white marble gear-shift knob and white interior — the car the killer was driving when he raped and shot sole survivor and eyewitness, Enietra Margette, before that orange car seemed to simply vanish from the streets of Los Angeles?

At one eerie point in the luncheon, victim Lachrica Jefferson’s aunt Yvonne Bell, who lived on Western Avenue between 1982 and 1987, insisted “I remember that car.” The 55-year-old Bell, a friendly former custodian for the U.S. Air Force, also felt sure that, “I recognize some of the [photos of the dead] girls ... but it is too late now” to piece together why.

Monique Alexander’s father, Porter, who was wearing a black buttoned-up shirt, black jeans and cowboy boots, wanted to know how the Grim Sleeper could have evaded justice for more than two decades after murdering his teenage daughter, who loved sports and horseback riding.

“He never has committed crimes and never been in the military,” Alexander theorized, as to why the Grim Sleeper’s DNA, which has been found at several crime scenes, does not match anyone’s DNA in any known crime database. “If you can’t attach something to him, you can’t find him. He knows how to protect himself.”

Kilcoyne told the families that all eight of the early victims were connected ballistically, by bullets showing the exact same striations and marring, meaning they were shot by the same gun. That same gun was used against sole survivor Enietra Margette, who was saved after ER workers dug a matching bullet from her chest. Among the eight older murder cases, DNA was recovered from three crime scenes, and that cold-case DNA was ultimately matched to fresh DNA taken from the three recent murders, committed after a 13-year gap.

“We have 10,000 [unsolved] murder cases in our archives,” Kilcoyne said, indicating the vast nature of the job police have faced. “If your cases weren’t connected by this serial killer, very possibly [they would] be archive cases and never looked at – collecting dust in a storage area.”

Detectives were dealt a setback in December when a search of DNA databases, in hopes of determining the killer’s real name by finding near-matches that indicate a male family member, came up empty. Apparently, none of the killer’s brothers or father have genetic profiles in the existing databases.

“Will you retest the familial DNA?” asked Peters. To the relief of family members, Kilcoyne said state Attorney General Jerry Brown’s testing lab plans to search the criminal database for new clues every six months.

“Is there a time limit on the task force?” queried Peters.

“There is no hint of that,” said Kilcoyne. “This is on the front burner of [Chief William J.] Bratton. He is not going to say, ‘We will give up for [the next] 10 years and it will be someone else’s problem.’”

As the families sipped soda and nibbled on potato chips and sandwiches stuffed with ham and turkey, Kilcoyne explained that when he realized, in 2006, that the long-dormant Grim Sleeper had struck again, LAPD was “in the reluctant stage” about alerting the public and media. However, the story broke in L.A. Weekly last fall. The resulting media coverage has led to hundreds of new clues, and serial-killer task-force detectives have ruled out dozens of suspects and have swabbed the mouths of more than 50 men to collect DNA, none of which has matched.

The ideas from the public are sometimes helpful, but also absurd. “Someone asked us to look at Dodger players,” said Kilcoyne. “We are checking every little clue that is coming our way.... Cops are not off-limits. They have been looked at and will continue to be looked at.”

In one instance, detectives followed a potential suspect for days before he dropped a cigarette butt, which police grabbed and analyzed for a DNA match. In another case, a woman flew to California from another state, convinced her ex-husband was the Grim Sleeper. “She was so adamant,” said Captain Denis Cremins. “As it turned out, we eliminated him through DNA.”

Alexander, father of victim Monique, feels certain that “He is a smooth type of person.... He knows how to handle himself in the street.” Unless “DNA is extracted,” he says, it will be difficult to catch him.

Cremins urged the families not to become cynical or give up hope. “Guys like [Ted] Bundy, they had one flaw — arrogance. Give us that one opportunity. That’s our job, to be there when he makes that mistake.... This guy will slip up.”

“The fortunate part is we have [his] DNA,” added Kilcoyne. “We have a profile ... and that day will come when we will know who he is and have a match to his face.” Kilcoyne is among many in law enforcement who believe “It will be the science that will put this guy in jail.... Sooner or later we are going to get a call.”

By 2 p.m., the families slowly began to trickle out. The pastor ended the three-hour meeting, not with a prayer, but with a gentle joke acknowledging the pain these families have been through. “This is the start of something,” he said. “The meeting was done decently and orderly. It could have gotten ugly up in here.”
http://www.laweekly.com/2009-05-07/news/bound-together-by-the-grim-sleeper/3

The above report is 3 pages long...I have posted all of it, but there are many photos at the link within the 3 pages.
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« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2009, 03:02:53 PM »

Grim Sleeper murders: $550K reward
Wednesday, May 27, 2009

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Wednesday, Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles Police Department renewed a record $500,000 reward offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Grim Sleeper, who killed 11 people and attacked a woman.
The city council first approved the record reward last year and Wednesday approved an additional $50,000, hoping it leads to a break in the long-running case.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=6835688
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« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2009, 03:04:44 PM »

Group Irate Over Serial Murders

Our Weekly, News Report, Shirley Hawkins, Posted: Jun 11, 2009

The pain will not go away.

Members of the Black Coalition Fighting Black Serial Murders (BCFBSM) fought back tears Thursday, May 28 in front of Parker Center as they recalled the loved ones who met untimely deaths at the hands of a South Los Angeles serial killer, labeled the “Grim Sleeper.”

The killer, who murdered 11 victims, has escaped police capture for 24 years. His last known victim was murdered on January 1, 2007.

The cold case caused Councilmember Bernard Parks recently to renew a reward of $500,000 for information leading to the capture of the “Grim Sleeper.”

Waving signs and placards that read “Gone But Not Forgotten” and “Black Women’s Lives Count, Too,” the group demanded that police and city officials inform them about progress in the murders.

Members of BCFBSM claim that families of several of the victims were never notified by law enforcement that their loved ones were killed by a serial killer. Many family members said they had to learn about the murder of their loved ones from the newspaper or television.

The group was also irate that the police have only recently released a 911 tape made in 1987 from a witness who saw the driver of a van dumping a body, which was identified as 23-year-old Barbara Ware.

Despite the formation of a police task force in April of 2007, family members and friends of victims claim that police have not kept them updated. “We didn’t even know that there was a Grim Sleeper serial killer task force until last year,” said Diana Ware, the stepmother of Barbara Ware, the Grim Sleeper’s fourth victim.

“The detectives told us the day after her death that Barbara had been found in the alley. Barbara was shot by the killer in the heart,” reported Ware. After being shot and killed, Barbara’s body was dumped from a van that belonged to the Cosmopolitan Church.

It’s really sad because Barbara was just getting her life back on track,” said Ware, adding that Barbara had just completed a drug rehabilitation program and left behind a four-year-old daughter. She was murdered two days after her birthday.”

“When the 911 tape was released and my daughter’s picture was shown, her daughter, Naomi, who’s now 28, saw it on CNN News. Before that broadcast, Naomi didn’t know too much about her mother’s death,” said Ware. “She just knew that her mother had been murdered. When she saw the broadcast, she was shocked and upset.”

Margaret Prescod, founder of BCFBSM, said, “We all know that if these murders happened in an affluent community like Beverly Hills and the victims were not Black, this manhunt would be on local and national news. People around the world would know about it. It is an example of the kind of racist hierarchy in the value of human life that places black women and women of color at the bottom of the hierarchy,” she said.

Ware said that although her stepdaughter’s body was found near Cosmopolitan Church, which is no longer in existence, some members of the church were not investigated at the time of the young woman’s death. “I think the church is the key to the whole case,” said Ware. “I think they should contact a person who had a list of all the church members because I believe someone in the church is involved.

The van that the witness in the 911 tape identified is now in Belize,” said Ware, who added that the hood of the van was still warm when police found her step-daughter’s body.

Demands from the group include an urgent and stepped up public information campaign about the murders; that the LAPD provide complete information about all murders, bimonthly reports to the community on the status of the investigation, an accurate account of how many women are believed to have been killed by the killer or killers, a congressional hearing and an investigation by the Department of Justice into the handling and mishandling of the cases by law enforcement and compensation for the victims and their families.

Victims of the Grim Sleeper murdered between 1985 and 2007 include Debra Jackson, Henrietta Wright, Thomas Steele, Barbara Ware, Bernita Sparks, Mary Lowe, Lachrica Jefferson, Alicia Monique Alexander, Princess Berthomieux, Valerie McCorvey and Janecia Peters. In addition to the 11 murder victims, there is only one survivor of the Grim Sleeper’s attacks.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=f9baf0eabcf6ef64fe42cd194040db05
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« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2009, 03:05:21 PM »

QUOTE..
LAPD provide complete information about all murders, bimonthly reports to the community on the status of the investigation, an accurate account of how many women are believed to have been killed by the killer or killers
END.


I insist..
Nation wide !! ALL Law enforcment agencies !!  ALL murders and missing persons..
 Congress pay attention, NOW! Make it LAW

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« Reply #8 on: December 27, 2009, 08:24:33 AM »

New Sketches of California Serial Killer
December 17, 2009


In the ongoing search for a serial killer who has claimed at least 11 lives in South Los Angeles since 1985, LAPD officials today released a series of sketches that picture what the killer might look like today.

The three new sketches of the aged man were based on a description given to police in 1988 by the only woman known to have survived an attack by the assailant.

Deputy Chief Jim McDonnell, head of detectives for the Los Angeles Police Department, said he hopes the images will jog the memory of someone familiar with the killer.

“We believe this case is very solvable. Someone out there has a piece of information that we need,” he said. “It may seem to them so insignificant, so small ... to us it might be the missing piece of the puzzle that we’ve been looking for.”

Despite McDonnell’s optimism, there has been little reason so far to be hopeful that police will someday  catch the killer. Long stretches of time between known slayings and a disjointed, often dormant investigation that spanned different generations of detectives left police unclear for years that a single man was responsible for the string of killings.

All the victims, except one man, were young, black women often involved in drugs and prostitution. When the killer was linked through DNA tests to another victim in 2007, a task force of veteran LAPD homicide detectives was formed to hunt for the killer.

Searches of DNA felon databases for the man or his family members and painstaking efforts to track down the prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers and others who may know him have turned up little in the way of clues.

The release of sketches showing a graying and heavier man is the latest effort by detectives and elected officials to keep the story in the media spotlight to generate tips from the public.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/new-sketches-released-of-man-who-killed-11-people-in-south-la-since-1985.html
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« Reply #9 on: December 27, 2009, 09:04:40 AM »

this guy is not your typical serial killer. he's not killing for the thrill and pleasure of it , he's killing out of nesessity. meaning( he has to kill to conceil his identity). he's a well known person in south los angelos. maybe rich, has too much to lose,but cant stop the urge for sex with prostitutes.
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« Reply #10 on: December 27, 2009, 09:08:48 AM »

interesting... 
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« Reply #11 on: December 27, 2009, 11:08:26 AM »

the 911 caller was the killer. he wanted the victim found quickly so le could connect the dot's and realize he was going to kill again.
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« Reply #12 on: December 27, 2009, 02:12:22 PM »

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« Reply #13 on: December 27, 2009, 02:13:09 PM »

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« Reply #14 on: July 07, 2010, 03:56:14 PM »

Arrest Made in "Grim Sleeper" Serial Killer Case
The "Grim Sleeper" is responsible for at least 11 deaths over a period of 22 years in the Los Angeles area.
KTLA News
12:44 AM PDT, July 7, 2010

LOS ANGELES -- An arrest was made Wednesday in the so-called "Grim Sleeper" serial killer case, according to police.

Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley identified the suspect as 51-year-old Lonnie David Franklin Jr.

The "Grim Sleeper" is responsible for at least 11 deaths over a period of 22 years in the Los Angeles area in the 1980's.

Dozens of police officials closed off a block around the 81st Street house where the arrest was made in South Los Angeles.

Neighbors described the man who lives there as friendly and quiet.

He was described in 1988 by a surviving victim as black, in his 20s, between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-10, around 160 pounds, soft-spoken, articulate, with neatly trimmed hair and a pockmarked face.

Police released new composite sketches of the "Grim Sleeper" in December showing what the suspect may look like now.

A surviving victim provided information used for the composite drawing.

DNA and ballistics evidence have connected the killings of 10 women and one man from 1985 to 2007, police said. After 1988, the killer did not commit any known homicides until 2002. He last struck on Jan. 1, 2007.

The victims were all African-American and most were apparent prostitutes or drug addicts, who were sexually assaulted.

A 12th victim escaped after she was shot and raped.

Detectives released a recording of a 1987 emergency call as they searched for a suspect.

The witness called from a pay phone to say he had seen a man remove a woman's body from a blue and white 1976 Dodge van.

The man told the dispatcher the van's license plate was 1PZP746, and police located it about 30 minutes later at the now-defunct Cosmopolitan Cathedral.

"The engine was still warm to the touch," Kilcoyne said.

The body the witness reported seeing was that of Barbara Ware, a 23-year-old with a history of prostitution who was found shot to death in a South Los Angeles alley in 1987.

When asked his name, the caller said "I know too many people," and then hung up.

The "Grim Sleeper" nickname is intended to convey the fact that a purported serial killer apparently stopped murdering for 13 years, then became active again in 2002.
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-grim-sleeper-arrest,0,380919.story
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« Reply #15 on: July 07, 2010, 05:31:17 PM »

EXCLUSIVE: How they caught the Grim Sleeper; his own son's DNA trail led them straight to him
By LA Weekly, Wed., Jul. 7 2010 @ 1:55PM

His own son's DNA trail led directly to Grim Sleeper suspect Lonnie David Franklin Jr.

Sources tell Los Angeles Weekly that the serial killer was caught through familial DNA testing after his son was arrested and had to give up a DNA swab.

A month ago, LAPD detective Dennis Kilcoyne said LAPD was going to try another controversial "familial DNA" matching probe, testing against 1 million samples in the California felon database to find the killer's cousin, brother or uncle.

"At least it brings a little bit of closure," Laverne Peters, the mother of victim Janecia Peters, told LA Weekly today. "It is very good news for me. I don't know whether to cry or scream."

The science of testing for familial DNA was hotly pursued by LAPD in 2008 when police realized that the Grim Sleeper sociopath, who had been slaughtering people since 1985, had kept his nose clean and stayed out of jail.

Because he'd stayed out of trouble, he'd never had his mouth swabbed for DNA.

No doubt, working with police every day as an LAPD mechanic, he knew every trick for avoiding arrest. He knew cop lingo and police habits.

But then, his son screwed up and apparently got nabbed by cops. His son got a mouth swab. His son's DNA test lit up like a Christmas tree:


His son's DNA, police tell LA Weekly, matched in so many ways that LAPD knew they'd found a close relative of Grim Sleeper, the most elusive serial killer to ever haunt the Western United States.

As the Weekly reported in 2008, an effort to scour the state of California's database of felons, in search of DNA that could turn up a close relative of the Grim Sleeper, and in turn lead to the elusive killer, turned up no family.

It was a big blow to LAPD's special Grim Sleeper task force, and to many in the community who had long awaited any new clues leading to his arrest.

But today, at long last, the nightmare appeared to be over.

Neighbors say the 51-year-old Franklin Jr. was a mechanic at the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Division station, near where most of the killings occurred in the 1980's.

He was arrested at his house on 81st Street near Western Avenue in South Los Angeles today.

His home is almost at the epicenter of the troubled sector of Los Angeles where the brutal murders took place. Franklin is believed to have killed 11 people, mostly women, since 1985.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/crime/grim-sleeper-son-dna-trail-led/
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« Reply #16 on: July 07, 2010, 05:34:31 PM »

A News Conference will be held tomorrow, Thursday July 8, 2010 at 11:00 a.m., in front of the Police Administrative Building, 100 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, Ca.  At that time the Los Angeles Police Department Command and Investigative personnel will describe the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Franklin.

WHAT:
News Conference   

WHEN:
Thursday, July 8, 2010
11 a.m.

WHERE:
Los Angeles Police Administrative Building
100 West 1st Street
Los Angeles 90012

WHO:
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City of Los Angeles (Tentative)
LAPD Police of Chief Charlie Beck
LAPD Command and Investigative Personnel
Councilman Bernard Parks, District No. 8
Attorney General Jerry Brown, State of California
District Attorney Steve Cooley, City of Los Angeles

WHY:
The Los Angeles Police Department will describe the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Lonnie David Franklin Jr.

CONTACT:
For further information, contact the LAPD Media Relations Section at 213-486-5910.

http://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/news_view/45472
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« Reply #17 on: July 07, 2010, 06:24:15 PM »

Jul 7, 2010 2:57 pm US/Pacific

'Grim Sleeper' Timeline

Debra Jackson, 29, was found on Aug. 10, 1985 in an alley off of West Gage Avenue and South Vermont Avenue. She was shot three times in the chest and was found fully clothed, hidden under an old carpet. Jackson was a cocktail waitress and been on her way home from a friend's in Lynwood.
Henrietta Wright, 35, was found Aug. 12, 1986 in the 2500 block of West Vernon. She had been shot twice in the chest, was wrapped in a blanket, covered with a mattress. The killer had stuffed a man's long-sleeved shirt into her mouth. Wright was fully clothed but was shoeless.

Thomas Steele, 36, was found Aug. 14, 1986 near 71st Street and Halldale Avenue. Steele had been shot once behind the right ear and was dumped on the road fully clothed. Steele, of San Diego, was reportedly in Los Angeles to visit his sister.

Barbara Ware, 23, was found Jan. 10, 1987 in an alley of the 1300 block of East 56th Street with one shot to the chest. Ware was fully clothed, covered with trash and a plastic bag draped over her upper body.

Bernita Sparks, 25, was shot in the chest, strangled and beaten on April 15, 1987 and left in an alley in the 9400 block of South Western Avenue with one shot to the chest, strangled and beaten. Sparks was fully clothed and covered with garbage. Sparks was originally listed as Jane Doe No. 25.

Mary Lowe, 26, was found Nov. 1, 1987 after telling her mother she was going to a Halloween Party. Lowe was found shot in the chest and left in an alley near bushes in the 8900 block of Western Avenue. Lowe's mother said a neighbor saw Lowe get into a car with a young black man driving a rust or orange Ford Pinto.

Lachrica Jefferson, 22, was found Jan. 30, 1988 shot twice in the chest in an alley in the 2000 block of West 102nd Street in Lennox. A mattress covered her fully clothed body and a napkin scrawled with the word "AIDS" was placed over her face.

Alicia "Monique" Alexander, 18, was found shot in the chest in an alley near 43rd Place and Western Avenue on Sept. 11, 1988. Her nude body was covered with a mattress. Alexander had been sexually assaulted.
 
A woman identified only as "Margette" accepted a ride from a man on Nov. 20, 1988 and was shot in the chest. She says she was still bleeding as the man believed to be the Grim Sleeper snapped a photo of her as he raped her. He then dumped her out onto the street and went silent until 2001. She described her attacker as a smart, preppy-looking black man in his 30s driving a rust, red or orange Ford Pinto. The bullet removed from her chest matched the gun used to kill the first eight victims. Margette is believed to be the only known survivor of the Grim Sleeper.

Princess Berthomieux, 14, was found strangled in an alley in the 8100 block of South Van Ness Avenue in Inglewood on March 19, 2002. She had been missing since December 2001.

Valerie McCorvey, 35, was found in an alley between 109th and 108th Streets near Denker Avenue. McCorvey had been strangled and sexually assaulted. McCorvey's boyfriend was initially suspected of her muder, but DNA on her body matched evidence found on Berthomieux and Lowe.

Janecia Peters, 25, was found shot in the back and dumped in a garbage bag on Jan. 1, 2007. Peters' death was initially misreported as a stabbing.
In September 2008, the City of Los Angeles offered a $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Grim Sleeper.
In November 2009, Los Angeles police detectives released a composite sketch, along with an age-enhanced version, to the public based on the description from victim "Margette."
http://cbs2.com/local/Grim.Sleeper.Timeline.2.1792682.html
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« Reply #18 on: December 16, 2010, 05:12:05 PM »

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/grim-sleeper-serial-killer-victim-photos-released-la/story?id=12412994
Videos at link
New 'Grim Sleeper' Photos Released
L.A. Police Chief Says 'These People Are Not Suspects; We Don't Even Know if They Are Victims'
December 16, 2010

Los Angeles police released 180 new images of unidentified women that were found on the property of the suspected "Grim Sleeper" serial killer, in hopes that someone will recognize their faces and contact investigators.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said in a press conference Thursday that investigators are asking the public to help identify the 160 women in the photos to determine whether they are still alive.

The photos show women ranging from teenagers to those who look as if they're in their 60s. Some are smiling, others appear to be unconcious.
"These people are not suspects," Beck said of the photos. "We don't even know if they are victims. ... We certainly do not believe that we are so lucky or so good that we know all of the victims. We need the public's help."

Beck also cautioned the public that some of these photos span back decades, and that these women "will have changed, aged."
The Daily Beast's Christine Pelisek reported that the full photos of these women show them with either their breasts exposed or fully naked.

Homicide Detective Dennis Kilcoyne, who headed the team that tracked down suspected "Grim Sleeper" Lonnie David Franklin Jr., would not comment on the nature of the photographed women's "lifestyle or situation." He did acknowledge that the L.A. Police Department was showing only the women's faces, which was "indicative of the content in the photos."

"Our best wish is that we get a phone call from each and every one of the them and that everyone is OK," he said.

Detectives also encouraged any of the women who are still alive to come forward and explain how they came to be photographed.

Franklin, a 57-year-old mechanic, was charged with 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in July for the infamous "Grim Sleeper" slayings in Los Angeles. He is accused of murdering 10 young women between 1985 and 2007 in South Los Angeles.

When detectives searched Franklin's home and surrounding property, they found more than 1,000 photos and hundreds of hours of home video footage in his procession.

"It's a long period of time that he's been taking pictures," Kilcoyne said.

Authorities working on the case said they had been trying to identify the women in the images for months.

Franklin pleaded not guilty to the charges on Aug. 23, 2010, during a court appearance. He remains in custody.
Determining the identity of the "Grim Sleeper," who had eluded police for more than two decades, was helped by a DNA sample taken from the suspect's son.

A technique called familial DNA led police to Franklin in July.

Police said the DNA technique could prove more revolutionary than fingerprinting in solving crimes.

"This is a landmark case. This will change the way policing is done in the United States," Beck said at the news conference today.

The technique may also be controversial, and likely faces legal challenges.

"This arrest provides proof positive that familial DNA searches must be a part of law enforcement's crime-fighting arsenal. Although the adoption of this new state policy was unprecedented and controversial, in certain cases, it is the only way to bring a dangerous killer to justice," said Attorney General Jerry Brown in a statement.

The familial DNA program was enacted by Brown in April 2008 as a way to fight violent crimes when there is "serious risk to public safety," according to the attorney general's office. California is the first state to use familial searches.

The high-profile case had languished unsolved, and had haunted the files of the LAPD cold-case unit for years.

According to the attorney general's office, the suspect's son was arrested and convicted in a felony weapons charge and swabbed for DNA last year. When his DNA was entered into the database of convicted felons, detectives were alerted to a partial match to evidence found at the "Grim Sleeper" crime scenes.

Police began investigating Franklin's son's relatives, and found a match in Lonnie Franklin. Police said he had never been a suspect until now.

The data bank, which contains more than 1.5 million samples, is the third largest criminal database in the world. Only data from convicted felons is collected, according to Brown, and a number of safeguards are taken before the Department of Justice releases the information to police.

Los Angeles Police Detective Dennis Kilcoyne, who headed the investigation, said it was the second time a query was run for familial connections in the "Grim Sleeper" case. From the DNA matches, a tight circle of law enforcement officers zeroed in on Franklin based on the suspect's residence, location of the victims, his race and age.

Familial DNA database searches have come under fire from privacy and civil liberty advocates, who argue, among other things, that they put more minorities, who are disproportionally represented in the database, in an at-risk group.

The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of familial DNA sample collection and searches. Brown said the office of the attorney general will be in court again next week defending the technique, and raised the possibility of more legal challenges.

The killings of 10 young black women and one man, beginning in 1985, have all been blamed on the "Grim Sleeper." Franklin has not been charged for the shooting death of 36-year-old Thomas Steele, but police said they believe his death is connected to the other killings.

Neighbors Shocked by Franklin's Arrest

The cluster of killings stopped in 1988, but 14 years later police said they linked new murders to the same man, nicknamed the "Grim Sleeper" for the long lull between slayings. The most recent murder happened in January 2007.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa praised law enforcement officials for their "exhaustive detective work" in the past 25 years that led to nabbing the suspect. More than two dozen investigators worked to find the "Grim Sleeper."

"I'm proud to announce that this terror has finally come to an end," Villaraigosa said at today's news conference.

Relatives of the victims who were in attendance said they were elated and thankful that the police finally brought the alleged killer to justice.

Police closed off the block on 81st Street in South Los Angeles where Franklin lived Wednesday and the arrest was made. Residents were shocked.

Neighbor Donna Harris, who's known Franklin for nearly 20 years ago, said the retired mechanic was supposed to fix her car this morning.

"Everybody on the block, we all knew if anything was happening with anybody's cars, he was always there for us. Especially the ladies," Harris said. "Even if we weren't at home, instead of calling Triple AAA, he would help."

Franklin was reportedly a mechanic for a Los Angeles Police Department station near the epicenter of the murder spree in the 1980s.

Though Harris counted Franklin as a friend, she said the news was frightening.

"It frightens me to know that somebody like that was that close," Harris said. "I don't want to believe it's true, [but] if he did what he's been accused of, God judged him for that."

Franklin has a criminal history dating back to 1989, according to records. His four previous convictions include charges of a misdemeanor battery and assault, as well as two charges for stolen property -- one of which he served jail time for.

With these latest charges, he could face the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole. He's expected to be arraigned today.

Searching for a Los Angeles Serial Killer

A handful of detectives, headed by Detective Dennis Kilcoyne, have been working full-time on the case for years, determined to find the "Grim Sleeper."
Eleven people have died so far, and there was one confirmed attempt and near killing, in the same South Los Angeles neighborhood.

"We have 12 individuals, starting in 1985. Our third victim, Thomas Steele, was the only male involved in this," said Kilcoyne.

All the slayings have been connected to the same 25-caliber handgun, and matched to the same DNA, usually saliva taken from the victims' breasts.

"The commonality is that they're all from the same general area of the city in south Los Angeles," Kilcoyne said. "I don't think I would label them all as prostitutes per se, but they certainly have troubled lifestyles. They're broken people and easy targets."

In February, LAPD offered a $500,000 reward -- the city's biggest ever -- advertised on billboards near where the victims were found. Investigators also released a 20-year-old 911 call in which a witness says he saw a van pull up in a dark alley and dump a body, which was identified as Barbara Ware.

Listen to the 911 call here.

The caller tells the dispatcher several details, everything from the license plate number of the van -- which was a dead-end lead -- to the way the body was discarded. But he refused to tell the 911 operator his name, saying he didn't see the killer.

Reporter Discovers Serial Killer, Alerts Community

Police say they wouldn't have known there was a serial killer on the loose if he hadn't starting killing again. "We became aware of it right around April of 2007," LAPD Detective Bill Fallon told "Nightline" in March 2009. "And we realized there was a serial killer because of DNA hits we started getting. So when we get those hits, we're like, 'whoa.' That's when we started digging it."

But the police didn't notify the community until Christine Pelisek, a reporter from LA Weekly, began investigating.

"I was the one who told some of the family members that their daughters were victims of a serial killer," Pelisek said. "I mean, they didn't even know. The public safety committee, they had no idea. I mean, the police commission, I spoke to the police commission [to whom the police chief reports]. They didn't even know. So there were a lot of people very upset that the police didn't let the community know."

Fallon says investigators didn't want to alert the killer that they were searching for him.

"We wanted to get a a step ahead of the killer himself," he said. "I don't want you to know I'm coming for you until I find out who you are, where you are and what you are doing."
***********************
There is a link referenced in the article that is currently not working.  I wonder if it's overloaded?
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« Reply #19 on: December 16, 2010, 05:13:25 PM »

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/12/16/california.serial.killer/
L.A. police seek public help with women's photos in Grim Sleeper case
By Michael Martinez, CNN
December 16, 2010

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Los Angeles authorities expanded their investigation into the Grim Sleeper serial killer case Thursday by asking for the public's help in identifying women in 180 photographs whose images were found in the suspect's home this summer.

Police are trying to determine if there are additional killings among the more than 100 women depicted in the photos.

Last July, 57-year-old Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was arrested and charged with 10 murders and one attempted murder dating back to 1985, and Los Angeles police spent hundreds of hours sifting through thousands of photographs, Polaroids and videotape found in Franklin's house.

The bodies of victims, many working as prostitutes, were all found in close proximity to each other in a neighborhood formerly known as South Central Los Angeles.

Franklin, a mechanic who once worked for the LAPD, was arrested in July after police say they matched his DNA with DNA left on some of the victims. Police were led to Franklin after his 28-year-old son got arrested and gave a DNA swab, authorities said.

Authorities said they narrowed down the confiscated images down to 180 photographs, some of them duplicates of the same women.

At a media conference attended by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck, authorities said they had difficulty determining whether some of the women were alive or dead in the photos.

"We cannot tell," Beck said. "Obviously, as all of you can see, some of them are animated and some are not. It's impossible to tell by the photographs.

Robbery Homicide Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said police have a responsibility to try to determine the whereabouts of the women.

"These are clearly photos of women that Mr. Franklin had contact with," said Kilcoyne. "We have a responsibility to identify these women. They may be alive and well, but we need to be certain."

"If there's nothing we glean from this, we are able to fill in the timeline of Mr. Franklin's life, and that's one of our goals as well," Kilcoyne said.

He declined to talk about the context in which the women's images appeared.

"The lifestyle or the situation that these women are in would defeat our plea with the public," Kilcoyne said.

Police are not sure where the women in the images resided, because Franklin's movements throughout his life are not yet ascertained, authorities said.

"His travel habits are unknown to us," Kilcoyne said. "We believe he spent the majority of his life right here in the city of Los Angeles."
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