UPDATE: New 'Grim Sleeper' serial killer possible victim photographs released
Approximately 180 women pictured
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Photographs of about 180 women seized from the "Grim Sleeper'' serial killer suspect were posted online today by the Los Angeles Police Department to determine whether any of them may have been victims.
The photographs were found at the home Lonnie David Franklin Jr. after he was arrested July 8 on suspicion of killing at least 10 young women and one man in South Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007.
The suspect was dubbed the Grim Sleeper because of a long gap between killings.
The photos were displayed at a noon news conference at police headquarters, and were also posted on the Los Angeles Police Department's website, lapdonline.org.
"We have 180 photos here—some of them are duplicates; we don't know how many people are represented here,'' LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said at the news conference.
"These people are not suspects,'' he said. "We don't even know if they're victims. But we do know this: Lonnie Franklin's reign of terror in the city of Los Angeles, which spanned well over two decades, culminating with almost a dozen murder victims, certainly needs to be investigated further.
"And we certainly do not believe that we are so lucky—or so good—as to know all his victims,'' Beck added.
Beck said the photos were 20 to 30 years old, and those depicted—if still alive -- would have aged accordingly. Beck urged people to call police with information about anyone they recognize in the photos.
"If there is somebody's photo among these 180 who is a victim, if there is somebody's identity that we need to establish, if there is some family in this city that goes without justice, then you will help us in achieving that for them,'' Beck said.
Also at the news conference were Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, District Attorney Steve Cooley, City Councilman Bernard Parks and LAPD Detective Dennis Kilcoyne.
The images were taken from videotapes, Polaroid photos and cameras with undeveloped film inside, all found in Franklin's home, police said.
The photos can be viewed at www.lapdonline.org, and also will be posted on the websites of the District Attorney's Office and the sheriff's department.
Anyone with information on women in the photos should call the police at (877) LAPD-24-7; or Crime Stoppers, (800) 222-TIPS.
By Al Leone | City News Service
After killing 10 Black women and at least one Black man in South Central Los Angeles for almost 25 years, a man suspected of being the so-called “Grim Sleeper” was arrested yesterday by the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Robbery-Homicide Division of the LAPD took 57-year-old Lonnie David Franklin Jr. into custody at his home on 81st Street near Western Avenue. His arrest is the culmination of an investigation that began more than two decades ago.
During an OurWeekly interview back in November of last year, “800” Task Force member Det. Bill Fallon suggested that more victims of suspected “Grim Sleeper” mass murderer Lonnie David Franklin, Jr. might materialize, adding to the 10 already ascribed to one of the most prolific serial killings in Los Angeles crime history.
Although Lonnie Franklin, the defendant in the Grim Sleeper murders that plagued South Los Angeles over the past two decades, has been in custody for more than three months, the “800” Task Force charged with solving the carnage is still embroiled in the investigation, according to Bill Fallon, one of the eight officers assigned to the investigative unit. The detective granted Our Weekly an interview in between treks to Mississippi and Northern California to tie up loose ends in this ever-expanding multiple homicide case.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Looking over his first year as police chief today, Charlie Beck said it had been a professionally rewarding but emotionally difficult 12 months.
"I am very very optimistic about this organization,'' Beck said in a briefing in police headquarters attended by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
"Los Angeles is safer today, one year after the appointment of Charlie Beck ...,'' Villaraigosa said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the man suspected in the “Grim Sleeper” serial killings, a deputy district attorney announced today.
A jury will be asked to recommend a death sentence for 58-year-old Lonnie Franklin Jr. if he is convicted, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said. Franklin has been indicted on 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Franklin, a one-time city employee, has been locked up since his July 7, 2010, arrest.
