For more than several years, the Los Angeles Police Department have been trying to solve a series of eleven murders that took place between the years 1985 to 2007. All the murders were connected to the same suspect through DNA and ballistic evidence. This case is famously known as the “Grim Sleeper” because the killer took a 14-year break between 1988 and 2002. This break made it difficult for investigators find the suspect. In 2010 they arrested and charged Lonnie David Franklin Jr. for the 11 murders.
In the beginning of August of 1985, Lonnie’s first victim was discovered with three bullet wounds, in an alleyway in Los Angeles. During this time Los Angeles had a high crime rate so the police were convinced that Jackson’s murder was drug related. But once similar victims appeared, it began to seem that this was just no random killings. All seven women who have been found in a span of a couple of years, had been shot with a .25- caliber handgun and had similar DNA on each of the women. Back then DNA technology was not that great so they could not find the suspect of these killings.
In November of 1988, Franklin’s eighth victim was able to survive after being shot, raped and then pushed out of the car. 3o year old Enietra Washington was able to describe to police the man’s appearance which then they composited a sketch of the attacker. Authorities believed that Franklin took a 14-year break from killing after he found that his victim survived. It wasn’t until March of 2002, where Franklin started to kill again. DNA samples were collected from the girl’s bodies and matched the DNA that was found at the crime scenes of the other women from 14 years ago. In 2007, DNA technology has advanced which led to the finding of the killer. The DNA from the crime scenes were put into the state’s felon database and came out to the match to Christopher Franklin.
The detectives searched Franklin’s home and found hundreds of photos of unidentified women. The women that were shown in the pictures were nude, beaten, and some were seen to be unconscious or dead. Included in the photo collection were the ten known victims. Based on these photos it has brought the question to authorities that Franklin may have not been on a 14-year break after all. They state how he could have actually been responsible for more killings in south Central Los Angeles unsolved murder cases.
In May of 2016, Franklin was found guilty of 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. He was sentenced to death in August, becoming one of the 746 inmates to be put on death row in California.
This guy kind of gives me Jack the Ripper vibes because of the way he was able to not get caught for so long. I think the difference, though, aside from not killing their victims the same is that Jack the Ripper never get caught. Reading this, it’s hard to imagine what we did before DNA testing was a thing. I’m sure that had we not had DNA to prove Lonnie was the killer, the case against him would have been nonexistent and the police would not have had the opportunity to find the photos of the unidentified women. I do find it interesting though that Lonnie was only charged with 10 counts of murder, because if the police thought he didn’t actually take a 14 year break, I wonder why they did not try and get more evidence to prove him guilty of more murders. This was a super interesting read!!