Grim Sleeper killings - Los Angeles Times
Advertisement

Full Coverage: Grim Sleeper killings

Share via

The series of killings began in South Los Angeles in the summer of 1985 and continued with some frequency until 1988, when a female survivor was raped and shot. She lived to describe her attacker as black, in his 20s, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, about 160 pounds, soft-spoken and articulate, with neatly trimmed hair and a pockmarked face.

For more than 13 years, the killer had no known slayings until the body of a teenage girl was discovered in Inglewood in March 2002, a lull in attacks that led to his description as “The Grim Sleeper.”

On July 7, 2010, Los Angeles police arrested Lonnie David Franklin Jr. at his home in South L.A. in connection with the killings. After a number of delays, his trial finally began Feb. 16.

On May 5, 2010, after a day and a half of deliberations, jurors found Franklin guilty on 10 counts of murder in the killings of nine women and a 15-year-old girl. Jurors also found Franklin guilty on one count of attempted murder.

Read more
Advertisement