Lonnie Franklin

Case identification

Lonnie Franklin was convicted as the “Grim Sleeper” serial killer, a nickname used for a series of killings in Los Angeles, California.

Timeline

• August 30, 1952 — Lonnie Franklin was born.
• July 24, 1975 — Franklin received a general discharge from the United States Army.
• August 10, 1985 — Debra Jackson, 29, was killed.
• August 12, 1986 — Henrietta Wright, 35, was killed.
• August 14, 1986 — Thomas Steele, 36, was killed.
• January 10, 1987 — Barbara Ware, 23, was killed.
• April 15, 1987 — Bernita Sparks, 26, was killed.
• November 1, 1987 — Mary Lowe, 26, was killed.
• January 30, 1988 — Lachrica Jefferson, 22, was killed.
• September 11, 1988 — Alice Monique Alexander, 18, was killed.
• November 20, 1988 — Enietra “Margette” Washington was attacked; she was the only known survivor.
• March 19, 2002 — Princess Berthomieux was killed.
• July 11, 2003 — Valeria McCorvey was killed.
• January 1, 2007 — Janecia Peters was killed.
• July 7, 2010 — Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 57, was arrested.
• December 16, 2010 — The Los Angeles Police Department released 180 photos of women found in Franklin’s home.
• April 6, 2011 — Police went public with suspicions that eight additional women may have been his victims.
• February 16, 2016 — Franklin’s trial began.
• May 2, 2016 — Closing arguments began.
• May 4, 2016 — The jury began deliberating.
• May 5, 2016 — The jury convicted Franklin of killing 10 victims and attempted murder.
• June 6, 2016 — The jury recommended the death sentence.
• August 10, 2016 — The Superior Court sentenced Franklin to death for each of the ten victims.

Background

Franklin was nicknamed the “Grim Sleeper” in connection with a series of killings in Los Angeles, California. The nickname reflected an apparent long break between crimes. The victims were largely found outdoors in South Los Angeles, a few miles from downtown Los Angeles.

Franklin grew up in South Central Los Angeles and married and had two children. He was given a general discharge from the United States Army on July 24, 1975.

The offence

Franklin was convicted of 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

The known killings began in 1985 in South Los Angeles, California. A 14-year gap followed the last murder in 1988, with killings resuming in 2002. Franklin’s last confirmed murder was in January 2007. All of the victims were found outdoors. All but one of the victims were black females, with one suspected male victim.

Many of the victims were described as prostitutes. A witness recalled that Franklin would frequently bring prostitutes into his home. Franklin had sexual contact with victims before strangling or shooting them. He shot victims with a .25 caliber gun. He took photographs of nude prostitutes and kept them in his garage.

Investigation

After police discovered several dead women in alleyways and dumpsters in South Los Angeles, California during the mid-1980s, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and police began investigating. The investigation involved a “Southside Slayer” task force. At the time, police thought the murders were committed by one person labeled the “Southside Slayer.”

Eventually, the LAPD and the Sheriff’s detectives realized that several serial killers were murdering women, and it was difficult to decide which murders were linked. Louis Craine and Daniel Lee Siebert were described as committing at least two murders each, and Ivan Hill and Michael Hughes as committing at least one each.

A separate series of killings began with the murder of Debra Jackson, with a different modus involving a firearm. These were known, misleadingly, as the Strawberry Murders.

Two decades later, the perpetrator of these crimes was named Grim Sleeper because of a long period of apparent inactivity between crimes. In May 2007, the murder of Janecia Peters, 25, was linked through DNA analysis to eleven, possibly twelve, unsolved murders in Los Angeles, with the first occurring in 1985. The “800 Task Force” was formed, consisting of seven detectives.

An investigative reporter, Christine Pelisek of the LA Weekly, broke news of the secret 800 Task Force and the linking of Peters’s killing to murders going back 23 years. Pelisek also reported that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William Bratton had been silent on the killer’s existence. The mayor and chief did not issue a press release nor warn the South Los Angeles community of the killer’s continuing activities. In some cases, the alternative newspaper was described as being the first to inform families that their daughters had been confirmed as victims of a serial killer.

Christine Pelisek later interviewed Enietra Washington, the sole survivor of the Grim Sleeper’s attacks. Washington described Franklin, including his appearance and a car he owned:

• She described him as “a black man in his early 30s [...] He looked neat. Tidy. Kind of geeky. He wore a black polo shirt tucked into khaki trousers.”
• She also described him as “a thin, neat, polite and well-groomed African-American guy.”
• She stated he owned “an orange Ford Pinto with a white racing stripe on the hood.”
• She said: “[I]t looked like a Hot Wheels [toy] car.”
• She recalled: “He told me, ‘That is what is wrong with you black women. You think you are all that.’”
• She described the car’s interior: “was impressed by the car’s interior. The gear-shift handle was memorable, pimped out with a ping-pong-sized marble ball. The inside was all-white, with white diamond-patterned upholstery.”

Washington described that after she refused him, he offered a ride and she eventually got into his car. She described their argument and Franklin’s use of a small handgun:

• “He suddenly pulled a small handgun out of a pocket on the driver’s side of the Pinto, and shot her in the chest as he drove along the residential streets.”

She described him taking a Polaroid photo and sexually assaulting her:

• “She blacked out, but was startled awake by the bright flash of the camera. The man had taken her picture and sexually assaulted her.”
• “He refused.”
• “Despite her half-conscious condition, she’s almost certain he told her he couldn’t take her to a hospital because he didn’t want to get caught.”

Police released photographs and composites as part of the investigation. In early September 2008, Los Angeles officials offered a $500,000 reward to help catch the killer.

On November 1, 2008, a story appeared on the television program “America’s Most Wanted.” It stated that the killer was most likely a black male but did not want to rule out anyone.

On February 25, 2009, Chief Bratton held a press conference and formally gave the killer the “Grim Sleeper” nickname chosen by L.A. Weekly.

In December 2009, the LAPD re-released the original police sketch based on the description given by Enietra Washington in 1988, showing a black male with pockmarks across both cheeks. The LAPD also released three age-enhanced composite drawings of markedly different faces of three middle-aged black males.

Arrest

On July 7, 2010, Franklin was arrested. District Attorney Steve Cooley identified the suspect as 57-year-old Lonnie David Franklin Jr., a mechanic. The arrest was linked to familial DNA analysis and then DNA collection from discarded food items.

Police described that they had been unable to find an exact match between DNA found at the crime scenes and any profiles in California’s DNA profile database. Investigators searched for stored profiles demonstrating sufficient similarity to infer a familial relationship. Police located similar DNA belonging to Franklin’s son, Christopher, who had been convicted of a felony weapons charge. The investigation then linked Franklin by using a piece of discarded pizza with Franklin’s DNA.

One Los Angeles undercover police officer pretended to be a waiter at a restaurant where the suspect ate, collecting dishes, silverware, glasses, and pizza crusts to obtain DNA. Saliva found on victims’ breasts was also used to obtain a DNA match linking Franklin to the murders.

Franklin had a criminal record dating back to 1989. He had been convicted of two charges of stolen property, one charge of misdemeanor assault, and one charge of battery. He served time for one of the stolen property charges.

He was charged with 10 homicides and one attempted murder. He was held without bail and could face the death penalty if convicted. He was not charged in the death of an 11th suspected victim, an African American man, and there was no DNA evidence in that case.

Trial

Franklin was charged with ten counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and special circumstance allegations of multiple murders. He had been in jail since his arrest awaiting trial due to the large volume of evidence, some dating back thirty years.

The trial opened on February 16, 2016, after multiple delays. Closing arguments began on May 2, 2016, and the jury began deliberating on May 4, 2016.

On May 5, 2016, the jury convicted Franklin on all counts of murder and attempted murder.

The defense challenged the DNA and ballistics evidence and argued about privacy expectations related to DNA obtained from discarded food. A defense theory involved a “mystery man with a mystery gun and mystery DNA,” and the defense attorney Seymour Amster argued that DNA from other men was found at some crime scenes.

Sentencing

On June 6, 2016, the jury recommended the death sentence.

On August 10, 2016, the Los Angeles Superior Court sentenced Franklin to death for each of the ten victims named in the verdict.

Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy addressed Franklin at sentencing. She stated:

• “This is not a sentence of vengeance,” and
• “It’s justice.” She then read the names of the 10 victims Franklin was found guilty of killing, and in each case Kennedy told him:
• “You shall suffer the death penalty.”

During the sentencing hearing, victim relatives and others made statements in court, and Franklin sat stoically as Kennedy sentenced him.

Mary Alexander made a statement asking why Franklin did what he did, and Franklin responded. The record included descriptions of Franklin whispering in response to Alexander’s questions. Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman said he muttered “I didn’t do it.”

Victims

The known killings and the convicted victims appeared in chronological order of attack in the case record:

1. Debra Jackson — F — 29 — body found August 10, 1985
2. Henrietta Wright — F — 34 — body found August 12, 1986
3. Thomas Steele — M — 36 — body found August 14, 1986
4. Barbara Ware — F — 23 — body found January 10, 1987
5. Bernita Sparks — F — 26 — body found April 15, 1987
6. Mary Lowe — F — 26 — body found November 1, 1987
7. Lachrica Jefferson — F — 22 — body found January 30, 1988
8. Alice Monique Alexander — F — 18 — body found September 11, 1988
9. Enietra “Margette” Washington — F — 30 — survived; attacked on November 20, 1988
10. Princess Berthomieux — F — 15 — body found March 19, 2002
11. Valeria McCorvey — F — 35 — body found July 11, 2003
12. Janecia Peters — F — 25 — body found January 1, 2007

A further suspected victim, Thomas Steele, was listed as part of the chronology but described as the only suspected male victim in the known pattern; the case material described no DNA evidence supporting an additional claim of an 11th suspected victim, an African American man.

The record also described that Enietra “Margette” Washington had been told to use her middle name as her last name for her protection, but she came forward as Enietra Margette Washington.

Other details

Franklin had a home where police discovered photographs and video. After his arrest, investigators found over 1,000 photos and several hundred hours of video in his home. Police released 180 photos of women found in his home after unsuccessful attempts to identify individuals and possibly additional victims. Police believed Franklin took many of the pictures, showing conscious and unconscious individuals, often nude, dating back up to 30 years.

On November 3, 2011, Reuters reported police were considering Franklin as a suspect in six more slayings of additional female victims. Police said they were investigating two of the six as potential victims killed during a 14-year lapse between an initial spate and later murders. Of the remaining four victims, police said two bodies were discovered in the 1980s, two were reported missing in 2005, and the remains of the other two were never found.

A British filmmaker Nick Broomfield created a documentary film in 2014 about Franklin titled “Tales of the Grim Sleeper.”

The case material also included quotes from courtroom exchanges during the sentencing hearing, including statements by:

• Laverne Peters, who said: “The defendant took my daughter, murdered her, put her in a plastic bag — a trash bag — like she was trash,” and
• “My hope is that he spends the rest of his glory days in his jail cell, which will become his trash bag.” It also included remarks such as “Amen, amen, amen.”

At least one family member said, “You’re a cold-hearted dude.”

Franklin was described as whispering “I didn’t do it” according to a detective who later spoke to reporters after the hearing.