Barbara Bethune Ware, a 23-year-old woman from Los Angeles, California, was found dead on January 10, 1987. Her body was discovered in the 1300 block of East 56th Street in the Central-Alameda area. The circumstances surrounding her death were grim and disturbing. A man who witnessed the incident called 911 to report that he saw Ware's body being dumped from a van. He provided a detailed description of the vehicle, including the license plate number, which was later traced by the police.
The van was found in a church parking lot, approximately 4.5 miles from where Ware's body was discovered.
The investigation into Barbara Ware's death revealed that she was one of the victims of the notorious "Grim Sleeper" serial killer, Lonnie David Franklin Jr. Franklin was linked to the murders of 11 people over three decades, including Ware, through DNA evidence. He was arrested on July 7, 2010, at his home in South Los Angeles. Franklin, a former city trash collector and vehicle mechanic at an LAPD station, was charged with 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The charges against him included the murders of several women whose bodies were found in similar conditions to Ware's, often shot and left in dark alleys.
The case of the Grim Sleeper highlighted significant issues within the LAPD's handling of serial killer investigations, particularly in marginalized communities. The long gap between the murders, which earned Franklin the moniker "Grim Sleeper," was marked by a lack of progress in solving the cases. It wasn't until the release of the 911 call and photos of the van in 2009 that new leads emerged, eventually leading to Franklin's arrest. The trial of Lonnie David Franklin Jr. began in February 2016, and he was found guilty on all counts in May 2016. He was sentenced to death in August 2016, bringing some measure of justice to the families of his victims, including Barbara Ware.
