Lonnie David Franklin

Serial Killer

Lonnie David Franklin Jr.: The "Grim Sleeper" Serial Killer

Background

Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was an American serial killer who murdered women and girls in and around South Los Angeles over a period spanning more than two decades. Born on August 30, 1952, Franklin lived for years in the same South Los Angeles neighborhood where many of his victims were found. He worked for the City of Los Angeles as a sanitation employee and also spent time working as a garage attendant or mechanic at an Los Angeles Police Department facility. To people who knew him casually, he could appear to be an ordinary neighborhood resident, which helped conceal his crimes for many years. Franklin eventually became known as the "Grim Sleeper." The nickname referred to what investigators initially believed was a long interruption in his murders between 1988 and the early 2000s. Later evidence raised the possibility that Franklin had committed additional crimes during this supposed dormant period, meaning the apparent "sleep" may never have been as complete as investigators first believed.

Pattern of Crimes

Franklin primarily targeted young Black women in South Los Angeles and nearby communities. Several victims had struggled with drug addiction or had connections to sex work, although this was not true of every victim. Their circumstances contributed to serious concerns that the disappearances and murders of vulnerable women in the area did not initially receive the attention that a developing serial-murder investigation required. The locations where victims were recovered became an important feature of the case. Bodies were repeatedly abandoned in alleys, dumpsters, bushes, or beneath discarded objects. Eight of the ten women and girls Franklin was eventually convicted of murdering were shot with a .25-caliber firearm. Several of the shooting victims had also been strangled, while two later victims were killed by strangulation rather than gunfire. Ballistics testing eventually demonstrated that the same firearm had been used in a number of the early murders, helping investigators understand that individual killings previously treated as separate crimes were connected. ...

Confirmed Victims: (10)

Debra Jackson Age: (29), Date of Death: 1985-08-10

Suspected Victims:

Sharon Alicia Dismuke Age: (21), Date of Death: 1984-01-15

Thomas Sylvester Steele Age: (36), Date of Death: 1986-08-14

Inez Elizabeth Warren Age: (28), Date of Death: 1988-08-15

Georgia Mae Thomas Age: (43), Date of Death: 2000-12-28

Ayellah Gbo Dzata Marshall Age: (18), Date of Death: 2005-02-01

Rolenia Adele Morris Age: (31), Date of Death: 2005-09-10

Survivors:

Enietra Margette Washington Age: (30), Date of Attack: November 20, 1988

Grim Sleeper - Wikipedia