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July 07, 2010
Grim Sleeper Serial Killer - Lonnie David Franklin Jr
An arrest has been made in the Grim Sleeper serial killer case, police in Los Angeles, California say.
Nicknamed for taking long breaks in between attacks, the killer is believed to be responsible for at least 11 deaths since 1985 in south Los Angeles. The killer targeted black women, some working as prostitutes, using the same small caliber weapon.
Margaret Prescod, who founded the Black Coalition Fighting Black Serial Murders and worked heavily with the families of the victims in the case told CNN she spoke with the Grim Sleeper Task Force who informed her of the arrest Wednesday.
Prescod said Det. Dennis Kilcoyne, head of the task force, told her that unlike a previous arrest in the case that turned out to be wrong, he was sure they had gotten their man this time.
"He told me that what they have is very solid," Prescod said.
The Los Angeles Times and KTLA are naming the suspect as Lonnie David Franklin Jr, 51. Prescod said she was also told Franklin Jr. was the suspect.
Aerial footage on Wednesday showed police searching cars in the garage of the suspect's home in south Los Angeles -- not far from the corridor where the victims' bodies were dumped.
Officials struggled to find new leads partially because the changing makeup of the neighborhood where the crimes were committed makes it unlikely that any witnesses are still around. The killer left behind DNA and fingerprints that police were unable to match to a name.
A 911 call made in 1987 reporting one of the murders led police to a van they believe was involved. But the trail went cold.
In May, new composite sketches of a suspect went up on billboards across Los Angeles as police intensified their hunt for the serial killer.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/07/grim.sleeper.arrest/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1
Posted by Nealus at July 7, 2010 05:33 PM
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