Tuesday morning, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that the jury in the case of “Grim Sleeper” recommended 63-year-old Lonnie David Franklin Jr. be sentenced to death for the killings of nine women.
The jury found the former city sanitation worker guilty of all ten counts of first-degree murder and guilty of one count of attempted, willful, deliberate and premediated murder that occurred in South L.A.
The Grim Sleeper will appear in court on August 10 for sentencing before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy.
Franklin known for targeting young African American women involved in prostitution, received the name “Grim Sleeper” because of the 14- year gap in his killings.
Most women were reported to have had cocaine in their systems before he strangled them and abandoned the bodies of the women on the side of the road or in the trash. Here are the names of the victims:
– Debra Jackson, 29
– Henrietta Wright, 35
– Barbara Ware, 23
-Bernita Sparks, 26
– Mary Lowe, 26
– Lachrica Jefferson, 22
– Alicia Alexander, 18
– Princess Berthomieux, 15
– Valerie McCorvey, 35
-Janecia Peters, 25
-Enietra Washington
According to the Times, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman had this to say to the courtroom, “They were so vicious, they were so calculated, and they were so demeaning. The way these women ended up, half of them naked … all of them in filthy alleys.”
The Grim Sleeper will go down as one of South LA’s most prolific serial killers which took over a decade to connect. This was one of the first times the community had seen any type of brutal killings in the community.
Not only did the trial highlight DNA testing difficulties, but some of the deaths were misattributed to the Crack Epidemic in late ‘80s.
With the verdict in place and the trial coming to a close, families can begin to properly grieve over their loved ones.
For more information on the “Grim Sleeper” case and updates visit www.lasentinel.net
