PARKS TEAMS UP WITH CLEAR CHANNEL OUTDOOR TO ASSIST LAPD IN GRIM SLEEPER INVESTIGATION
LOS ANGELES – Councilmember Bernard C. Parks announced at a news conference on Thursday that his office has enlisted the help of Clear Channel Outdoor to assist LAPD in their investigation of the serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper.” Detectives obtained over 100 images of unidentified women from the house of Lonnie Franklin Jr, following his arrest July 8 on suspicion of killing of at least 10 young women in South Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007. They are asking the public to visit their website – LAPDOnline.org – to help identify the women. At the behest of Parks, Clear Channel Outdoor has committed to placing messages on at least 60 of their billboards to inform the public of this important development.
“We hope that, by reaching out to the community, we can identify these women, and ensure that every victim in this case receives the justice they deserve,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Bernard Parks. “We would like to thank Clear Channel Outdoor for its continued contributions and access to its billboards; it has been invaluable in helping to reach the community.”
Clear Channel Outdoor will be concentrating the messages on billboards closest to the suspect’s house, located on W. 81st St, near Western Ave, and move outward from there. Messages will go up on traditional billboards in about two weeks, but the newer digital billboards will start displaying them by the end of the day.
“One of Clear Channel Outdoor’s top priorities is to serve as a community partner and provide timely and important information to the public,” said Layne Lawson, Director of Public Affairs for Clear Channel Outdoor’s Southern California division. “We hope that our billboards drive the public to the LAPD website and that they offer their assistance to investigators in identifying these women. As a company, we have a longstanding history of close collaboration with law enforcement and public safety agencies across the nation; we will continue to offer our help and resources to assist them whenever we are called upon.”
This is the fourth time Parks has teamed up with Clear Channel Outdoor to publicize the case. The first occurred when Parks secured approval from the City Council for a record-setting $500,000 reward, the second when LAPD released updated composite sketches of the suspect, and the third time to announce the arrest of suspect Lonnie Franklin Jr in July.
As Chief of the LAPD in 2001, Parks created the nation’s first Cold Case Unit, and ordered the department to begin delving into a backlog of unsolved cases from the 1990s, ’80s and earlier, testing
DNA from bits of hair and skin saved from cold crimes. His action led the LAPD to find matches between the recent killings of the “Grim Sleeper” in 2002, 2003 and 2007 and old human traces left at eight shootings around Western Avenue in the ’80s.
