Posted on 12/29/2010 10:15:34 AM PST by Kaslin
The "Grim Sleeper" cold case heats up.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s phones are ringing off the hook. Its website has received approximately eleven million hits. People are fascinated with serial killers, and the Grim Sleeper is no exception. The LAPD has released approximately 180 photos to solicit the public’s help in identifying more of this serial killer’s possible victims.
The photos were discovered in the house of Lonnie David Franklin Jr. — the Grim Sleeper himself. Franklin was arrested in July and arraigned on ten counts of murder plus one count of attempted murder. Among those he photographed, twenty-nine have been identified so far. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for January 31, 2011.
Speaking to Pajamas Media about the case, LAPD Detective Dennis Kilcoyne described Franklin in all-too-familiar terms. Neighbors thought of Franklin as “a happy-go-lucky guy. All the information we have from people is that he led a fairly normal life.” Yet Franklin, said Kilcoyne, is a sexual pathological serial killer. Noting that only “one percent of the population is psychopaths,” Kilcoyne observed that Franklin appears to manifest some key psychopathological traits and characteristics — manipulative and wanting in empathy, remorse, and conscience. On the case since 2007, Kilcoyne was handpicked for a task force pulled together with veterans of “serial high profile cases.” Their job: to heat up what had become a very cold case. The killings for which Franklin is accused began in 1985; Franklin himself was dubbed the Grim Sleeper because it was believed there was a fourteen year gap between murders.
Kilcoyne relayed how “frustrating it was for us when nothing happened over a three year period.” He told Pajamas Media that they wanted “to push the envelope with this investigation. We offered a $500,000 reward for a longtime crime, put the photo display on the Internet, and used familial DNA.” Since Franklin was never jailed, there was no DNA sample available for the LAPD to rely on. But in 2009, a sample was collected from Franklin’s son, convicted of an unrelated crime. Comparing that sample to Franklin’s, detectives collected samples from some of Franklin’s victims — and found a match.
The victims range in age from fourteen years old to their mid-thirties. Those killed were especially vulnerable: runaways, narcotic abusers, and prostitutes, mostly street people. Mary Ellen O’Toole, a retired senior FBI profiler who worked on the Grim Sleeper case from 2007 to 2009, told Pajamas Media that Franklin’s consistent targeting of victims on the margins of society allowed him “to avoid detection and arrest” for over fourteen long years.
Serial killers like the Grim Sleeper, said O’Toole, “are not crazy. They know right from wrong. If you meet them on the street they could be the most charming, normal people. There is nothing about them that will stand out. They understand the importance of maintaining a façade of normalcy to keep from being identified or arrested. The ability to alternate between two extreme lifestyles, extremely dangerous versus normal, suggests an individual whose adaption skills are very good.”
Now a private forensic behavioral consultant, O’Toole complained that the popularity of hit shows like CSI has resulted in an incorrect view of serial killers. The killers, O’Toole said, “don’t need something to happen to go out and kill someone. They don’t wake up one morning and decide to become a serial killer. It is a result of trial and error such as learning how to kill, the necessary tools, and victim selection.”
Kilcoyne, O’Toole, and all those in law enforcement working on this case are speaking for victims who, in nearly every case, can no longer speak for themselves. The one known woman survivor, who is being very cooperative, recounts Franklin’s behavior as a predator, patrolling the neighborhoods and soliciting her to get into his car. Once inside, he shot her multiple times, sexually assaulted her, and left her for dead.
I thought we’ve been told that there’s no such thing as a black serial killer?
Green River serial killer is black.
To be honest, I can’t think of an Asian serial killer in this country.
Forgive me for being unclear, but did the killer take all of those pictures on photobucket?
“To be honest, I can’t think of an Asian serial killer in this country.”
Thai food.
Ah, another one. I guess that blows that myth out of the water.
Also, that John Malvo or whatever his name was, with his little pet, Mohammed? They roamed the East Coast shooting people? They were black.
So that’s four serial killers I can think of that are black; and it’s not like I follow such stories as a hobby.
Still can’t think of any Asians, though.
Charles Ng? How many did he kill?
He probably has an account on photobucket and uploaded them to his account.
Not particularly reassuring, since this, if accurate, means there are 3M of them in America.
Did they ever consider Malvo a serial killer? I’ve never heard it applied to him.
Can’t think of any Asians in the States. I know I’ve read of a couple in Japan. So, they do exist.
Any female serial killers?
Gary Ridgway does not appear to be black.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Ridgway
Wayne Williams, the guy arrested for all the killings of “black boys” in Atlanta, is definitely black, though. There is good question whether he is guilty of all the crimes pinned on him.
Charles Chi-Tat Ng (Chinese: 吳志達/吴志达, Cantonese IPA: [ŋ̩̏ tsītàt̚], pinyin: Wú Zhìdá; born December 24, 1960) is a Chinese-American serial killer. With Leonard Lake, he is suspected of murdering between 11 and 25 victims at Lake's ranch in Calaveras County, California.
Black serial killer Wayne Williams killed 27 people over three years.
Also, see here for a complete list by country.
Virginia Tech shooter was Asian.
Ha, there’s a list.
The Virginia Tech killer, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 and wounded 25.
Someone has already mentioned serial torturer-killer Charles Ng.
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