Man charged in L.A. ‘Grim Sleeper’ slayings has long list of arrests
Sunday, July 11, 2010

CALIFORNIA
Suspect in killings has many arrests
The 57-year-old man charged with murder in 10 slayings in the Los Angeles “Grim Sleeper” case was arrested at least 15 times over four decades on other charges and was in police custody many times after the killings began, probation and jail records show.

The arrests of Lonnie Franklin Jr. in crimes including burglary, car theft and assault were never considered serious enough to send him to state prison or to warrant his entry in the state’s DNA database, according to a report in Saturday’s Los Angeles Times.

A string of slayings of young black women had south Los Angeles on edge in the mid-1980s. The killings suddenly stopped but resumed 14 years later. Investigators now say they have possibly uncovered the reason for the long respite: The suspect might have been spooked by a near miss by police in 1988.

Franklin was arrested Wednesday at his lime-green house, just three doors down from a home that was searched extensively by police 22 years ago after the only known survivor led police there. His public defender, Regina Laughney, declined to comment.

– Associated Press

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LA Grim Sleeper Suspect had 4-decade arrest record
By Christopher Weber
Associated Press Writer

The suspect in the “Grim Sleeper” killings was arrested at least 15 times for burglary,
assaults and other crimes, but avoided prison even though a probation officer urged that
he be given the maximum allowed, court and jail records show.

The crimes of 57-year-old Lonnie Franklin Jr. never were considered serious enough to
send him to state prison or to warrant his entry in the state’s DNA database, authorities
said.

“He’s danced to the raindrops for a long time without getting wet,” Detective Dennis
Kilcoyne, head of the task force investigating the killings, told the Los Angeles Times.

At a Saturday community forum on the murders, city councilman and former police chief
Bernard Parks said law enforcement and police should not be faulted for their past
handling of Franklin.

“That’s not unusual,” Parks said of Franklin’s short sentences and frequent quick
releases. He said jails are “constantly evaluating who can be let go to make room.”

But Parks, who as police chief from 1997-2002 ordered new examination of cold case files
and as city councilman in the area of the killings raised a reward of $500,000 before the
arrest, said he understands frustration from victim’s relatives and community.

“If people are dead, there is no consolation, there is no excuse,” he said.

Parks said California was slower than many big states in adding property crimes to those
where DNA is automatically collected from convicts, and that may have prevented an
earlier arrest.

One of the victims was killed in July 2003, when records show Franklin should have been
in county jail but was released early because of overcrowding.

Franklin pleaded no contest to receiving stolen property in that case.

A probation officer said it was unusual and disturbing that Franklin was still involved
in such crimes at age 50, when most criminals have slowed down.

“If at this age the defendant is still engaging in criminal activities,” the officer
wrote, “the community can best be served by imposing the maximum time possible in state
prison.”

But Franklin received just a fraction of the maximum sentence 270 days in jail ? and was
still released four months early, according to jail data obtained by the Times.

He also narrowly dodged the state DNA database. The following year, all felony convicts
were put in the database after California voters passed a measure requiring it.

And despite his long and varied record, Kilcoyne said Franklin did not commit the kind of
violent crimes against women that might have drawn the attention of detectives in the
Grim Sleeper case.

Franklin was arrested Wednesday on 10 counts of murder and other charges in the deaths of
young black women that started in the 1980s, then appear to have stopped, only to resume
again 14 years later ? sparking the nickname Grim Sleeper.

Franklin’s public defender, Regina Laughney, said she’s still reviewing materials in the
case and it was too early for her to comment.

A key question for investigators will be why the killings apparently stopped for so long.

“These are things that will come out only if the suspect chooses to share them,” Parks
said.

But investigators are still considering the possibility that there may have been more
victims during the 14-year gap.

They are seeing if they can tie Franklin to more than 30 cold case files dating to 1984
by uploading Franklin’s DNA profile into a national database.

Associated Press writers Andrew Dalton, Gillian Flaccus and Thomas Watkins contributed to
this report.