DATE: July 8th, 2010
WHAT: Arrest in South LA Serial Murders case “The Grim Sleeper”
FROM: Co-founder of the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders
CONTACT: Margaret Prescod 323 626 1269
While hopeful that the nightmare of serial murders of mainly Black women in South LA has finally ended, for family members as well as the community, we cannot white wash what has gone on for decades. It has taken decades of pressure for a suspect to be arrested – assuming that he is the right man.. Why?
The fact that the victims were Black and found in an inner city neighborhood resulted in the lack of priority given to investigating their murders, particularly in the earliest phases. If they had been taken seriously, for example in 1987 when Debra Ware was killed and there was a 911 eyewitness call, many lives could have been saved. One only has to contrast them with the case of Natalee Holloway and the Hollywood Hillside Strangler – the later got national and international attention, while the murders of 11women in South LA has been mainly buried in the press.
The Black Coalition was founded in 1985 after LAPD announced that 11 women were killed at the hands of a serial killer. Outraged that law enforcement had waited until so many lives had been lost to warn a community at risk, several women got together and founded the Coalition. It immediately began the painstaking work of pressing for action and accountability from the police and elected officials in resolving these murders. We said then and we say now that if the murders had happened in an affluent neighborhood the media would have paid more attention and the bungling that has happened with the investigation would not have taken place.
If indeed the killer has been arrested, , congratulations are in order for those who worked to bring him to justice and resolve this round of murders. But we have yet to know the true numbers of victims. Over the years there have been allegedly three sets of murders: The Southside Slayings, The “Strawberry” Murders and now the “Grim Sleeper”. How many women have been killed over the years? Although we have asked, we have yet to receive a firm answer, but we were told it might be somewhere around 45 women. The community needs a full account of these deaths: how many have been resolved, how many remain unresolved? Are they all connected to the Grim Sleeper Murders? Were all the women killed by the same man or men, or by different unrelated men? The work of the Task Force must not end until all of the murders of women in South LA, whose deaths have been tied to a serial killer, are finally resolved. The Black Coalition will not rest until we get all the answers. If there continues to be a serial killer out there, if the community continues to be at risk we have a right to know.
Additionally, there should be a Congressional investigation as well as one by the US Department of Justice into LAPD’s handling of these murders beginning in the 1980s.
The media repeats again and again the police claim that most of the women were prostitutes. Thus far we have received no evidence that that is the case, but even if any of the victims were sex workers, their lives are as much of value as anyone else’s. This attempt to demean and dismiss women, every one of whom was some mother’s daughter, is insulting to those who loved them, especially their parents and their children. Every life is precious.
Public officials who have done little to support community efforts to resolve these crimes are now congratulating themselves. But community members of the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders whose pressure was instrumental in stepping up the investigation, are unlikely to be invited to be part of the official press conference held today, probably because we have been critical of LAPD – we had to press LAPD to issue a composite and then to issue an age enhanced composite.
The Task Force knew that they were going to be held to account by us. We intend to keep up the pressure until the murder every victim has been solved. As they now know, we have wide public support because most people will no longer tolerate a hierarchy in the value of human life.