LOS ANGELES, Calif.–Eight more women may have been killed by the ‘Grim Sleeper,’ an alleged serial killer charged with killing 10 women in South Los Angeles as far back as the mid 1980s.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck plans to discuss the case and release images of possible victims at a 4 p.m. news conference.
Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 57, a one-time city employee, has been locked up since his July 7, 2010 arrest. He is suspected of killing at least 10 women, many of them prostitutes and crack addicts, and dumping their remains in alleys and trash bins around South Los Angeles.
In December, police made public dozens images of women found in Franklin’s home near 81st Street and Harvard Boulevard in order to identify or eliminate other possible victims.
Detectives are trying to find eight women. Six of them were reported missing; one is an unsolved murder victim, and one is unidentified. They are connected to Franklin, police said.
Detectives are expected to show photos of six missing women whose names are known. They are connected to the suspect by “strong circumstantial evidence recovered at Franklin’s residence,” police said.
The other three missing women had “several things in common with the confirmed victims,” police said. “They shared similar lifestyles, and each of them had frequented Franklin’s neighborhood prior to their disappearance.” The women were reported missing as far back as 1982, and the most recent was in 2006.
The seventh woman is unidentified, and was found to have a “direct connection to evidence recovered at Franklin’s residence,” police said.
The eighth woman of interest was identified as Inez Warren, killed in 1988. Her killing remains unsolved.
Anyone with more information about the women or Franklin was urged to call (877) LAPD-24-7.
