Cops Release Photos of Possible 'Grim Sleeper' Victims

Detectives trying to ID women in serial killer case
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 16, 2010 1:40 AM CST
Cops Release Suspected 'Grim Sleeper' Death Pix
Lonnie Franklin Jr. appears for an arraignment on multiple charges as the alleged "Grim Sleeper" killer in Los Angeles Superior Court.   (AP Pool/Nick Ut,Pool)

Police are releasing photos of women snapped by the suspected "Grim Sleeper" serial killer in a desperate bid to identify more of his victims. Detectives found almost 1,000 photos and hundreds of hours of home video when they searched Lonnie Franklin Jr.'s South Los Angeles house last summer. He's officially charged with raping and murdering 10 women, but police believe he's responsible for far more killings. They're releasing up to 180 photos today of women and teenage girls, some of them apparently asleep, unconscious—or dead.

"We have no idea who the women are, what their circumstances are," or if they are still alive, Detective Dennis Kilcoyne told the Daily Beast. Franklin also apparently saved "death trophies" of earrings, watches, and necklaces belonging to his victims, according to sources. The sole survivor of the Grim Sleeper said she was picked up in a car by her attacker who shot her in the chest, raped her, photographed her, then shoved her out of his car. Franklin has been linked to the victims by DNA, according to prosecutors.
(More Lonnie David Franklin Jr. stories.)

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