Grim Sleeper Suspect Arrested in Los Angeles
Lonnie Franklin Jr. was arrested in Los Angeles on July 7 on suspicion of being the “Grim Sleeper” killer. In the 1980’s, a series of killings of young black women occurred and then stopped, resuming 14 years later, which inspired the name Grim Sleeper.
Lonnie Franklin was charged with 10 counts of murder, as well as other charges, reports anABC News article. Franklin was arrested 15 times over the past several decades for burglary, car theft, gun possession and assault. However, he was never entered into California’s DNA database because his crimes were not serious enough.
Despite all his arrests, Franklin’s DNA was never entered into a DNA database. His last conviction occurred one year before all felony convicts in California were required to have their DNA placed in a state database.
Franklin was discovered by authorities using a familial DNA match. In June, the California Department of Justice ran DNA from the case through a database. The database failed to find any matches, but it did find a familial match, which means that a different convicted felon’s DNA showed that he was a brother or a son of the Grim Sleeper killer. Detectives used that information to locate Franklin.
