A South Los Angeles car mechanic arrested on suspicion of carrying out the "Grim Sleeper" serial killings over the past 25 years made his first court appearance on Thursday afternoon.
Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 57, appeared at the downtown Criminal Courts Building to face 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. His arraignment was postponed to Aug. 9 at the request of defense attorney Regina Laughney.
The "Grim Sleeper" has been linked to 11 killings, mostly in South Los Angeles. The murder charges include the special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders, possibly making Franklin eligible for the death penalty.
Franklin was arrested Wednesday by a task force that analyzed DNA evidence from Franklin's son, who was arrested about a year ago, and from whom a DNA sample had been obtained.
During the Fourth of July weekend, investigators created a family tree of the prisoner.
According to the LA Times:
(They) began analyzing all the men on it. Were they the right age? Did they live near the murder scenes? Was there anything in their background to explain why the serial killer had apparently stopped killing for 13 years, then resumed in 2003?
From that painstaking process, according to LAPD officials who requested anonymity, the prisoner's father emerged as a likely suspect. An undercover team was sent to follow him; they retrieved a discarded slice of pizza to analyze his DNA. On Tuesday, they confirmed that it matched the DNA of the suspect in the killings.
Porter Alexander, father of one of the victims, said he wasn't sure he would be around to see an arrest.
"I had doubt in my mind after all the years that I would not live to see this day," Alexander said Thursday. "It shows today that the long arm of the law still prevails.
"We were only interested in one thing -- that this man was out there taking lives he did not give," he said.
Investigators set up a command post in front of Franklin's home Wednesday and investigators were swarming through the property. Investigators were expected to remain at the scene for several days.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck was among those at the crime scene Wednesday morning.
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"The victims' families have stood with us, been patient with us for the last 23 years," Beck said Thursday at a news conference. "They ensured this case has never been forgotten. The courage they displayed energized the detectives of robbery-homicide division."
Los Angeles Police Department Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said earlier the "Grim Sleeper" was linked by forensic evidence to eight murders between 1985-88, and three murders between 2001-07.
Aleander recalled the moment he learned of an arrest.
"My wife took the call, and I heard a loud hollering and screaming," he said. "I ran downstairs, and she was hooting and hollering. She said Detective Kilcoyne told me to sit down. She just busted loose. When she told me that, I wanted to bust loose.
"I know all the family members feel the same. They're just elated."
The killer was dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" because of the 13-year break between killing sprees. The Los Angeles Times quoted a neighbor who said Franklin was a retired trash collector, and the gap between killings corresponded with a time he was on disability. Neighbors told City News Service the man once worked as a mechanic for the LAPD, and his estranged wife may have also worked for the department.
All but one of the killer's victims was a woman, and many were prostitutes. Some were raped before being shot to death with a small-caliber handgun. Their bodies were dumped in alleys and trash bins in South Los Angeles, Inglewood and unincorporated county areas.
A woman who survived an attack in 1988 described the suspect as a black man in his 20s, driving an orange Ford Pinto. She said he picked her up, shot her in the chest, raped her, then pushed her out of his car.
"This (arrest) was accomplished by the LAPD's hard work with great assistance from the California Department of Justice Division of Law Enforcement personnel," District Attorney Steve Cooley said.
A $500,000 reward had been offered by the Los Angeles City Council for information leading to the arrest of the killer. It was unclear if anyone would be eligible for the reward.
Outside the suspect's home, a 41-year-old neighbor wept, saying she knew Franklin well. The woman, who would not give her name, said Franklin is "a nice, friendly person" who worked on cars at his home.
"I could've been a victim. I sat in his camper many times," she said.
The woman said she often watched movies with Franklin, noting that he liked comedies. She said he "was a cool, helpful person."
"Serial killers come in all shapes and sizes," she said.
The woman said the man had been married, although she never saw his wife, and he "always had the grandkids over."
Another woman, 21-year-old Barbara Huggins, said she had been planning to take her Honda to Franklin on Wednesday for some repair work.
"When I heard about this, I was shaking," said Huggins, who described Franklin as "sweet."
"My co-workers were telling me my mechanic is a killer," she said.
Cynthia Banks, 41, said Franklin had just worked on her car, charging her $15 for a 10-minute repair job.
"He was a wonderful guy, that I know of," Banks said.
Some neighbors who gathered near Franklin's home contended that one of Franklin's nephews led police to him. Others also claimed that investigators were recovering body parts from Franklin's home, but police would not confirm those reports. A detective at the scene noted that rumors were running rampant among the neighbors.
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