S2E9: The Grim Sleeper's Unidentified Victims — The Full Case Breakdown

# S2E9: The Grim Sleeper's Unidentified Victims — The Full Case Breakdown

Lonnie David Franklin Jr., nicknamed "the Grim Sleeper," was convicted in 2016 of murdering ten people in South Los Angeles and died in prison in 2020. On paper, that's a closed case. But investigators recovered nearly 1,000 photographs from his home — and years after some were made public, a significant number of the women in them have never been identified. This is the full case breakdown: the history, the evidence, the named victims, and the ones still waiting for their names back.

Content Warning: This article discusses serial homicide, sexual assault, drug addiction, and the exploitation of vulnerable women. Reader discretion is advised.

Who Was Involved

Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was a former Los Angeles Police Department garage attendant and City of Los Angeles sanitation worker, born in 1952 and raised in South Central Los Angeles. He served in the U.S. Army and was dishonorably discharged after a 1974 conviction for kidnapping and gang rape in Stuttgart, West Germany. By the mid-1980s, he was living and working in South Los Angeles — the same area where a string of unsolved killings of Black women had begun drawing community outrage.

Sources: Wikipedia (compiled court records and reporting); Los Angeles Times.

The Case History: A Two-Decade Timeline

1983–1985 — The "Southside Slayer." The LAPD became aware of someone targeting Black women in South Los Angeles, many of them chronic drug users and street sex workers. At least thirteen women were stabbed or strangled. Community activist Margaret Prescod and others protested that the department was slow to respond compared to its handling of the "Night Stalker" case in wealthier neighborhoods. By 1986, investigators realized they were actually looking at the work of several different men.

August 1985 — The first confirmed .25-caliber victim. Twenty-nine-year-old Debra Jackson was shot three times in the chest and found in an alley near West Gage Avenue. Ballistics later linked her murder to a string of killings connected by the same .25 caliber handgun.

1986–1988 — Seven victims, one gun. By 1987, seven women had been linked to that weapon, including Henrietta Wright (35), Barbara Ware (23), Bernita Sparks (26), Mary Lowe (26), and Lachrica Jefferson (22). Eighteen-year-old Alicia Alexander and fifteen-year-old Princess Berthomieux would later be added to this list. Then, after January 1988, the killings tied to that gun stopped.

1988–2002 — The fourteen-year "sleep." For fourteen years, there were no more confirmed killings connected to the .25 caliber gun — which is exactly why, when the case resurfaced, this offender earned the nickname "the Grim Sleeper."

2002–2007 — The killings resume. Valerie McCorvey was found dead in July 2003. In January 2007, twenty-five-year-old Janecia Peters was found shot and covered with a garbage bag. DNA linked her murder to at least eleven unsolved killings dating back to 1985.

2007 — A secret task force, and a reporter who broke the silence. The LAPD quietly formed an "800 Task Force" to investigate — and didn't tell the public. It took LA Weekly investigative reporter Christine Pelisek four months of digging to break the news that a serial killer had resumed killing, and that the mayor and police chief had known and said nothing.

July 2010 — Arrest via familial DNA. Police found no exact match for the crime-scene DNA in California's database, but found a close one: Franklin's son Christopher, who'd been convicted on a weapons charge. The partial match pointed investigators toward his father. An undercover officer posed as a restaurant waiter to collect Franklin's discarded pizza crust for a covert DNA sample — it matched saliva found on multiple victims. Franklin was arrested on July 7, 2010.

December 2010 — The photographs go public. Investigators recovered almost 1,000 photographs and several hundred hours of video from Franklin's home. Unable to identify many of the women, the LAPD released 180 of the images publicly. Then-Police Chief Charlie Beck said: "These people are not suspects, we don't even know if they are victims, but we do know this: Lonnie Franklin's reign of terror in the city of Los Angeles... certainly needs to be investigated further."

2016 — Trial, conviction, and sentencing. Franklin's trial opened February 16, 2016. On May 5, he was convicted of killing nine women and one teenage girl. He was sentenced to death on June 6, and formally sentenced on each count on August 10.

March 28, 2020 — Death in custody. Franklin was found dead in his cell at San Quentin State Prison. No cause of death was ever publicly released.

Sources: Wikipedia; LAPD Media Relations (Dec. 16, 2010); CBS News; ABC News; Courthouse News; Los Angeles Times.

Key Evidence

• ◦Ballistic matching: A shared .25 caliber handgun linked at least seven early victims through forensic firearm examination.
• ◦Familial DNA analysis: A partial match to Franklin's son identified Franklin himself — one of the earliest high-profile uses of this technique.
• ◦Covert DNA collection: A discarded pizza crust, collected by an undercover officer, confirmed the match to crime-scene saliva.
• ◦The photo collection: Nearly 1,000 photographs and hours of video became both the strongest evidence of the scale of his crimes and the source of an identification effort that remains unfinished.

The Victims — Named and Unnamed

Ten women a jury confirmed him guilty of killing: Debra Ronette Jackson (29), Henrietta Wright (35), Barbara Bethune Ware (23), Bernita Rochelle Sparks (26), Mary Katherine Lowe (26), Lachrica Denise Jefferson (22), Alicia Monique Alexander (18), Princess Cheyanne Berthomieux (15), Valerie Louise McCorvey (35), and Janecia Lavette Peters (25).

Additional suspected victims presented at sentencing but never charged: Sharon Alicia Dismuke, Inez Elizabeth Warren, Georgia Mae Thomas, and Rolenia Adele Morris. Morris's body has never been found. Eighteen-year-old Ayellah Marshall's body has also never been recovered — her school ID card was found in Franklin's garage, though evidence wasn't sufficient to formally pursue charges.

Two known survivors: Enietra Washington (1988) and Fredia Gibbs (1993).

The unidentified women: Of the roughly 180 photographs released publicly in December 2010 — out of nearly 1,000 recovered in total — a significant number of the women depicted were never identified. Some were later confirmed alive; others were ruled unrelated. But a meaningful number remain nameless: never confirmed as victims, never ruled out, never claimed.

Sources: Wikipedia's compiled court and sentencing records; ABC News; LAPD Media Relations.

Why This Case Matters

This case is often told as the story of one man's capture. But the more uncomfortable story is the one underneath it: a predator operated in South Los Angeles for over two decades, in part, because the women he targeted were poor, Black, and often struggling with addiction — circumstances that made the case easier for the city to look past. Margaret Prescod made that exact argument in 1985. The unidentified faces in Franklin's photo collection are the same argument, still unresolved, on a much longer timeline.

If You Have Information

Contact the LAPD at 1-877-LAPD-24-7, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

🎧 Listen to the Full Episode

This article is the companion piece to Season 2, Episode 9 of The Last Known Moment: "The Grim Sleeper's Unidentified Victims." Listen to the full episode on our podcast page for the complete narrated breakdown.

Sources

1. Wikipedia — "Grim Sleeper" (compiled court records, sentencing documents, and news reporting)

2. LAPD Media Relations — "Public's Help Needed to Put Names to Faces" (Dec. 16, 2010)

3. CBS News — "'Grim Sleeper' Photos: 180 Photos of Possible Victims Released by LAPD"

4. ABC News — "'Grim Sleeper' suspect may be linked to 8 more female victims"

5. Courthouse News — "'Grim Sleeper' Convicted of 10 Los Angeles Murders"

6. Los Angeles Times — Grim Sleeper trial coverage

7. LA Weekly — Christine Pelisek's original investigative reporting

Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available reporting, official law enforcement statements, and court and sentencing records. NaturalQueen77 TV strives for accuracy but cannot guarantee completeness. Individuals referenced but never charged with a crime are presumed innocent unless proven otherwise in a court of law.

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