How Did the Grim Sleeper Kill for 25 Years While the LAPD Kept It Secret?

Lonnie Franklin Jr. was not a criminal mastermind. He used the same .25 caliber handgun for every killing. He operated within a ten-block radius in South Los Angeles for over two decades. At least six of those he killed were found blocks from his own home. He once worked as a mechanic for the LAPD. And the LAPD knew about him by 1988 and chose to tell nobody.

The women Franklin targeted were young, Black, and poor. Some had ties to the street economy. During the crack epidemic, their deaths didn't make the news. Their murders became cold cases almost instantly. Multiple police chiefs — Daryl Gates, Willie Brown, William Bratton — rotated through the department while the serial killer operated unimpeded.

Enietra Washington survived Franklin's attack in 1988 and wasn't told she'd survived a serial killer until 2006. She testified in 2016 and told Franklin to his face: "You are truly a piece of evil." Surviving Serial Killers on History's Hidden Killers — the series finale about institutional failure, race, and one woman who waited twenty-eight years for her day in court.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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