It was eerie to find in a case involving a man who is believed to have sexually abused their victims before or after the murder. The police also can not explain the large swaths of the life of Franklin, including a 14-year gap between his alleged murder in which investigators suspect he killed other women.
Detectives set out to identify women on film and tape, knowing that some of them may be additional victims of murder. There were several photos of each woman, and the police cut the collection of 180 images. They estimate that about 20 photographs show that women are also captured in other photographs.
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For many months, they slogged through the images in the databases of missing persons and investigating records, hoping for a lucky coincidence. Work proved fruitless. With detectives no closer identification of women, the police asked the public for help Thursday. They released cropped versions of images that show women's faces, hoping that the women themselves, their families and friends will recognize them and contact the investigators.
Police said they were susceptible to harm and embarrassment release photos can lead to women who had never spoken to his family or friends about the meetings. In the end, however, they decided that it was necessary to identify women outweigh the potential harm. For the same reasons, Times decided to publish the photographs on its website.
"As a police department, we have a commitment to responsibility for the welfare of these women," said the veteran homicide Det. Dennis Kilcoyne, who heads a task force that hunted Franklin. "We're trying to fill the life and times of Lonnie Franklin over the past 30 years, and talking to people is a big part of it. This is certainly the women who call or two with this guy .... I would not be surprised if we find some of the They were his victims. "
Police used a strategy used in other high-profile serial cases. In particular, the investigators went public earlier this year with a trove of photographs of women and girls taken by the killer Rodney James Alcala. But with alkali and some other similar cases, the police waited until the killers were convicted before the release of the images.
LAPD officials decided they could not wait. What little is known about Franklin, they hope women will be able to give answers that has so far eluded detectives.
"Question of the day:" Why? "" Kilcoyne said. "What is he doing to get these women to do this sort of thing on film?" Usually, people use drugs as a lever, but we did not find an iota of evidence that he was in it. "
Franklin is accused of murdering 10 women and the attempted murder of another, who survived. Authorities say they are bound Franklin, 58, of murder through a combination of DNA and ballistics evidence. A former employee of the city and the LAPD sanitation garage attendant has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody.
Louise Pensanti, Franklin's lawyer, expressed concern about the release of photographs, saying prosecutors had not yet provided her with copies of the images in the trial. She added that the move will make it difficult for Franklin to get a fair trial. "I think it's right that they are trying to find out everything you need, but do it now, and thus will be infected by a jury", Pensanti said.
Opening of the photos came at the end of a long, frustrating search for the killer, which LA Weekly called the Grim Sleeper for a long stretch between the murders.
The first known killing of the murderer happened in the summer of 1985 when 29-year-old woman was shot three times in the chest and her body left in an alley near West Gage Avenue, police said. Three years passed before the ballistic tests warned police that the same gun used to kill the first woman was used in seven murders.
It was cold until 2004, when DNA analysis linked to the earlier killings of genetic evidence found on the body of 14-year-old girl found strangled and beaten in an alley in Inglewood March 2002, the woman killed in 2003. Then, in January 2007, DNA tests linked the killer murder of another woman.
DNA profile murderers did not match any of the millions taken from convicted criminals and arrested individuals that are stored in a database of law enforcement. Kilcoyne and a half dozen detectives diligently trying to track down prostitutes, drug dealers and pimps who were active in the area for both murders, hoping that
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