Grim Sleeper Case: Defense Will Introduce DNA Evidence Not Connected To Lonnie Franklin Jr.

Lonnie Franklin Jr. is on trial for killing nine women and a teenage girl in the infamous “Grim Sleeper” case in Los Angeles, California. Next week, his attorney plans to tell jurors that DNA evidence has been found on the victims that does not belong to Franklin.

Defense Attorney Seymour Amster said last week that much of his case will be focused on DNA not matching Franklin’s profile. While he would not go into specifics, the lawyer did say there is much more to it and plans to use the evidence to cast doubt in the minds of jurors.

As reported by Fox News, Lonnie Franklin Jr. entered a not guilty plea to 10 murders that occurred between 1985 and 2007. Amster will begin his opening statements to jurors on Monday.

As reported previously by the Inquisitr, the Grim Sleeper trial began more than a month ago with prosecutor Beth Silverman showing jurors photos of the 10 victims, all between the ages of 15 and 35. Many family members of the victims were put on the stand to identify the women in the photos.

The victims’ naked bodies were found discarded in alleyways and dumpsters throughout south Los Angeles. Some were covered with mattresses and garbage. Nearly all of them had been shot, while others were strangled.

DNA belonging to Franklin was found at the crime scenes, but some of the women had DNA on their bodies that did not match the suspect. Every one of the victims except one had cocaine in their systems at the time of death. Some of the women are believed to have been prostitutes.

During opening statements, Silverman said someone like Franklin could have easily taken advantage of women trapped in the crack cocaine epidemic in south Los Angeles.

“This was the perfect opportunity for someone who preyed on women. Someone who knew the streets and the dark alleys by heart, someone who lived there and was able to blend in, someone who knew where the drug-addicted women and perhaps prostitutes would congregate and who knew how to lure potential victims into the darkness and the isolation of a vehicle through the promise of crack.”

The Grim Sleeper murders in Los Angeles are one of the city’s most famous serial killer cases. The name was coined because of a 14-year gap between 1988 and 2002 when the murders appeared to stop.

In the 1980s, a special task force made up of 30 detectives investigated the Grim Sleeper case . The murderer appeared to prey on young, vulnerable women who were struggling with drug addiction.

Most of the women had been sexually assaulted before being killed. Within a few years, as leads dried up, the case went cold and unsolved.

In June 2007, a homeless man found 25-year-old Janecia Peters naked and dead inside a trash bag. A special squad of detectives assigned to investigate were able to connect DNA evidence back to eight murders that occurred in the 1980s as well as two deaths from the early 2000s.

Using a familial DNA search in 2010, investigators were able to link Lonnie Franklin Jr. to more than a dozen crime scenes. A sample of his DNA was collected by an officer pretending to be a pizza parlor employee after Franklin used some dishes and utensils while attending a birthday party.

Investigators have competing theories about the gap in murders. One theory is that the Grim Sleeper stopped after getting scared when one intended victim survived in 1988. Some investigators think the killings did not stop and there are more unknown victims that were never found.

“Lonnie Franklin’s reign of terror in the city of Los Angeles, which spanned well over two decades, culminating with almost a dozen murder victims, certainly needs to be investigated further,” Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said at a 2010 press conference. “And we certainly don’t believe we are so lucky or so good as to know all of his victims.”

The Grim Sleeper is one of three serial killers that roamed the streets of Los Angeles looking for women during the rampant crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. Initially, the killings were called the “South Slayer” murders until investigators determined there was more than one attacker on the loose.