CA CA - Unknown Serial Killer in California since 1988

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/30/serial.killer/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Los Angeles, California, police detectives are looking for a serial killer who they believe killed at least 11 people, many of them prostitutes, over a 23-year period.

Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Charlie Beck said DNA evidence and ballistics tests have convinced detectives that the same killer is connected to the slayings in Los Angeles and Inglewood.

The victims were prostitutes or drug users who were sexually assaulted and then shot and dumped in alleyways or inside dumpsters, police said.
[snip]

The most recent killing -- in January 2007 -- was tied exclusively to DNA analysis to another case after 13 years. However, detectives have not been able to identify the killer through state or federal DNA databases of convicted felons.

According to Beck, authorities are still examining over 50,000 inmates in state prison for similar crimes, but not all of them have DNA profiles.

One theory investigators are exploring about the gaps between the killings is the possibility that the killer served time in prison. Authorities are scouring files of inmates who were in prison serving time during periods of the killer's apparent inactivity.

All of the victims are young African-American females except for one black man.

The first known slaying occurred in 1985 when 29-year-old Debra Jackson was shot multiple times in the chest, police said.

In 1988, a woman was sexually assaulted and shot. She survived and gave police a vague description of the suspect. However, Beck said the description was not enough for authorities to draw a composite sketch.
[snip]
Those cases went cold until detectives connected three additional murders since 2002 based primarily on recently developed DNA technology.

Beck said authorities preserved fluid samples of DNA the killer left behind in earlier killings and found conclusive similarities on the body of three victims, including the most recent slaying from 2007.

Another theory investigators are examining is the possibility the killer may have left the state of California and committed crimes in other parts of the country.

"This is the mind of a maniac, but we have a tight victim profile and powerful evidence that has taken us across the country," Beck said. "The victims are the most vulnerable in society and we know the suspect is involved in prostitution. Eventually, we will find him."

He's left behind DNA evidence at least, so maybe they can connect more murders to him. For being around since 88' and still not being caught, i'm sure he's killed a lot more than they estimate at 11.
He hasn't been in the system, or they would have matched his dna up, right?
So he's someone who has evaded the system.
They should check his dna across the whole country.

You know it makes me angry. At some point you would think that LE would put together some info that indicated that maybe one person might be going around killing people. But instead of alerting the targeted population, it is kept quiet.

If alerted there is a chance that some women might have decided to leave prostitution and choose another lifestyle. Other women might have stayed in the lifestyle, but might have become more selective about who they were choosing to go with. Still others might have been more observant about who was going with who. But bottom line, it would have been their decisions. Instead, they have no warnings, no indications of danger and they stay in a risky lifestyle that was unknowingly riskier.

Some will say that the women knew they were in a risky lifestyle and that that was their decision. But they were not even given warning. And this happens with other types of serials too. I don't know how many times I have seen arrests for rape and murder that have said this one and that one suspected of being a serial killer or rapist.... even when there had been no earlier warnings that a serial was in the area.

They believe the suspect is involved in prostitution? I wonder if they think he's a pimp, a john, or involved in organized crime.

the unknown serial killer is called Lonnie David Franklin Jr aka grim sleeper

Here is a pretty interesting and fairly recent article that mentions The Grim Sleeper case:

How DNA Helped Catch The ‘Grim Sleeper,’ The Prolific Serial Killer Who Terrorized Los Angeles

I POSTED THIS IN ANOTHER THREAD! if you are interested let me know.

Lately I have been looking into serial killings. I have noticed in a variety of states, there are certain years where a large group of individuals went missing. I was looking at a case of a girl that went missing in 1993 and when looking on the doenetwork.org I noticed a large amount of individuals went missing in California between the years of 1968 and 2008.

I wanted to search for the missing individuals on here before creating a thread. I came across this thread and noticed that there are a variety of serial killers that killed during these years in california. I wanted to create a new thread and list a serial killer and the possible related missing person to that killer. I think it might be easier to do this rather than keep replying to this thread.

So for example, one person could post all the possible missing person cases that are related to the zodiac killer ( i am a ware there is a forum for the zodiac killer already but there are so many posts that it is overwhelming at this point). Please let me know if this is a good idea or what we could do to connect each of these individuals to one killer.

There is a total of 467 women missing between this time frame in California. There is a total of 702 men missing between this time frame (i might have miscounted). I am aware that some killers did seek both genders that is why I included both.

I would like to make this simple and create a forum for each killer and the murders that have been identified for that killer and ones that could be related. My hope is that every individual during this time frame can have someone look at their case and they do not become forgotten.

If this is too complicated I understand. It is just crazy to see this many people missing over 40 years. Some years had at least 15 missing people. There is no doubt in my mind that most of these individuals were a victim of a serial killer and I want to make sure that we can solve as many cases as possible. I think this is our best shot at doing that. Please let me know what you think

I would just like to ask if anyone has ever noticed the Zodiac killers name. The first letter that he sent taunting the police was on August 1, 1969. The zodiac sign on that date is Leo and that is as far as i got but maybe someone else could have some more info on this?

I agree completely. As you said, several serial killers roamed in that time period. We have Lonnie David Franklin in California, the Grim Sleeper, and his vast collection of hundreds of photos found in his home; they are still trying to identify the women to see who are victims. Then there is Sam Little who was in California.

• 8 convicted
• 50 confirmed
• 61 linked
• 93 claimed
• suspect to kill over 100 or even 200 women.

I find this so confusing, as you said there were so many missing people who just disappeared. I haven't searched the boards of all the serial killers and am not sure if separate boards are set up for these two killers. I will be on the lookout for your posts. Thank you.

As of September 2016, roughly 13,105 people in the United States have been murdered by a serial killer since 1900, according to research conducted by Radford University and the Florida Gulf Coast University. The United States has the highest number of known serial killers, with a total of 3,204. This is followed by England, which has 166 serial killers, and South Africa, with a total of 117.

Researched this....California is the #1 State for Murders by Serial Killers followed by Texas and Florida. Interesting that these are all border states near water.
Roughly 1,628 people have been murdered by a serial killer in California since 1900. This is up from a total of 1,513 in 2015. One famous California serial killer is Joseph James DeAngelo, also known as the Golden State Killer. DNA evidence linked him to more than 45 rapes, roughly 12 murders, and more than 100 burglaries. California is also where one of the deadliest workplace murders took place. In 1988 Richard Wade Farley used the shotgun to kill seven of his co-workers and injure four at his former workplace in Sunnyvale, California.

Also, these numbers are from almost 30 years ago. Can you imagine how much higher this number is now considering we have the internet to connect killers with victims, especially prostitues and escort services.