The Grim Sleeper. Update: Arrest in the Grim Sleeper Case!

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DNA traces to him means he hasn't been incarcerated correct. LAPD seems to believe this may have relocated during these spans of no killings in that area. Did they mention that maybe Florida had similair cases? Family members with family in Florida and California. Makes me think that this has family in both areas. Maybe look at the members of the different church groups and ALL family members. I think that maybe the link.

I wonder how far the missing woman in LA lived? I am going to go back and look.
 
elliottness said:
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/los-angeles-ca/TFII0H6QCN1S841FR

I saw this article today and I was wondering if DNA had cleared this man's name. Man's name is Leon Ellis Jr. and he was arrested in July 2007 for being linked to at least 9 rapes in Los Angeles and Chicago. He was suspected of preying on prostitutes and strippers he lured to motels.
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I think his DNA would have been linked to the Grim Sleeper victims too. They linked Leon Ellis Jr.'s DNA to 6 LAPD cases and 2 in Chicago through CA's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). "The first case occurred in 1999 and the last case occurred on June 23, 2007." I don't think they are the same victims as those identified as GS's victims...

http://lapdblog.typepad.com/lapd_blog/2007/07/serial-rapist-a.html

Also, I found this link that says he's 6'4" and 275 lbs, which doesn't match the small and thin description of the GS. The MO sounds a little different too. But Figueroa Street does seem to run right through the area GS's victims were found!

http://limbo55.xanga.com/606051362/my-neighbor-was-a-rapist/
 
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19920408&slug=1485321

I found this article, too. It is from April 8, 1992 and describes a rapist named Robert Berdue who was 30 at the time. Berdue was a native of the Bronx, NY who was convicted of rape while in the Navy in 1982. He served time in military jail before being transferred to federal prison in 1984. He was released from jail in 1985. Convicted for forgery in Washington in 1987 and theft in California in 1988. Returned to federal custody in 1988 to finish serving the rape sentence.
 
elliottness said:
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19920408&slug=1485321

I found this article, too. It is from April 8, 1992 and describes a rapist named Robert Berdue who was 30 at the time. Berdue was a native of the Bronx, NY who was convicted of rape while in the Navy in 1982. He served time in military jail before being transferred to federal prison in 1984. He was released from jail in 1985. Convicted for forgery in Washington in 1987 and theft in California in 1988. Returned to federal custody in 1988 to finish serving the rape sentence.
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OMG! I cannot believe that article! :furious: I think I'm just so upset over Sandra Cantu's body being found today that I'm just not reading this right. So instead of locking up a rapist for good, they release him again and PAY him to have sex with more women?? No woman, prostitute or not, should be subjected to that, especially directed to by the police. And the police chief says he'd do this again? To keep his town free from prostitutes? HIS MO sounds more like GS to me.
 
I would like to know more about the now-defunct church where the van was found back in 1987. I've looked everywhere on the web for it and can't find a thing. It seems a bit conspicuous that no records exist of it anywhere. Or at least none that I can find. How would we go about retrieving these records?
 
elliottness said:
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19920408&slug=1485321

I found this article, too. It is from April 8, 1992 and describes a rapist named Robert Berdue who was 30 at the time. Berdue was a native of the Bronx, NY who was convicted of rape while in the Navy in 1982. He served time in military jail before being transferred to federal prison in 1984. He was released from jail in 1985. Convicted for forgery in Washington in 1987 and theft in California in 1988. Returned to federal custody in 1988 to finish serving the rape sentence.
Click to expand...

I doubt this is the guy. Looks like he needed to give more time behind bars. Who knows? he may still be in prison. He's probably been in and out since this first article was written and in a number of states as well. This article was from '93.

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930130&slug=1682761

Police Informant Is Sentenced In Cell-Phone Scam

But King County Superior Court Judge Ricardo Martinez told Berdue - who had cooperated with various local, state, and federal authorities - that, aside from stealing a significant amount of money from innocent people, he allowed the lines between police work and crime to blur.

A jury found that Berdue, 30, fooled an area businessman into giving him personal financial information then used it to assume the man's identity.

Berdue used the man's excellent credit rating to lease cellular phones, faxes and copy machines. He then sold the property to other people.

He was sentenced to 57 months, the top of the standard sentencing range. He now faces sentencing on Pacific County convictions of unlawful issuance of bank checks and also may be extradited to Aurora, Colo., where he faces more forgery charges.
 
elliottness said:
I would like to know more about the now-defunct church where the van was found back in 1987. I've looked everywhere on the web for it and can't find a thing. It seems a bit conspicuous that no records exist of it anywhere. Or at least none that I can find. How would we go about retrieving these records?
Click to expand...

Me too! The church and van are one of the major things that bother me about this case. I can't find anything about this church either. Who owned it? Who were the leaders? When and why did it become defunct? Did it move to another location? I really believe Grim was involved in this church someway. I also believe he fled after victim 8 survived (possibly to Montreal). It really bothers me that LE didn't investigate this more at the time. Why didn't they find out from the church WHO was driving the van or had access to it at the time? They found the van so quickly after the body was dumped. Why couldn't they get any evidence from it? I saw a case really similar to this (I believe on Forensics Files). A woman was abducted by a man in a church van, that actually looked really similar to this one, then raped, killed and dumped. Witnesses saw the van but authorities couldn't locate it for a long time. When they finally found the van at a church they were able to find out who was driving it from the church's van log and it was the church's handyman. They also got evidence from the van. When they took him into custody he just said "What took you so long to catch me?"! That's exactly what I'm thinking about GS! I really hope they can catch him now with all the new effort being put into the case.

I think investigators need to contact members of nearby churches. They may have been a member of the Cosmopolitan Church before it went defunct. Also someone has to have known Grim or at least members of that church.
 
fran said:
I doubt this is the guy. Looks like he needed to give more time behind bars. Who knows? he may still be in prison. He's probably been in and out since this first article was written and in a number of states as well. This article was from '93.

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930130&slug=1682761
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Right, this guy was incarcerated in 1988 to Jan 1989. I don't think he could have committed the late '88 murders. Plus they should have linked his DNA. I hope he's still in prison though.
 
Everyone,

I've got a couple of updates to report on this case. 1) I was contacted by the LAPD and was informed that a detective is investigating this and will be in contact with me if they need any more information. 2) I heard back from Montreal and unfortunately their archives do not go back further than 1995. This is not unexpected, but disappointing nonetheless.
 
DNA leads to suspect in 1970s Los Angeles serial killings:

A man who Los Angeles police believe raped and murdered dozens of women decades ago was arrested by cold case investigators this month after a computer matched his DNA to evidence from two killings in the 1970s.

John Floyd Thomas Jr., 72, may have begun his killings as far back as 1955 and he could be one of the worst serial killers in United States history, according to Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton.

"We have yet to reach the depths of what he has done," Bratton said Thursday.
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WORST SERIAL KILLER EVER!:

LAPD say 72 year old "Grim Sleeper" suspected serial killer may have raped and killed up to 30 women in decades old slay spree!

John Floyd Thomas, 72, has been officially charged with two murders so far and his DNA matches that found at three other crime scenes in West Los Angeles from unsolved murders dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.

Robbery-Homicide Cold Case Detective Richard Bengston stated evidence in 25 other killings is currently being examined, but cops say Thomas is the suspected serial killer.

"When all is said and done, Mr. Thomas stands to be Los Angeles' most prolific serial killer," Bengston told the Los Angeles Times.
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LAPD ties 72-year-old man to two waves of serial killings:

The LAPD is still investigating at least a dozen murders, over a span of two decades, connected to an unidentified serial killer dubbed the "Grim Sleeper."
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I really hope this could be him! Although I don't think his crimes match those of the Grim Sleeper, the gaps between his killings do seem to coincide with the gaps in the Grim Sleeper killings. I hope they will be able to say soon if he is linked to the Grim Sleeper crimes too or not. JVM said on her show today she would be following this case but she only talked about it for like a minute today.
 
Oh man! I read one of those articles about a serial killer in CA being caught, but it didn't mention the Grim Sleeper (You'd think that they'd use his nickname in the article on CNN???). I was really disappointed but now with these new articles, I'm really hoping they got their guy.
 
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=6813363

Thursday, May 14, 2009

It was November 1988...

...A 30-year-old woman was on her way to a party when she survived a vicious attack by the Grim Sleeper...

..."I just happened to notice the car because it was this orange Pinto, and it was pimped out," she said. ...


...She described him as black man in his 30s, kind of scrawny...

...He shot her, and she lost consciousness.
When she regained consciousness, he was on top of her, raping her and taking pictures. He pistol-whipped her, tossed her out of the car and left her for dead...
Click to expand...
 
I analyzed the 911 Call of the witness for Reverse Speech (In short, Reverse Speech is messages from the unconscious mind embedded backward into speech.) It would seem there is one or more additional witnesses that were with him.

Here are the examples:

Yes, I would like to report a murder, or a dead body, or somethin'.
(Operator: Where at.)
The address is 1346 East 56 Street. In the alley.
I see the feet.

And the guy that dropped her off was driving a white and blue Dodge van.
One of us we thought was about to die. (Is there another witness?)

He threw her out. And the only thing that's hanging out of this, like he threw a gas tank on top of her, and uh, and uh only thing you could see out was her feet. (He had mentioned seeing her feet in the first reversal.)
If was alive, shouldn't be doin' that.

...I know too many people. Okay then bye, bye.
I am a Negro. The police believe we do that. ("We" would seem to indicate there is at least one other witness.)
 
LAPD re-releasing the Grim Sleeper's sketch and hope to age-enhance it soon.

The drawing was re-released by the LAPD after 21 years. The killer was described in 1988 by one of his victims as a man in his 20's, between 5 feet 8 and 5 feet 10 inches tall, around 160 pounds, soft-spoken, articulate, with neatly trimmed hair and a pocked-marked face. The sole survivor told the LA Weekly that her attacker was driving a 1970s two-door orange, white-striped Pinto hatchback with tinted windows.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/crime/serial-killer-grim-sleeper-ske/
 
<snip>

LOS ANGELES -- Police have released composite drawings of the so-called "Grim Sleeper" simulating how he may have aged since the sketch was first drawn in 1988. A half-million-dollar reward has been offered for information leading to his arrest.
....
In one sketch he appears weathered from a hard life; in another, he's portrayed with extra weight; and in the third he appears very similar to the original sketch.

"Today it is being re-released to demonstrate the effects of 22 additional years of age on the suspect," said LAPD Deputy Chief Jim McDonnell.


more here

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7177195
 
LA Weekly has a bunch of articles and background on this guy as well.

The most recent:

Age-Enhanced Sketch of Grim Sleeper Serial Killer Made Public
December 17, 2009
http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/crime/grim-sleeper-serial-killer-ske/

Older pieces:

Grim Sleeper Returns: He's Murdering Angelenos, as Cops Hunt His DNA
August 28, 2008
The most elusive serial killer west of the Mississippi took a 13-year break. Now he's back
http://www.laweekly.com/2008-08-28/news/grim-sleeper/

Grim Sleeper's Victims
August 28, 2008
Eleven lives stolen and one lucky survivor
http://www.laweekly.com/2008-08-28/news/eleven-lives-stolen-and-one-lucky-survivor/

LAPD Asks for Public’s Help in Solving Grim Sleeper Murders
September 12, 2008
http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/crime/lapd-asks-for-publics-help-in/

Grim Sleeper's Sole Survivor
March 12, 2009
Relishing life, a tough churchgoing mom is at the center of the Los Angeles serial-killer mystery
http://www.laweekly.com/2009-03-12/news/grim-sleeper-39-s-sole-survivor/

Bound Together by the Grim Sleeper
May 7, 2009
L.A. family of serial killer's victims meet at long last
http://www.laweekly.com/2009-05-07/news/bound-together-by-the-grim-sleeper/
 
zinc said:
There's a website about him as well.

http://thegrimsleeper.com/
Click to expand...


Interesting thing about that website is that they were the ones to "age-enhance" the suspect's sketch first, then they removed it from the website so that LAPD could distribute theirs.

Now they have a link where you can see their original sketch... I think theirs is better.
 
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