Sept. 18, 2025
The Grim Sleeper: How a Pizza Crust Ended 25 Years of Terror
The Grim Sleeper: How a Pizza Crust Ended 25 Years of Terror The Grim Sleeper terrorized South Central Los Angeles for over two decades, targeting vulnerable women while hiding behind a facade of normalcy. Lonnie Franklin's 25-year killing spree...
The Grim Sleeper: How a Pizza Crust Ended 25 Years of Terror
The Grim Sleeper terrorized South Central Los Angeles for over two decades, targeting vulnerable women while hiding behind a facade of normalcy. Lonnie Franklin's 25-year killing spree included a mysterious 14-year break that earned him his chilling nickname. From his early conviction for gang rape in Germany to the undercover pizza operation that finally brought him down, this case reveals how systemic neglect allowed a predator to operate unchecked in communities that deserved better protection. We'll explore how family DNA, investigative persistence, and one discarded pizza crust finally delivered justice for at least ten victims and brought closure to families who waited decades for answers.
#GrimSleeper #LonnieFranklin #SouthLASerial #TrueCrimeStories #SerialKillerCold #DNAEvidence #CaliforniaSerial
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1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,400
He photographed his victims, he kept trophies, and for 14 years he completely stopped killing,
2
00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:11,040
earning him one of the most unsettling nicknames in true crime history.
3
00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:15,840
The Grim sleeper operated in South Central LA for over two decades,
4
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:20,480
and when police finally caught him, it wasn't through traditional detective work.
5
00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:26,320
It was through a piece of leftover pizza, and some seriously creative undercover work.
6
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:46,640
[Music]
7
00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:53,200
Lonnie David Franklin Jr. entered this world on August 30th 1952
8
00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,760
in South Central Los Angeles. From the outside he seemed like any other kid growing up in the
9
00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:04,240
neighborhood, but by 1975 when he was 23 years old, Franklin's true nature revealed itself
10
00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:09,360
in the most horrific way possible. While stationed in Stuttgart, Germany with the army,
11
00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:14,320
Franklin and two other servicemen approached a 17 year old girl asking for directions.
12
00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:19,520
They offered her a ride home. The moment she got in the car, they held a knife to her
13
00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:24,400
throat and drove her to an isolated field where they gang raped her. Here's the thing that makes
14
00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:29,440
this even more disturbing. During the attack, this young woman kept her wits about her in the most
15
00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:36,480
extraordinary way. She pretended to be interested in Franklin, and he actually gave her his phone number.
16
00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:42,000
When she reported the crime, police used that number to track him down. Franklin and his accomplices
17
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:47,360
had also photographed the assault, foreshadowing the documentation obsession that would define his
18
00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:52,880
later crimes. Franklin received a dishonorable discharge for this conviction, but the pattern was
19
00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:58,880
already established. Violence against women, documentation of his crimes, and an ability to present
20
00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:06,240
himself as trustworthy right up until the moment he wasn't. Back in Los Angeles during the mid-1980s,
21
00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:12,960
women in South Central started disappearing and then turning up dead. The LAPD eventually connected
22
00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,080
the dots and realized they had a serial killer on their hands. Someone systematically targeting black
23
00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:24,720
women who were sex workers and drug users. They called him the South Side Slayer. In the community,
24
00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:31,200
these murders had another name, the Strawberry Murders. Strawberry was street slang for women who traded
25
00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:39,120
sex for drugs, and someone was hunting them with methodical precision. Between 1983 and late 1985,
26
00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:44,720
at least 13 women were stabbed and strangled. The killer used the 25 caliber handgun for some of
27
00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:51,360
the murders, and by 1987, seven victims were definitively linked to that same weapon. Community
28
00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:56,640
leaders noticed something that should have been obvious to everyone. When Richard Ramirez,
29
00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:02,880
the Nightstalker, was terrorizing upscale areas of LA and San Francisco, the LAPD threw massive
30
00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:09,040
resources at catching him. Task forces, press conferences, the whole nine yards. But when poor
31
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:15,040
black women were systematically being murdered in South Central, crickets. The criticism was so
32
00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:21,360
intense that the LAPD finally formed the South Side Slayer Task Force and increased the reward
33
00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:29,040
from $10,000 to $25,000. By January 1986, 15 murders had been linked to the case, but here's the
34
00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:34,240
problem. When you're playing catch-up instead of getting ahead of a serial killer, the results speak
35
00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:40,880
for themselves. The task force wound down later that year, partly because they theorized that maybe
36
00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:46,240
up to four different killers were responsible for all these murders. Over the next few years,
37
00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:51,360
they did solve some of the South Side Slayer cases, connecting them to other killers operating in
38
00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:57,360
the area. But those seven murders committed with the same 25 caliber handgun, those remained
39
00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:04,320
unsolved. Franklin's first confirmed victim was Deborah Jackson in August 1985. Would
40
00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:10,160
make Franklin different from other serial killers was what happened next. After his last known crime
41
00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:18,560
in 1988, he apparently stopped killing for 14 years. This hiatus wasn't unusual behavior for Franklin.
42
00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:23,600
Remember, this is someone who had already demonstrated the ability to compartmentalize
43
00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:28,720
violence. He lived a relatively normal life in South Central working various jobs,
44
00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:34,000
maintaining relationships. His neighbors described him as friendly, helpful, the kind of guy who
45
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:41,760
would lend you tools or help with car repairs. But in 2002, Franklin resumed killing. This 14-year
46
00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:47,360
gap is what earned him the nickname "The Grim Sleeper" as if he'd been hibernating between murder
47
00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:55,360
sprees. Fast forward to May 2007, Janice Pieters was murdered, and this time investigators got lucky.
48
00:04:55,360 --> 00:05:03,040
DNA from her case matched at least 11 unsolved murders in LA. The LAPD secretly formed a new task force,
49
00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:09,680
and in 2008 they announced a $500,000 reward for information leading to the killer's capture.
50
00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:17,120
And they had that new nickname for him now, The Grim Sleeper. In March 2009, they caught another break.
51
00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:22,640
The sole survivor of a Grim Sleeper attack came forward with a description. A black man,
52
00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:28,400
in his early 30s, neat appearance, kind of geeky looking, wearing a black polo shirt tucked into
53
00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:34,880
khakis. She also provided details about his vehicle. Police labs couldn't find a direct DNA match
54
00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:40,880
in their database, but they found something almost as good. Similar DNA belonging to Christopher
55
00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:47,440
Franklin, who was obviously too young to be their killer. Christopher was Lonnie Franklin's son.
56
00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,760
And here's where the story gets really clever. Instead of approaching Franklin directly and
57
00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:58,480
potentially spooking him, investigators decided to get creative. They needed his DNA to make a definitive
58
00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:05,120
match, but they needed to obtain it legally and also without his knowledge. An undercover officer
59
00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:11,280
posed as a waiter at a restaurant where Franklin was eating pizza. Franklin didn't finish his pizza
60
00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:17,120
crust, and investigators collected it after he left. That discarded pizza crust provided the DNA
61
00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:24,400
sample that definitively linked Lonnie Franklin to the Grim Sleeper murders. On July 7, 2010,
62
00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:30,560
Franklin was arrested at his home on West 81st Street and South Central LA. The investigation that
63
00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:36,640
followed revealed the full scope of his crimes. When investigators searched Franklin's home, they
64
00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:42,800
discovered over a thousand photographs and several hundred hours of video. The images showed mainly
65
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:49,760
black women across a wide age range, from teenagers to middle-aged and older women, often nude or
66
00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:56,480
in compromising positions. Many appeared unconscious. These photographs dated back 30 years,
67
00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:02,080
providing a visual timeline of Franklin's criminal activities. Police believe he took most of
68
00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:07,680
these pictures himself, documenting both conscious and unconscious victims. During questioning,
69
00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:13,200
investigators laid out photo after photo of victims that DNA evidence linked to Franklin.
70
00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:19,600
He denied knowing any of them, but as the interview continued, Franklin's mask began to slip.
71
00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:25,600
He started insulting the victims, revealing the contempt he held for the women whose lives he had taken.
72
00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:31,200
The most disturbing moment came when investigators mentioned DNA evidence. Franklin responded with a phrase
73
00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:38,640
that still makes investigators cringe. DNA juice. It was a callous, almost dismissive reference
74
00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:45,040
to the scientific evidence that would ultimately convict him. Franklin was charged with 10 murders and
75
00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:52,400
one attempted murder and held without bail. His trial began February 2016 after numerous delays.
76
00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:58,000
The prosecution presented overwhelming DNA evidence, survivor testimony, and the disturbing
77
00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:04,320
collection of photographs found in his home. On May 5, 2016, after nearly three months of trial,
78
00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:08,640
in the day and a half of jury deliberation, Franklin was convicted on all counts.
79
00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:14,160
The jury had seen enough evidence to conclude that this unassuming South Central residence was
80
00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:21,120
responsible for one of Los Angeles's most prolonged serial killing sprees. One month later,
81
00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:26,480
he was sentenced to death. On March 28, 2020, Lonnie Franklin was found
82
00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:35,040
unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin Prison at approximately 7.20 pm. He was pronounced dead at 7.43 pm.
83
00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:39,360
An autopsy was ordered to determine the cause of death, but there were no signs of trauma.
84
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Franklin died of natural causes while on death row, taking whatever additional secrets he might have
85
00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:52,480
held to his grave. Investigators believe there were additional victims during Franklin's supposed 14-year
86
00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:58,800
hiatus. The sheer volume of photographs and videos found in his home suggests his criminal activity
87
00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:05,040
never truly stopped, even if the murders did. The grim sleeper case represents both the best
88
00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:10,400
and the worst of criminal justice. It shows how advances in DNA technology and creative police
89
00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:16,880
work can solve seemingly impossible cases, but it also highlights how systematic neglect
90
00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:24,880
of vulnerable communities can allow predators to operate unchecked for decades.
91
00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:38,000
Thank you for listening to 10-minute murder bingeable true crime stories. I'm Joe,
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00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:42,720
nice to meet you. If you've got an email you want to send me, you can fire that thing off to me right
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00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:49,360
now. Joe at 10minuteMurder.com and let me quickly jump into this. Let's talk about this email. Hey, Joe,
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00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:54,720
if you could go back and witness one famous case unfold in real time, would you pick the investigation
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00:09:54,720 --> 00:10:00,720
stage or the trial? Which part do you think you'd find more fascinating? That's from Claire and Tampa.
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00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,960
Let me tell you Claire, that's a very good question and one that I've never actually thought about.
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And the answer for me is pretty simple. It's the investigation stage because I already read up so
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much on the trial stage, but that's where a lot of this information comes from is what happens in
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the trial. That's where they present their evidence. Here's what happened in the case. Here's the
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result of it. So that's a lot of what you hear here. We don't get always the investigation stuff
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that's not uncovered in the trial. And specifically, the part that would interest me most is probably the,
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if like if the FBI is doing a criminal profile on someone like the show, "Mine Hunters," I love that.
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And I hate that they canceled that Netflix. It was fantastic. I love that show. But the whole criminal
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profile, how they try to figure out what this person could do for a living. If it's a male or female,
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it's almost always a male. If it's an African-American or if it's a white guy, it's almost always a white
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guy. You get my point though. They can usually put it right there close to what it actually is.
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Now, they're wrong sometimes, obviously. But just that whole science is so interesting to me.
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The whole aspect of profiling. So definitely the investigation stage would interest me most,
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and specifically criminal profiling. And thanks again, Claire, for the great email.
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00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,720
Hey, if you're a new listener to the podcast, make sure you hit subscribe right now. It's very
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00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:29,760
important. It's going to help you find the podcast more easily, help you catch up on back episodes.
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00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:34,560
So hit subscribe wherever you're listening right now. And you can go to 10minuteMurder.com,
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00:11:34,560 --> 00:11:39,440
catch up on everything that there is to know about the podcast, and then follow me on social media.
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Pretty simple. Again, thank you so much for listening to 10 Minute Murder. We'll see you next time.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,400
He photographed his victims, he kept trophies, and for 14 years he completely stopped killing,
2
00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:11,040
earning him one of the most unsettling nicknames in true crime history.
3
00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:15,840
The Grim sleeper operated in South Central LA for over two decades,
4
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:20,480
and when police finally caught him, it wasn't through traditional detective work.
5
00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:26,320
It was through a piece of leftover pizza, and some seriously creative undercover work.
6
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:46,640
[Music]
7
00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:53,200
Lonnie David Franklin Jr. entered this world on August 30th 1952
8
00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,760
in South Central Los Angeles. From the outside he seemed like any other kid growing up in the
9
00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:04,240
neighborhood, but by 1975 when he was 23 years old, Franklin's true nature revealed itself
10
00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:09,360
in the most horrific way possible. While stationed in Stuttgart, Germany with the army,
11
00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:14,320
Franklin and two other servicemen approached a 17 year old girl asking for directions.
12
00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:19,520
They offered her a ride home. The moment she got in the car, they held a knife to her
13
00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:24,400
throat and drove her to an isolated field where they gang raped her. Here's the thing that makes
14
00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:29,440
this even more disturbing. During the attack, this young woman kept her wits about her in the most
15
00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:36,480
extraordinary way. She pretended to be interested in Franklin, and he actually gave her his phone number.
16
00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:42,000
When she reported the crime, police used that number to track him down. Franklin and his accomplices
17
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:47,360
had also photographed the assault, foreshadowing the documentation obsession that would define his
18
00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:52,880
later crimes. Franklin received a dishonorable discharge for this conviction, but the pattern was
19
00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:58,880
already established. Violence against women, documentation of his crimes, and an ability to present
20
00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:06,240
himself as trustworthy right up until the moment he wasn't. Back in Los Angeles during the mid-1980s,
21
00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:12,960
women in South Central started disappearing and then turning up dead. The LAPD eventually connected
22
00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,080
the dots and realized they had a serial killer on their hands. Someone systematically targeting black
23
00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:24,720
women who were sex workers and drug users. They called him the South Side Slayer. In the community,
24
00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:31,200
these murders had another name, the Strawberry Murders. Strawberry was street slang for women who traded
25
00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:39,120
sex for drugs, and someone was hunting them with methodical precision. Between 1983 and late 1985,
26
00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:44,720
at least 13 women were stabbed and strangled. The killer used the 25 caliber handgun for some of
27
00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:51,360
the murders, and by 1987, seven victims were definitively linked to that same weapon. Community
28
00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:56,640
leaders noticed something that should have been obvious to everyone. When Richard Ramirez,
29
00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:02,880
the Nightstalker, was terrorizing upscale areas of LA and San Francisco, the LAPD threw massive
30
00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:09,040
resources at catching him. Task forces, press conferences, the whole nine yards. But when poor
31
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:15,040
black women were systematically being murdered in South Central, crickets. The criticism was so
32
00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:21,360
intense that the LAPD finally formed the South Side Slayer Task Force and increased the reward
33
00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:29,040
from $10,000 to $25,000. By January 1986, 15 murders had been linked to the case, but here's the
34
00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:34,240
problem. When you're playing catch-up instead of getting ahead of a serial killer, the results speak
35
00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:40,880
for themselves. The task force wound down later that year, partly because they theorized that maybe
36
00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:46,240
up to four different killers were responsible for all these murders. Over the next few years,
37
00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:51,360
they did solve some of the South Side Slayer cases, connecting them to other killers operating in
38
00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:57,360
the area. But those seven murders committed with the same 25 caliber handgun, those remained
39
00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:04,320
unsolved. Franklin's first confirmed victim was Deborah Jackson in August 1985. Would
40
00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:10,160
make Franklin different from other serial killers was what happened next. After his last known crime
41
00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:18,560
in 1988, he apparently stopped killing for 14 years. This hiatus wasn't unusual behavior for Franklin.
42
00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:23,600
Remember, this is someone who had already demonstrated the ability to compartmentalize
43
00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:28,720
violence. He lived a relatively normal life in South Central working various jobs,
44
00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:34,000
maintaining relationships. His neighbors described him as friendly, helpful, the kind of guy who
45
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:41,760
would lend you tools or help with car repairs. But in 2002, Franklin resumed killing. This 14-year
46
00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:47,360
gap is what earned him the nickname "The Grim Sleeper" as if he'd been hibernating between murder
47
00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:55,360
sprees. Fast forward to May 2007, Janice Pieters was murdered, and this time investigators got lucky.
48
00:04:55,360 --> 00:05:03,040
DNA from her case matched at least 11 unsolved murders in LA. The LAPD secretly formed a new task force,
49
00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:09,680
and in 2008 they announced a $500,000 reward for information leading to the killer's capture.
50
00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:17,120
And they had that new nickname for him now, The Grim Sleeper. In March 2009, they caught another break.
51
00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:22,640
The sole survivor of a Grim Sleeper attack came forward with a description. A black man,
52
00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:28,400
in his early 30s, neat appearance, kind of geeky looking, wearing a black polo shirt tucked into
53
00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:34,880
khakis. She also provided details about his vehicle. Police labs couldn't find a direct DNA match
54
00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:40,880
in their database, but they found something almost as good. Similar DNA belonging to Christopher
55
00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:47,440
Franklin, who was obviously too young to be their killer. Christopher was Lonnie Franklin's son.
56
00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,760
And here's where the story gets really clever. Instead of approaching Franklin directly and
57
00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:58,480
potentially spooking him, investigators decided to get creative. They needed his DNA to make a definitive
58
00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:05,120
match, but they needed to obtain it legally and also without his knowledge. An undercover officer
59
00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:11,280
posed as a waiter at a restaurant where Franklin was eating pizza. Franklin didn't finish his pizza
60
00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:17,120
crust, and investigators collected it after he left. That discarded pizza crust provided the DNA
61
00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:24,400
sample that definitively linked Lonnie Franklin to the Grim Sleeper murders. On July 7, 2010,
62
00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:30,560
Franklin was arrested at his home on West 81st Street and South Central LA. The investigation that
63
00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:36,640
followed revealed the full scope of his crimes. When investigators searched Franklin's home, they
64
00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:42,800
discovered over a thousand photographs and several hundred hours of video. The images showed mainly
65
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:49,760
black women across a wide age range, from teenagers to middle-aged and older women, often nude or
66
00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:56,480
in compromising positions. Many appeared unconscious. These photographs dated back 30 years,
67
00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:02,080
providing a visual timeline of Franklin's criminal activities. Police believe he took most of
68
00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:07,680
these pictures himself, documenting both conscious and unconscious victims. During questioning,
69
00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:13,200
investigators laid out photo after photo of victims that DNA evidence linked to Franklin.
70
00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:19,600
He denied knowing any of them, but as the interview continued, Franklin's mask began to slip.
71
00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:25,600
He started insulting the victims, revealing the contempt he held for the women whose lives he had taken.
72
00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:31,200
The most disturbing moment came when investigators mentioned DNA evidence. Franklin responded with a phrase
73
00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:38,640
that still makes investigators cringe. DNA juice. It was a callous, almost dismissive reference
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to the scientific evidence that would ultimately convict him. Franklin was charged with 10 murders and
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one attempted murder and held without bail. His trial began February 2016 after numerous delays.
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The prosecution presented overwhelming DNA evidence, survivor testimony, and the disturbing
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collection of photographs found in his home. On May 5, 2016, after nearly three months of trial,
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in the day and a half of jury deliberation, Franklin was convicted on all counts.
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The jury had seen enough evidence to conclude that this unassuming South Central residence was
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responsible for one of Los Angeles's most prolonged serial killing sprees. One month later,
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he was sentenced to death. On March 28, 2020, Lonnie Franklin was found
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unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin Prison at approximately 7.20 pm. He was pronounced dead at 7.43 pm.
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An autopsy was ordered to determine the cause of death, but there were no signs of trauma.
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Franklin died of natural causes while on death row, taking whatever additional secrets he might have
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held to his grave. Investigators believe there were additional victims during Franklin's supposed 14-year
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hiatus. The sheer volume of photographs and videos found in his home suggests his criminal activity
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never truly stopped, even if the murders did. The grim sleeper case represents both the best
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and the worst of criminal justice. It shows how advances in DNA technology and creative police
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work can solve seemingly impossible cases, but it also highlights how systematic neglect
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of vulnerable communities can allow predators to operate unchecked for decades.
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Thank you for listening to 10-minute murder bingeable true crime stories. I'm Joe,
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nice to meet you. If you've got an email you want to send me, you can fire that thing off to me right
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now. Joe at 10minuteMurder.com and let me quickly jump into this. Let's talk about this email. Hey, Joe,
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if you could go back and witness one famous case unfold in real time, would you pick the investigation
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stage or the trial? Which part do you think you'd find more fascinating? That's from Claire and Tampa.
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Let me tell you Claire, that's a very good question and one that I've never actually thought about.
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And the answer for me is pretty simple. It's the investigation stage because I already read up so
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much on the trial stage, but that's where a lot of this information comes from is what happens in
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the trial. That's where they present their evidence. Here's what happened in the case. Here's the
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result of it. So that's a lot of what you hear here. We don't get always the investigation stuff
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that's not uncovered in the trial. And specifically, the part that would interest me most is probably the,
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if like if the FBI is doing a criminal profile on someone like the show, "Mine Hunters," I love that.
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And I hate that they canceled that Netflix. It was fantastic. I love that show. But the whole criminal
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profile, how they try to figure out what this person could do for a living. If it's a male or female,
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it's almost always a male. If it's an African-American or if it's a white guy, it's almost always a white
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guy. You get my point though. They can usually put it right there close to what it actually is.
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Now, they're wrong sometimes, obviously. But just that whole science is so interesting to me.
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The whole aspect of profiling. So definitely the investigation stage would interest me most,
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and specifically criminal profiling. And thanks again, Claire, for the great email.
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Hey, if you're a new listener to the podcast, make sure you hit subscribe right now. It's very
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important. It's going to help you find the podcast more easily, help you catch up on back episodes.
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So hit subscribe wherever you're listening right now. And you can go to 10minuteMurder.com,
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catch up on everything that there is to know about the podcast, and then follow me on social media.
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Pretty simple. Again, thank you so much for listening to 10 Minute Murder. We'll see you next time.
