Cold Case Files - The Grim Sleeper Part 2

Episode Date: April 11, 2023

In 1980s Los Angeles, a killer is terrorizing South Central, murdering African American women and discarding their bodies in the street. As the victim count rises–but suspects are few–fear and anger take hold in a community often overlooked by the police. Check out our great sponsors! ZocDoc: Go to Zocdoc.com/ccf and download the Zocdoc app for FREE! Search for The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts! Learn more at https://www.jordanharbinger.com  Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 29 million drivers who trust Progressive!

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please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. Since 1985, a murderer has roamed the streets of South Los Angeles. He suspected of killing at least 11 women. Young women who were involved in prostitution or illegal drugs. He would victimize them and then just discards their body in alleys like they're trash.

He is a monster. In 1988, after an attack on a victim who got away, The killing stopped. Justice is supposed to be fair. When they say an eye for an eye, two for two, right? I deserve to go after them. You did this to me. Why can't you put me in a room we go one-on-one?

Y'all don't know what I could do. Let me do to you what you did to me. Can I sit there and repeatedly shoot you, shoot you, shoot you? Can I do it for all these women? All these women are you in a shot? For the other victims. Can I have somebody rape you? Can we just push you out of a car and just leave you there?

Can I do all those things to you? Wouldn't it be fair? That's how I thought of it. Wouldn't it be fair? There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only about 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories. In the winter of 1988,

Anitria Washington survives an attack from the serial killer known as the grim sleeper. After her attack, leads dry up, and the case goes cold. Cliff Shepard is a former LAPD detective. Anitria Washington was the last victim. Did he move? Was he put in prison? Did he just decide to quit? Then one year later, Anitria sees her attacker walking down the street.

I was outside my yard. And this man come walking down the street. And he said, do you know me? I said, no, am I supposed to? And he just kept on walking. Then all of a sudden it dawned on me who it was. It was the guy who had shot me. And I was like, oh, my God.

So then I called the detectives. No, we just need you to look at these pictures and see if you recognize any of these men. Anitaia Washington studies the photos, looking for the man who shot her, in the chest, sexually assaulted her, and left her for dead. And I was like, no, it's not him. These pictures aren't of him.

I would know him if I saw him. I was very scary. Okay, I was very scary, and they brought up bad dreams. And I was fighting him in my sleep. Years and years went by, and the case went cold. I was upset. I was really pissed off. They weren't really looking.

We weren't trying to find out who hurt. me. You know, this is a black person. We don't care. In 2004, Cliff Shepard picked up the case. LAPD started a cold case unit to look at unsolved murders beginning in 1960 to the present. Cold case detectives are counting on advances in DNA technology to breathe new life into old cases. Christine Pellisak is the author of The Grim Sleeper, the Lost Women of South Central. Detective Shepard, he was one of the new members of the cold case unit. He was a patrol officer back in the 80s, and he remembered the 25 caliber killings.

Much of the cold case evidence is now useless, but investigators are able to salvage DNA from three of the 25 caliber killers victims, Mary Lowe, Bernita Sparks, and Barbara Ware. The same male DNA matches all three. This man was linked to all these cases, but he wasn't in the CODIS, the state or felon data bank. They had his DNA, but they had no idea who he was. It seems as if this new DNA technology will prove to be just another dead end, until the CODIS search gives them a new lead. Investigators discover a DNA link between three victims from the 1980s and a murder victim from 2003.

Everyone assumed that the guy stopped back in the 80s, but this guy was like still active. After 16 years, the 25 caliber killer is back. That victim was Valerie McCorvey. Valerie was a 35-year-old mother of two when she was found dead in an alley in South Los Angeles. Six days later, a second DNA hit in the CODA system links Valerie McCorm. Orvey's unidentified killer to evidence from a recent unsolved murder. A tipster leads police to the body of an unidentified female. The killer left her in an alley, less than two miles from where he left Mary Lowe,

Bernita Sparks, and Anitria Washington. It takes five months, but police finally identify the victim as 15-year-old, Princess Bertholomew. When I learned that Princess had been killed, if they say, say Band-Aid ripping off? This was like ripping off my scalp, like my head exploded. There was nothing that would have ever prepared me. Samara was a teenager when two-and-a-half-year-old Princess became a part of her family. Princess was given a new lease on life when Samara's mother, a retired nurse, was chosen as her foster mother. She was rescued from hell, literal hell. Princess was listed as one of LA's worst cases.

because they had never seen that level of abuse. Her mother was not the primary custodial parent. She was with her father and his girlfriend, and they not only physically abused her, they also were allowing other people to take turns on her for money. Their own biological father was pimping her out at two. Princess moves into the Harard's loving home in Claremont, an affluent college town 30 miles east of L.A.

She had scars all over her body. Cigarette marks, burn marks, from where the ropes had been tied on her hands. So I used to think, Mom, let's cover all these things up. You know, it's going to look odd when we're going out in public, and we got stares, we got looks, but my mom was like, we're not going to make her ashamed of those things. her biggest thing

was give her as normal of a childhood as possible because I was such an older sibling I was like another mom to her in fact Princess used to love the fact that I would do her hair I tried to do different things

and little extensions and all that I did a horrible job but whatever I did to her she used to say oh sister I love it it's so pretty she just was such a sweet heart. Princess was a homebody.

She liked to read and cared about little simple things like flowers and running and looking outside of her window and seeing deer. She was a little princess and she absolutely believed it. Princess was with us until my mom passed away and she was about 12 years old. By this time, Samara is a single mother and doesn't have the means required by social services to keep her. Child Services takes Princess from the only stable home she'd ever known and sends her to a new foster family. She was uprooted and put in like south central Los Angeles. So her world was literally shaken to the core. Three years later, Princess runs away from the

foster home and at 15 she becomes the 25 caliber killer's youngest victim. it put the case in a different spin because now he's not just killing adult young women he's killing children and unlike the 25 caliber murders from the 80s both Princess Bertholomew and Valerie McCorvey were strangled to death he's not using the firearm

so now we have him changing his ammo I ended up finding out that Valerie and Princess were linked to a series of murders that happened in the 80s. I was absolutely shocked and I practically ran back to my office to write about it. My editor thought, well, maybe the case would get a lot of attention if we actually gave the guy a nickname. Because of the break in between the murders, we came up with Grim Sleeper.

It's now 2006, four years after the Grim Sleeper resurfaces, and Pamela Brooks is working on the street. I've seen this van several times. This one particular time, I guess it was my lucky night. He said, you, who? I said, hey, hey. I was trying to get some money. I thought it was going to be a cool little gig.

You know what I'm saying? I always knew it was a killer out here. You know, you can hear some of a man killing prostitutes. It never dawned on me that this is the weirdo. You know what I mean? First, he wanted to go down to his house on 81st. I don't go to people's houses. So I said, no, let's just get a room here.

So we end up going to the motel. He shows me the handcuffs. You know, he wants me to put on this thing, this little next day and then bark and act like a dutting. But who the fuck does that? You know, only time I've been handcuffs getting in the police car, there's some tricky shit here. Just being out there in the streets,

it just, you never know who you might meet. For Pam, danger went with the territory on the street. streets of South Central L.A. I grew up in the 80s, the 80s, like the late 70s, where it was kind of rough. But I come from a good family. My mother was a nurse and a caregiver, so she always gave me a little job. I went to church. I've been filled with the Holy Ghosts.

But as time went on, I just kept focusing across the street. Because I lived right here, and all the drama was across the street. Everybody looked like they was having fun. One day I wanted to see, you know, what the noise was. I ended up hanging down there. It was called Sharm Alley. You go through the alley, you can get rocks, cocaine, Shirm. I just want to try.

I just want to see what it does. Once you take that hit, once you put one in, you're in trouble. Your body's in control. It's no longer your mind is working. That's when the shenanigans begin. Because money don't come easy unless you say, start doing the funny shit for some strange change. And anyway, make a long story short, I took my crack show on the road.

I became a full crack hit at 21 years old. I became full-blown, lights, camera action, walking up and down the street, doing demoralizing things, getting money. I didn't jump out of many cars at a high-speed year. Pam was used to being in high-risk situations, but something about this one had her on edge. I said, okay, this is not going to work. He said, let me drop you up.

I said, no, you ain't got to drop me y'all. From here, motherfuck, I can make it. And I'm lucky that he didn't shoot me because I didn't do nothing he wanted me to do. Damn, I made it out the rapture. He didn't get me. It's now January 1, 2007, one year after Pam's encounter.

A homeless guy was climbing in the dumpster to, you know, find cans and found a big garbage bag. And he cut a little hole in the garbage bag and found the body of Janisha Peters. There is no greater pain than the loss of a child. It's just, there's no comparison and there's nothing else to say. It's like you want to just fall to your knees and just stay there. It's not until April that Detective Shepard gets word that DNA found on a zip tie from the garbage bag Janisha Peters was found in,

is yet another match to the serial killer. So we try to go back and reconstruct everything. What we find out is that she was at a motel on a century east of Western. Shepard heads to the motel looking for witnesses or security video that can help identify the killer. We find out that motel no longer exists. It's been torn down. I mean, the frustrations are mounting up.

I was like trying to find a needle. in a haystack. But we're talking about a guy that's been active for almost 20 years and is still out there killing women. They had to do something about it. This guy was not going to stop. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. You know, as the new year gets closer, I've been reminding myself that we don't always need to become a new version of ourselves. Sometimes we just need to lighten the load a little. For me, that's been letting go of the pressure to do everything perfectly. It's still a work in progress, but it's freeing to even notice it. Therapy can really help with these realizations. Having someone look at your patterns without bias, that kind of perspective is invaluable.

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H-E-L-P-com slash gold case. Christine Pellisette got involved and said, you know what? No, there's something going on here, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it. I started making calls, you know, to try to find out more. I was talking to the family members, and in a couple of cases, I ended up telling them that, you know, their daughter was killed by a serial killer. Irene Ephraim is victim Henrietta Wright's niece. Christine was always calling checking on us if we needed anything,

if there was anything she could do to help the family, telling me what was going on. I thought it was like really important that the community knows that there's a serial killer out there. I was in contact with police, and I let them know that we were going to be publishing a story about Janisha Pee. Peters and the 25 caliber case, which we now called the groomed sleeper.

My supervisor told the captain and said, you know, if the press gets hold of this and we don't have the guy, where if this would have been in the white area, we would have flooded the area with cops and detectives and everything else. We have to have a task force. On April 27, 2007, veteran homicide detective Dennis Kilcoyne is given the green light to create a task force. It was a group of seven detectives, and they just dive into the murder books and see what they could come up with. The task force pours over the evidence, and a detail from Barbara Ware's murder in

1987 stands out. It was about 20 minutes after midnight, 911 police dispatchers receive a phone call from an unidentified male saying, hey, A guy just drove in the alley and dropped off a body. The guy that dropped the office driving a white and blue Dodge Van 1P-Z-P-7-4-6. It was a really dark alley, and detectives kind of wondered how the person who made the call would be able to see that license plate number because also part of the license plate was covered up and so the task force actually came to the conclusion that it was the killer who made that call we are actively seeking to

make contact with this individual or with anybody that knows him so pay attention to the boys remembering that this this goes back 22 years she threw her out through a gas tank on top of her and and the only thing you can Diana Ware is Barbara Ware's stepmother. I was home watching TV when Barbara's picture came on and they mentioned something about a serial killer. I didn't know anything about it. We had heard nothing about a serial killer in the area. Back in 1985, police had formed a task force aimed at solving the South Central serial murders. Looking for any advantage, the task force operated in secret.

You try not to reveal too much information that would tip the murderer off. You don't want him to change his ammo. You don't want to spook him. So naturally, I called Detective Kilcorn and Detective Shepard. And I said, why wasn't the people in the community aware of this serial killer? The police, from what I understood, were using the terminology of N.H.I to basically describe the women involved, which was no human involved. Just because they were living less than desirable lives, I don't care what mistakes you make in life. It doesn't make your life any less valuable.

They thought of us as just crackheads, but we still was humans. We still had a mother, we got a family, we just got caught up in some shit, and they treated us like, Barbara was the fourth victim that we knew of. Maybe others could have been saved if this information had been put out. As the community grapples with the news, the task force focuses on the 911 caller. The operator asked for his name, and the caller just kind of laughed. What's your name? Oh, I don't stand to knock this. I know too many people.

Okay, then, bye-bye. We believe that the killer was toying with the police. The caller gave them information about a van. He gave a license plate number, and it turned out it was owned by the Cosmopolitan Church. Did the killer have an axe to grind with somebody at the church? If they could talk to somebody,

and if that person could recognize that voice, then they've caught their killer. They played the tape for some of the church members. A couple of people said, oh, wow, that sounds like so-and-so. The police would then, you know, follow that person. And if they dropped a cigarette butt, they were taking it to the lab and then ruling them out. Anyone who was even closely affiliated with that church, they investigated and ruled them out with DNA. We know we're running out of time.

The police department is not going to fund us forever. We're not any closer to catching this guy than we were from day one. soon. I'm reading an article in the newspaper that our attorney general is now approving familial DNA testing for certain cases. They're basically looking for a relative, like a cousin, a brother, and uncle who is related to the killer and who could be in the federal or state data banks. When I read that, I said, this is what we need. At that time, there was about a million felons in the data bank, but it came back. There was no hits. They said, our database is growing day by day and give it about a year and we'll

see. So we did. I mean, that's all we could do is sit and wait. The victim's loved ones aren't willing to wait. We had flyers made up ourselves and passed them out in the neighborhood. So the word would get out that there was a serial killer. And we would have regular meetings with the family members at this church. And we can see maybe our daughters knew each other. They were trying to find out if there was any similarities between the girls. Was there a connection? It's now July 30, 2010, 25 years after the first known victim was killed.

In 2010, there's now 4,000. 400,000 more felons in the data bank, so why don't we try it again? My partner gave me a call. It was a Saturday, and he said, hey, you want to come to work? And I said, what's going on? He said, we got a potential suspect. It actually hit on a 28-year-old male, Christopher Franklin. Christopher's DNA was uploaded into CODIS in 2009 after he pled guilty to a weapon, charge. The problem was he would have been a young boy at the time that the murder started. They looked into his father, a man named Lonnie Franklin Jr. and they saw that Lonnie Franklin

Jr. lived in South Los Angeles. Mike Oppelt is a former LAPD detective. He had worked for the city of Los Angeles for a number of years, and one of his positions happened to be with the Department of Sanitation. And we knew several victims were found in or near trash dumpsters and things of that nature. He lived on 81st and Western, and that was the epicenter of where all the murders took place. We have surveillance teams on Lonnie Franklin,

watching his house, watching for him, tailing him 24 hours of day. to obtain a DNA sample. Finally, after about the third day, he went to a piece of place. The surveillance team decided that one of them would pretend that he was a busboy. The cop collects the uneaten items

and takes it back to the back where it's packaged up and transported directly to our laboratory. It was going to take two to three days to get the analysis done. On day three, we get the call call, this is him. It's a match. The DNA from all the victims match him. Police arrest Franklin, and while he's behind bars, they search his house.

We took eight handguns, a shotgun, a rifle out of the location. We knew we were looking for, in particular, a 25 caliber weapon. Well, we happened to find, I believe, three of them. We're extracting pegboard walls and some drywall. No stone goes unturned. Every nook and cranny is going to get examined. We found a myriad of female undergarments that were just squirled away. They found hundreds of different stolen car parts in the back of his house. It essentially looked like he was running a chop shop out of his backyard, stolen vehicles and parts and things like that.

The discovery of stolen car parts solves another mystery, why investigators could never find that distinct orange pinto and Nietzreau Washington had described in 1988. He dealt with a lot of cars and he didn't register them. Friends of his had mentioned that he used to drive around in a orange-colored pinto and then all of a sudden it just disappeared. When we went into his garage, A team had found a collection of photographs that was hidden behind a wall.

And that group of photographs was a nature of Washington. We continued digging and uncovering hundreds of photographs, and many of them depicted women in different stages of undress, different stages of consciousness. Frankly, some appeared as though they might have been dead. Were we looking at actual victims? Police Captain Kevin McClure speaks to reporters, updating the public about the arrest. At about 920, we made an arrest here in the 1700 block of 81st Street.

Anitaia told police that her attacker made a stop at a house in South Central. That house looks a lot like Franklin's home, which is only three doors away. Police had staked out the neighborhood for a month. but never questioned Franklin. I led you to his home. I'm lost. I am so lost. The suspect is Lonnie David Franklin.

It's 57 years of age. I was watching the news, and I was like, damn, I was with the grim sleeper. I knew it was something strange about that motherfucker. Details about Franklin emerge, and people in the community are shocked that the killer is one of their own. A lot of people that I knew knew him.

His wife, his wife was a church woman. Lonnie had been married for over 30 years. He was a grandfather, and he had a couple of grandchildren. He was the kind of guy that, you know, helped everybody out in the neighborhood. If you went and told that motherfucker, you need a refrigerator, you got it. If you went and told Lonnie, I need to get a TV. He made it happen. People love him.

He mastered that image real good, and ye food the community. you black man. Why are you killing black women? What is wrong with you? I don't understand it. It's taken more than 20 years, but investigators finally sit down with the man they believe murdered at least 10 African-American women.

You tell me what the news calls you. I know damn well, you know. The Reaper, Rand Reaper, something. The Grim Sleeper. Oh, okay. I know it was something like that. Yeah, I saw it on TV. I looked at TV.

Well, of course you do. I got TV in every room. Well, there you go. You go to church? Matter of fact, that's supposed to be a church tonight. And you remember a cosmopolitan church? Remember that? No.

I still can't tell you today why he chose that church. That's not familiar to you with a cosmopolitan church. No, it's not. His wife and other family members had nothing to do with that church or those people that went to that church. Do you remember there? No, I remember. I remember. photograph after photograph being put in front of him and just him, you know, seemingly,

I have no idea what you're talking about. That's Valerie McCorvey. This young lady here. Name is Barbara Ware. This young lady, her name is Henrietta Wright. Her name is Bernita Sparks. Mary Lowe. Apricia Jefferson. Deborah Jackson. Do you recognize her, princess? I've never seen her before. You know, these girls, they can't talk, but we got one that can.

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and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. On February 27, 2015, trial against Lonnie Franklin begins. Every time court was in session, we knew we would see each other there. And I really look forward to talking with the other family members.

It kind of drew us close together that we weren't alone. We all shared the same grief. I had a revenge tactic in my head. when I was in the courtroom. He's done all these things to these women, and he gets to sit there all dressed up and sit there. He's still able to walk around and breathe. They are dead, so that should be the same.

You need to hear of Washington testified during the trial, and that was really, really moving and unbelievable just to see her, like, face this guy and go after him. This is me, him, one-on-one. I'm accusing you. and you're accused. I know you actually shot me. I know it was you. I saw you. You saw me. On May 5, 2016, a jury finds Lonnie Franklin guilty of 10 counts of murder and the attempted murder of Anitria Washington. In the end, he was caught. That's the best part. But never once

did he utter why he did it. It took away my best friend. Barbara was a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a niece. You took my only sibling from me. Princess was 15, and we're just a year short of her whole lifespan to get to this point. On August 10, 2016, Judge Kathleen Kennedy addresses Franklin at his sentencing hearing. I can't think of anyone that I've encountered in all my many years in the criminal justice system that has committed the kind of monstrous and the number of monstrous crimes that you have.

It is the judgment and sentence of this court that you shall suffer the death penalty. In the end, this man got what he deserved. To hear those words read to the courtroom and the gallery is extremely emotional. That monster deprived those families of all their loved ones. There's no closure. I will never get past what he did. I felt just relief that no one else would have to go through this. Justice was served today, and I'm so eternally grateful.

Six years after Franklin was sent to death row, his victims, Samara Harard, Irene Ephraim, Anita Washington, and Diane Ware reconnect. You guys look good. You look like I just saw you guys recently. That's a good thing. It was just like yesterday. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Look at how much we've lived through.

You have lost someone. Right. You almost lost your life. You've lost someone. I lost someone. The family's out there. We bonded. Everybody's family.

We would have regular meetings with the family members amongst ourselves to discuss what should be done. We're on the detectives. You know, are you going to help us? We'll do it on our own. Unfortunately, people will do it on our own. Mm-hmm. Unfortunately, people will do it.

of color have had so many issues being represented. This would not have happened and gone this long had it been others involved. Exactly. It's almost like what not to do as a serial killer. If there was a book, Lonnie absolutely did everything wrong. But the only thing he had going for him is no one was caring.

You know what? We're not of any concern because we weren't labeled human. Correct. Because of their lack of empathy, sympathy, and concern, I'm not going to become like them. I'm going to be the example that they should be, that everyone has accountability for their fellow man. And you know, forgiveness is for you.

That's it. Yes, you know what I mean? Amen. Forgiveness is for you. I won't forget, but I do forgive you because I know that you'll have a higher answering. What did you think? What was your feeling on it when it finally hit?

Like, that was it. Like, he's dead. He's gone. In March of 2020, Lonnie Franklin dies in a death row cell. I was just glad he was dead. It's hurt not only our family members, but our people, our community. He prayed on, you know, the issues that were going on in the community. The one solace I have is that you're here.

You know, you are a living testimony to just being that courage. Oh, yeah. I get up and the first thing I say is thank you, Father God. Yeah, I am resilient. I'm resilient enough to know that just because you knock me down don't mean I can't get back up. That's for sure. Wronger.

Yes. Oh, Lord, I'll thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows. This is the mindset. Free.

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