Grim Sleeper Guilty Verdict NR16153ma

Statement of the Los Angeles Police Department on the Guilty Verdict in the Grim Sleeper Trial

Los Angeles: Earlier today a Los Angeles jury found Lonnie David Franklin Jr. guilty on ten criminal charges of first degree murder. The charges stemmed from a string of murders committed in South Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007. The 12-member jury deliberated for one day before returning its verdicts this afternoon.

Franklin had been charged with ten counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted murder and several weapons charges all related to a string of murders in South Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007. Prior to Franklin’s arrest in July 2010, LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division had assembled the Grim Sleeper Task Force to identify the person responsible for the killing of at least 10 young women over the past 22 years. Using DNA analysis, the task force was able to identify Franklin. At the time of his arrest, a handgun was recovered from his residence which was linked to Franklin and several of the murders.

When advised of the verdict, Chief Charlie Beck said, “After nearly three months in trial, the families of Lonnie Franklin’s victims heard the news they had been hoping for; Lonnie Franklin was found guilty for the cold hearted and vicious murders of their loved ones. I know it has been a long road since the arrest of Franklin in 2010, and I am hoping that this verdict can bring some closure for these families.”