10 Ghastly Details Surrounding Lonnie Franklin, The Grim Sleeper

6 /10 A Survivor's Story

The only known survivor of Franklin’s attacks is Enietra Washington. The bullet removed from her chest matched the ammo retrieved from other victims, confirming that they were shot with the same gun.

Washington described her attacker as a neat, tidy, polite, well-groomed African American guy; the attacker had an orange Ford Pinto.

According to Washington, the attacker pulled up in the car alongside her to offer a ride, which she accepted.

He suddenly shot her in the chest, then raped her. He pushed her out of the car and left her for dead. She survived.

5 /10 Half A Million Dollar Reward

In February 2010, LAPD offered a $500,000 reward for any information leading to the serial killer’s arrest.

he offer was advertised on a billboard located near the victims were discovered. Investigators also released a 20-year-old emergency call in which a witness claimed he saw a van dump a body.

As it turned out, the dumped body was later identified as Barbara Ware, one of Franklin’s victims. The caller refused to mention his name to the 911 operator taking his call.

4 /10 DNA

Ballistic evidence from the gun used and DNA obtained from the crimes, as well as Washington’s description of her attacker, all played significant roles in the investigation.

Attorney General Jerry Brown allowed the use of a DNA probe into the felon database of California.

Using DNA samples collected from the scenes of the murders, detectives were able to link the crimes to Franklin’s son, Christopher, arrested in 2009 for felony weapons possession.

Christopher was too young to have committed the murders, so investigators shifted focus to his father. Franklin’s discarded pizza provided his DNA sample.

3 /10 More Victims

When investigators searched Franklin’s home upon his arrest in 2010, they discovered nearly 1,000 photos of women and teenage girls and used them as evidence.

The women were photographed nude, unconscious, bleeding, and presumed dead.

The police were able to identify the known victims, but the very existence of those many photographs might indicate more murders linked to Franklin.

In addition to the ten murders for which he had been convicted, Franklin was presumed to have murdered four other victims and was suspected of killing two more.

2 /10 Souvenirs

A three-day-long search of Franklin’s property revealed a big pile of evidence.

Other than the photographs, investigators also found what seemed to be “souvenirs” he had taken from his victims, for example, women’s watches, earrings, necklaces, and rings.

An FIE Titan .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun, or more commonly known as “pocket pistol,” was found in one of his bedrooms.

Police also found a Polaroid photograph of Enietra Washington in his backyard garage.

There were also identification cards of two women, Ayellah Marshall and Rolenia Morris, who had been reported missing since February and September 2005.

1 /10 Death In Prison

Whether or not Franklin had committed more murders than he was convicted for remains unanswered.

That said, the death sentence made sure he wouldn’t be around anywhere to kill anyone else.

Franklin was never executed. On March 28, 2020, he was found unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin Prison. He was pronounced dead evening that day.

He died at the age of 67, carrying the suspicions and truth of his other murders. The cause of death remains to be determined.