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Help Capture the "Grim Sleeper" These Ladies Deserve Justice!!!
SafeCITY Publishing
Publishers of Local MugSHOTS
The Nation's Leading Crime-Fighter Publication
May 11, 2009 VOL. 1 NO. 15
FIGHT'N CRIME ONE MugSHOT AT A TIME!
THE GRIM SLEEPER - SERIAL KILLER
Los Angeles police are searching for a serial killer dubbed the "Grim Sleeper," who is thought to have killed 11 people.
The killer, who police say murdered from 1985 to 2007, was nicknamed the Grim Sleeper because he seemed to take a break between homicides, police said.
The killer is wanted in 11 deaths and another homicide attempt, police say.
Detectives say they have the Grim Sleeper's DNA, and a $500,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest and prosecution. The killer shot his victims, police said.
Porter Alexander has waited two decades for the Grim Sleeper's arrest. His daughter Alicia Alexander became the Grim Sleeper's eighth victim in 1988, police say.
"No one should have to face anything like this," he said. "To experience their daughters or sons taken away as early as she was."
Police have pored over investigative files from all the killings and are now focusing on the January 1987 slaying of Barbara Ware, a 23-year-old with a history of prostitution who was found shot to death in a South Los Angeles alley.
A man saw a blue-and-white van dump her body. He called police with his account and gave the license plate number of the van. Within about an hour, police had tracked the van to its registered address at a church.
"The engine was still warm to the touch," Kilcoyne said.
Several congregants were inside the now-defunct Cosmopolitan Cathedral but no one seemed to know anything.
"Then the trail stops there," said Kilcoyne. "It sounds like it was a pretty good road map for the investigation at the time and it just fizzled out."
Kilcoyne and his men hope to track down former churchgoers or even someone who knows the voice on the emergency call.
On the two-minute call, a man described to a dispatcher how he'd seen someone drop the body off from the van, then throw a gas tank on top of her. He said he didn't see the man driving the van.
"I'd like to report a murder — a dead body or something," the caller said. "He threw her out ... the only thing you can see out is her feet."
When asked for his name, the caller declined.
"I know too many people," he said, then hung up.
The suspect kills by gunshot or strangulation, in some cases both, usually after some kind of sexual contact. Ten victims were women, all were black and several were prostitutes. The bodies were all found outside, usually in dirty alleyways a few miles south of downtown.
The $500,000 award offer is thought to be the biggest ever in the city. Billboards announcing the offer loom over streets near where the victims were found.
The killings were featured on "America's Most Wanted" and dozens of tipsters called detectives after the case was first made public last year, but leads went nowhere.
The first round of killings happened at a time parts of the city were suffering from extreme violence and many young women fell prey to newfound addictions of crack cocaine and other drugs.
One description of the suspect exists — from a woman who survived an attack in 1988. She recalled him driving an orange Pinto and offering her a ride to her sister's house.
After exchanging some lighthearted banter, she agreed to the driver's offer. He had chiseled features, a low afro and wore a black polo shirt. He would now be in his late 40s to early 60s.
Shortly after she got in the car, she said, he shot her. "I woke up in the dark, I was in the middle of the street," said the woman, whose number was provided by police. She asked not to be named because she is the victim of a crime.
Police have a vague idea of who the Grim Sleeper is: A Negro man in his late 40's or older who started killing in his late teens or early 20's. He drives or has driven a rust color Pinto and know or is from the neighborhood where the killings took place and that he once had some a affiliation in the 80's with the now closed Cosmopolitan Church on South Normandie Avenue.
Update - Suspect: Recently arrested John Floyd Thomas Jr was a Los Angeles insurance adjuster. Police now call him the "Southland Strangler" — named for the geographical section of Los Angeles County where they suspect he killed at least 30 women and raped many more. Thomas is also in the frame for a spate of crimes police say were committed by the "Westside Rapist".
On first glance this suspect doesn’t fit the profile of the Grim Sleeper. Reports suggest he targets much older females who live alone and are white. This is a direct opposite of the Grim Sleeper’s known victims - young and black. However DNA testing will eventually determine if he is the Grim Sleeper or not.
SafeCITY Publishing Welcomes Stephanie Ranney as the "Local MugSHOTS" Distributor for Milwaukee, WI
www.localmugshots.net 1-866-690-MUGS (6847) max@localmugshots.net
Publishers of Local MugSHOTS
The Nation's Leading Crime-Fighter Publication
May 11, 2009 VOL. 1 NO. 15
FIGHT'N CRIME ONE MugSHOT AT A TIME!
THE GRIM SLEEPER - SERIAL KILLER
Los Angeles police are searching for a serial killer dubbed the "Grim Sleeper," who is thought to have killed 11 people.
The killer, who police say murdered from 1985 to 2007, was nicknamed the Grim Sleeper because he seemed to take a break between homicides, police said.
The killer is wanted in 11 deaths and another homicide attempt, police say.
Detectives say they have the Grim Sleeper's DNA, and a $500,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest and prosecution. The killer shot his victims, police said.
Porter Alexander has waited two decades for the Grim Sleeper's arrest. His daughter Alicia Alexander became the Grim Sleeper's eighth victim in 1988, police say.
"No one should have to face anything like this," he said. "To experience their daughters or sons taken away as early as she was."
Police have pored over investigative files from all the killings and are now focusing on the January 1987 slaying of Barbara Ware, a 23-year-old with a history of prostitution who was found shot to death in a South Los Angeles alley.
A man saw a blue-and-white van dump her body. He called police with his account and gave the license plate number of the van. Within about an hour, police had tracked the van to its registered address at a church.
"The engine was still warm to the touch," Kilcoyne said.
Several congregants were inside the now-defunct Cosmopolitan Cathedral but no one seemed to know anything.
"Then the trail stops there," said Kilcoyne. "It sounds like it was a pretty good road map for the investigation at the time and it just fizzled out."
Kilcoyne and his men hope to track down former churchgoers or even someone who knows the voice on the emergency call.
On the two-minute call, a man described to a dispatcher how he'd seen someone drop the body off from the van, then throw a gas tank on top of her. He said he didn't see the man driving the van.
"I'd like to report a murder — a dead body or something," the caller said. "He threw her out ... the only thing you can see out is her feet."
When asked for his name, the caller declined.
"I know too many people," he said, then hung up.
The suspect kills by gunshot or strangulation, in some cases both, usually after some kind of sexual contact. Ten victims were women, all were black and several were prostitutes. The bodies were all found outside, usually in dirty alleyways a few miles south of downtown.
The $500,000 award offer is thought to be the biggest ever in the city. Billboards announcing the offer loom over streets near where the victims were found.
The killings were featured on "America's Most Wanted" and dozens of tipsters called detectives after the case was first made public last year, but leads went nowhere.
The first round of killings happened at a time parts of the city were suffering from extreme violence and many young women fell prey to newfound addictions of crack cocaine and other drugs.
One description of the suspect exists — from a woman who survived an attack in 1988. She recalled him driving an orange Pinto and offering her a ride to her sister's house.
After exchanging some lighthearted banter, she agreed to the driver's offer. He had chiseled features, a low afro and wore a black polo shirt. He would now be in his late 40s to early 60s.
Shortly after she got in the car, she said, he shot her. "I woke up in the dark, I was in the middle of the street," said the woman, whose number was provided by police. She asked not to be named because she is the victim of a crime.
Police have a vague idea of who the Grim Sleeper is: A Negro man in his late 40's or older who started killing in his late teens or early 20's. He drives or has driven a rust color Pinto and know or is from the neighborhood where the killings took place and that he once had some a affiliation in the 80's with the now closed Cosmopolitan Church on South Normandie Avenue.
Update - Suspect: Recently arrested John Floyd Thomas Jr was a Los Angeles insurance adjuster. Police now call him the "Southland Strangler" — named for the geographical section of Los Angeles County where they suspect he killed at least 30 women and raped many more. Thomas is also in the frame for a spate of crimes police say were committed by the "Westside Rapist".
On first glance this suspect doesn’t fit the profile of the Grim Sleeper. Reports suggest he targets much older females who live alone and are white. This is a direct opposite of the Grim Sleeper’s known victims - young and black. However DNA testing will eventually determine if he is the Grim Sleeper or not.
SafeCITY Publishing Welcomes Stephanie Ranney as the "Local MugSHOTS" Distributor for Milwaukee, WI
www.localmugshots.net 1-866-690-MUGS (6847) max@localmugshots.net
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