American Serial killer dubbed 'grim sleeper' who killed 10 women sentenced to death
The American serial killer police dubbed the “Grim Sleeper” has been sentenced to death for killing 10 women over two decades.
Lonnie Franklin Jr was found guilty in May following a two month trial but has again appeared in court to learn his punishment.
“This is not a sentence of vengeance,” Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy told him, as relatives of his victims looked on, some of them in tears.
The judge read the names of his 10 victims, in each case, telling him: “You shall suffer the death penalty."
The 64-year-old raped his victims before shooting or strangling them and dumping their bodies during a 22-year killing spree.
As the verdicts were read out the former mechanic showed no signs of emotion.
At one point Franklin’s reign of terror stopped but in 2002 he resumed his killings earning him the nickname of The Grim Sleeper.
He targeted vulnerable young black women over 20 years in the inner city of Los Angeles.
Former caretaker Franklin was arrested in 2010 after a DNA search of an inmate database led to a partial match for his son.
Los Angeles Police Department's special task force then followed the elder Franklin to a restaurant and watched as he threw out his rubbish which contained a discarded slice of pizza.
On it they found his DNA which proved a match to the killer.
When police raided his home they found over 1,000 photos of women and several hundred hours of video leaving investigators with the fear he may killed up to 180 victims.
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