Who Were the Grim Sleeper Victims? And Were There More?

The Grim Sleeper victims were ten women and girls murdered in South Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007, plus one survivor, whose killings Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was convicted of in 2016. Investigators believe the real toll is higher: DNA later tied Franklin to at least two additional homicides he was never charged with, and more than 1,000 photographs recovered from his home included images of dozens of women who have never been identified.

The Ten Women and Girls Franklin Was Convicted of Killing

Prosecutors grouped the murders into two clusters separated by an apparent 14-year dormant stretch that gave the killer his nickname. Most victims were shot at close range in the chest with a .25-caliber pistol, strangled, or both, and their bodies were left in alleys or dumpsters across South Los Angeles.¹

The 1985–1988 Killings

Debra Jackson, 29, was found on August 10, 1985, in an alley near West Gage Avenue in the Vermont-Slauson area. She had been shot three times in the chest and is considered the first known victim.²

Six more women were killed in the same three-year stretch: Henrietta Wright, 35; Barbara Ware, 23; Bernita Sparks, 25, whose body was dumped in an alley; Mary Lowe, 26; Lachrica Jefferson, 22; and Alicia Alexander, 18.³¹

Then the killings that police could identify as connected appeared to stop.

The 2002–2007 Killings

Princess Berthomieux, 15, was the youngest victim. She was last seen by her family on December 21, 2001, and her nude body was found on March 19, 2002, in an Inglewood alley. She had been strangled and beaten.⁴

Valerie McCorvey, 35, the oldest victim, was found dead on July 11, 2003, on Denker Avenue in the Westmont area. She had been strangled.⁵

Janecia Peters, 25, was found on January 1, 2007, in the 9500 block of South Western Avenue. She had been shot, and her body was inside a garbage bag fastened with a zip tie.⁶

The One Known Survivor

Enietra Washington is the only person known to have survived a Grim Sleeper attack. In 1988, Franklin picked her up while driving an orange Ford Pinto with white racing stripes. He shot her in the chest, sexually assaulted her while she drifted in and out of consciousness, and photographed her before pushing her out of the vehicle. She crawled to a friend’s house, and an ambulance was called.⁷

About a year later, a man approached her outside her Inglewood home and asked, “Do you know me?” She later realized it had been her attacker. At trial in February 2016, shown a 1989 photograph of Franklin, she identified him as the man who shot her and said she was “one hundred percent” certain. A photograph of Washington, unconscious and bloodied in a car, was later found in Franklin’s home.⁷

At sentencing she addressed Franklin directly: “I thought I forgave you, but I was wrong. You stole so many people’s lives.”³

Additional Victims Linked to Franklin but Never Charged

The “sleeper” gap has never held up under scrutiny. LAPD Detective Dennis Kilcoyne put it plainly: “I don’t think there is a gap.” In January 2011, the LAPD announced that DNA had tied Franklin to two additional homicides from the late 1980s and early 1990s, falling squarely inside the supposed dormant period. Franklin was never charged in those cases.⁸

Detectives also reviewed roughly 30 other unsolved killings for possible ties. One of them was Thomas Steele, a 36-year-old Black man shot to death on August 14, 1986, at 71st Street and Halldale Avenue in Harvard Park. DNA linked Franklin to Steele’s killing, but again no charges followed.⁹

The Photographs and the Unidentified Women

When Franklin was arrested on July 7, 2010, officers searched his South Los Angeles home and recovered more than 1,000 photographs and videotapes of women and teenage girls from his garage and a backyard camper.¹⁰¹¹

Of those images, 180 women could not initially be identified. The LAPD released the photos publicly and sought the community’s help, including at a display at Bethel AME Church in South Los Angeles.¹² Over time most were accounted for as alive, deceased from other causes, or filed as missing persons. As of the most recent reporting in the file, 35 women in the photographs remained unidentified. Detectives were especially focused on two, catalogued as No. 117 and No. 171, whose photos had been hidden inside an envelope in Franklin’s freezer.¹⁰

Why the True Count May Never Be Known

Franklin died in his cell at San Quentin State Prison on March 28, 2020, at age 67, before any additional charges could be brought. Officials reported no signs of trauma, and the cause of death was pending autopsy results.¹³ With him died any chance of a confession that might have accounted for the women whose faces the LAPD still cannot put a name to.

The gap in the count also reflects how the case was handled while Franklin was still killing. An initial LAPD task force formed in the mid-1980s grew to 50 full-time members by 1986, then disbanded after the killings appeared to stop in 1988. No dedicated team was assigned again until 2007.¹⁴⁸ Critics contrasted the response with the 30 detectives assigned when Karen Toshima was killed by a stray bullet in Westwood in 1988, and Margaret Prescod’s Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders spent three decades pressing the city to treat the deaths of Black women in South LA as a priority.¹⁵ One survivor of a 1988 rape and shooting attributed to Franklin gave police a sketch, described the orange Pinto, and led officers to a house two doors down from Franklin’s home at 1728 West 81st Street. Twenty-two years passed before detectives reached the right door.¹⁶

On August 10, 2010, one month after Franklin’s arrest and 25 years to the day after Debra Jackson’s body was found, a memorial at Bethel AME Church displayed photographs of the ten murdered women. Attendees left flowers, candles, and notes.¹⁷ The Black Coalition has continued to press for a permanent memorial and compensation for the victims’ families.¹⁵

1
Courthouse News Service. Grim Sleeper Convicted of 10 Los Angeles Murders
2
Los Angeles Times. Debra Jackson
3
Los Angeles Times. Grim Sleeper Verdict
4
Los Angeles Times. Princess Berthomieux
5
Los Angeles Times. Valerie McCorvey
6
Los Angeles Times. Janecia Peters
7
Los Angeles Times. Grim Sleeper Survivor Testifies
8
LAPD. Grim Sleeper Didn’t Sleep, LAPD Says
9
Los Angeles Times. Thomas Steele
10
People. LAPD Working to Identify 35 Possible Grim Sleeper Victims
11
LAPD. Los Angeles Police Take Grim Sleeper Murder Suspect Into Custody
12
NBC Los Angeles. Grim Sleeper Final 48 Photos
13
New York Times. Lonnie Franklin, Grim Sleeper Serial Killer, Dies
14
Los Angeles Times. Grim Sleeper Other Homicides
15
NBC News. Grim Sleeper Killer Convicted, But Black Women Are Still Vulnerable
16
Artforum. Nick Broomfield’s Tales of the Grim Sleeper
17
Daily Breeze. Memorial Marks the Lives of Grim Sleeper Victims