LAPD swamped with phone calls in ‘Grim Sleeper’ case

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

Investigators received hundreds of calls after releasing photographs of women seized at the home of a mechanic accused of the “Grim Sleeper” serial killings, authorities said Friday.

Detective Dennis Kilcoyne expected the tally of calls to reach 1,000 by day’s end. Several callers said they were among the women in the photographs, but detectives must interview each one to make sure.

Police want to know who the women in the photographs are and fear some of them could have been victims of a crime.

“By the end of the weekend, we will be buried in work,” said Kilcoyne, noting he has canceled leaves for the eight homicide detectives who worked the case.

Police Chief Charlie Beck told the Los Angeles Times that five women had been tentatively identified, but he would not discuss their well-being or status.

The photos and videos were found in the home and garage of suspect Lonnie Franklin Jr. during a three-day search after his July arrest.

Investigators spent years trying to crack the “Grim Sleeper” case in which at least 10 women were killed from 1985 to 1988 and from 2002 to 2007. The apparent pause in slayings led a newspaper to dub the killer the “Grim Sleeper.”