Early release, lack of DNA enabled 'Grim Sleeper' to fall through cracks

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The 57-year-old man charged with 10 murders in the Los Angeles "Grim Sleeper" case was arrested at least 15 times over four decades but was never sent to state prison despite the recommendation of probation officers, court and jail records show.

Lonnie Franklin Jr. was arrested for burglary, car theft, firearms possession and assaults. But his crimes never were considered serious enough to send him to state prison or to warrant his entry in the state's DNA database, authorities said.

"He's danced to the raindrops for a long time without getting wet," Detective Dennis Kilcoyne, head of the task force investigating the killings, told the Los Angeles Times.

Franklin was arrested Wednesday on 10 counts of murder and other charges in the deaths of young black women that started in the 1980s, then suddenly stopped, only to resume again 14 years later - sparking the nickname Grim Sleeper.

Franklin's public defender, Regina Laughney, said she's still reviewing materials in the case and it was too early for her to comment.

One of the victims was killed in July 2003, when records show Franklin should have been in county jail but was released early because of overcrowding.

Franklin pleaded no contest to receiving stolen property in that case, in which he was arrested at a Glendale mall driving a stolen luxury sport utility vehicle.

A probation officer said it was unusual and disturbing that Franklin was still involved in such crimes at age 50, when most criminals have slowed down.

"If at this age the defendant is still engaging in criminal activities," the officer wrote, "the community can best be served by imposing the maximum time possible in state prison."

But Franklin received just a fraction of the maximum sentence- 270 days in jail - and was still released four months early, according to jail data obtained by the Times.

He also narrowly dodged the state DNA database. The following year, all felony convicts were put in the database after California voters passed a measure requiring it.