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“The Case of the Grim Sleeper” as told by the author Terry McCarthy from Time Magazine, retells the accounts of how Lonnie Franklin Jr. killed more than 10 victims over the timespan of 25 years. The case lasted more than two decades and had the Las Angeles Police Department trying to solve 11 murders from the timespan of 1985 to 2007. However, there is evidence to suggest that there were more victims Franklin killed. Since Franklin took a hiatus from 1988 to 2002 he was dubbed the name the “Grim Sleeper.” Now, two years after his arrest, a trial date still has not been set for the man who murdered over 10 victims, harmed countless women, used photographs of them for pleasure, and caused many families to be without a daughter. The case of the “Grim Sleeper” should already have trial dates in affect and justice should rightly be served to the victims and their families. Summary: The first victim of Lonnie Franklin Jr. was found when an anonymous caller phoned in claiming to have seen a dead body. The caller was correct in their findings and thus the first victim, 23-year old Barbara Ware was found facedown in a pile of trash with an empty gas tank. She was shot 12 to 15 hours before her body was found. The LA police department thought that she was the victim of the crack-cocaine epidemic that was on the rise during the late 80’s. However, after six similar cases appeared within a 2.5-mile radius, the police assumed it to be the work of a serial killer(“The Case of the Grim Sleeper”). Response: I think that the police should have done further investigation on the original murder rather than ruling the victim a drug abuser or a victim of the drug epidemic of the time. If the LA police department could have further researched the case and come up with more evidence from the original crime scene, they could have prevented the string of murders that came after, 11 murders in total and one attempt of murder. Summary: Suddenly, Franklin stopped the murders after his killing spree of seven victims. He stopped for a period of 14 years and then continued to kill three more victims when he returned from his absence. During the time between the murders, the police neglected to find any circumstantial evidence to link a suspect to the case. People also believed that the police were not working hard on the murder cases because the victims were poor, black, young, and many were involved in drugs or prostitution ("Do Health and Forensic DNA Databases"). Response: Once again, there are problems with race still surface today in the judicial systems. Everybody deserves justice on crimes that have been done against no matter their profession, personal choices, or race. The LA police department should have done more with this case despite the victims that were being murdered. Every person on this planet is here for a reason and deserves to live their life to the fullest, not have it cut short from a person’s murderous acts. Summary: It was not until 23 years after the first original murder that a veteran homicide detective, Dennis Kilcoyne, teamed up with the LA forensics department to use the new technology of DNA searching to find the perpetrator. Although this piece of evidence is successful, it has a lot of controversy surrounding the testing because it uses a family member’s DNA for cross-reference often without their knowledge. After more careful examination, it was determined that all the victims were shot using a .25 caliber bullet at close range. All the victims were dumped either near a trashcan or a dumpster and has salvia on their breasts while Ware was the only victim with semen in her mouth. All of the samples of DNA were collected, dried, frozen, and stored since successful DNA matching did not begin until 1988. Franklin had one victim survive an attack after being shot and having multiple pictures of her taken naked. Then the “grim sleeper” seemed to disappear for 14 years until the bodies of young black females started to surface again, all killed in the same fashion as the previous murders. Jill Spriggs, chief of California's bureau of forensic services, along with Steve Cooley, the district attorney of LA, made a strong argument to use the DNA searching to catch the murderer. After they got the approval, on June 22, 2010 they matched the DNA from the murders to the DNA of Christopher Franklin, Lonnie’s son, who was in the system for a firearms charge. From this information, they were able to get Lonnie’s current address and began to have the entire search team follow him. One of the cops pretended to be a busboy and they were able to get his DNA on a napkin that the “busboy” planted. He was charged with ten accounts for murder and one attempted murder. He denied all the charges. He has also been linked to six additional murders and one more attempted murders, but these have not been added onto the previous ones. His trial date still has not been set and his lawyer, Louisa Pensanti, is fighting how the DNA evidence was obtained (“The Case of the Grim Sleeper”). Response: I think that the way they obtained the DNA evidence is very smart, but also may be thrown out in court. Although this often happens, obtaining DNA evidence from someone without his or her permission is a violation of their rights and therefore can be questionable to a jury. Overall, the case of the “Grim Sleeper” proved to be a huge breakthrough in the DNA world. This case lead to groundbreaking new ways to collect evidence and for this process of DNA searching to be accepted and possibly tried for other cases. Although there are still some problems with the ethical points in obtaining DNA this way, it has helped put people that have committed crimes behind bars. The case of the “Grim Sleeper” is also so severe that the trial should be moving faster than it is. The trial is not set to begin until 2013, a little over three years after he was caught. Since the mass murder of these women lasted throughout two decades, the families should be able to have some peace of mind for the loved ones they lost. .

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