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Serial killer dubbed Grim Sleeper dies in Calif. prison

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) — Lonnie Franklin, the convicted serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper” who preyed on the women of South Los Angeles for more than two decades, has died in prison. He was 67.

California corrections officials said Franklin was found unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin State Prison on Saturday evening. An autopsy will determine the cause of death; however, there were no signs of trauma, corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said in a statement.

The stepmother of a victim named Barbara Ware told People magazine she was shocked by the news.

“I won’t say I’m pleased he died but at the end there was justice for all the bad things he did in his life,” Diana Ware said. “We can now be at peace.”

Franklin had been on death row since August 2016 for the deaths of nine women and a teenage girl. Franklin was linked at trial to 14 slayings, including four women he wasn’t charged with killing. Police have said he may have had as many as 25 victims.

Most of the victims were fatally shot at close range, though two were strangled. Their bodies were dumped and left to rot in alleys and trash bins.

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