SerialKillerSource

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says the man police suspect as the “Grim Sleeper” serial killer was attacked in jail.

Steve Whitmore, the sheriff’s department spokesman, said the assault happened Friday.

Lonnie D. Franklin Jr., 57, is accused of killing 10 people dating back to 1985. The serial killer was nicknamed the “Grim Sleeper” because of a 12-year period where he dropped off the radar after a series of killings and then began to kill again.

Inmate Antonio Rodriguez and Franklin were in an attorney waiting room when the assault happened, Whitmore said.

via ‘Grim Sleeper’ suspect attacked in jail, authorities say – CNN.com.

The story of Joran van der Sloot is something that a crime/mystery novelist would be unwilling to stitch together in one book.  But does it make him a potential serial killer?

Let’s review the plot elements.

Joran van der Sloot sits in a Peruvian prison accused of the murder of Stephany Flores.  The 21 year old was found dead in van der Sloot’s Lima hotel room.  Although he initially confessed to killing Flores he now has withdrawn that confession claiming everything from coercion to improper legal representation to the absence of a translator.  A Peruvian judge has dismissed his appeal to toss out the graphic confession which involved a trip to the murder scene.

He’s also the prime suspect in the disappearance of Mountain Brook’s Natalee Holloway on a graduation trip to Aruba.  Natalee was last seen in the company of van der Sloot.  Although he was questioned several times by Aruban authorities he has never been charged in that case…a fact some Holloway family members and friends bitterly attribute to the influence of van der Sloot’s late father, Paulus, with Aruban authorities.

The police finally solved the case of the serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper.” Detectives of the Los Angeles Police Department have been searching for him since he began killing women in 1985. Lonnie Franklin Jr, a 57-year-old, retired police mechanic, was arrested on July 7th and charged with ten counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

It is alleged that Franklin sexually assaulted and murdered nine young, black women. He also killed one man, perhaps because the victim knew one of the women or had discovered Franklin’s identity. One woman survived and provided a description. How the police identified and arrested Franklin reads like a script for a suspense movie and reminds me of how the detectives caught one of the serial killers I evaluated.

The “Grim Sleeper” was given this name because he killed women between 1985 and 1988, then took a 14-year break, and began killing again in 2002. He murdered his last victim in 2007. Many of the victims were strangled and all were killed with the same 25-calliber gun. The killer left DNA evidence but the police did not find a match in the DNA database.

One of the key elements established by the modern horror film is that you don’t necessarily need monsters to generate terror. Rather, very often, as the old cliche goes, the worst monsters of all are ourselves. In other words, the real-life evils of the human mind can be far more terrifying than any make-believe supernatural entity. Perhaps that’s why the serial killer sub-genre has proliferated so much in recent decades.

This week in The Lucky 13, both here and at Brutal as Hell, we pick our very favorite serial killer movies–and I think you’re going to find some of the most eclectic choices selected thus far in our little ongoing group project. For example, on our side here at the VoH, who would’ve thought that this particular sub-genre would feature not one, but two Vincent Price movies? And oh yeah, that Lecter guy shows up, too…

via The Vault of Horror: The Lucky 13: Week Nine: Serial Killers.

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