Controversial DNA technique unlocks the mystery of the "Grim Sleeper"

The killing started again with a ninth victim in March 2002 followed by victims in 2003 and 2007.

The "Grim Sleeper" attacked 11 victims over a 25-year period. Ten women were shot to death, their bodies dumped in alleys in South Central Los Angeles.

A controversial DNA linking technique finally unmasked the killer who had eluded police for more than two decades.

Familial DNA matching expands the search to relatives of the suspect. DNA from Franklin's son gave investigators the hit that eventually led to the suspect.

"It's controversial because we're looking for a relative and not just the suspect," said Detective Dennis Kilcoyne.

The next step was to acquire a sample from the suspect for comparison to DNA from the crime scenes. Police surveilled Franklin and followed him into a pizza parlor, where an officer posed as a bus boy to collect the utensils and the pizza crust he discarded. DNA from those items and the crime scene match, according to police.

Franklin, a former sanitation worker, said little in court. "Yes," he replied when asked if Franklin was his real name and if he agreed to postpone his arraignment.

"I'll never forget his voice," said Donnell Alexander, whose sister Alicia Alexander, 18, disappeared after leaving to run an errand for their parents. Alicia Alexander's body was found a few days later obsured by a heap of trash.

"[Franklin] was right under our nose all this time," said Alexander, who learned that Franklin lived within walking distance of their home.

"Everyone says he was well-mannered and respectable, that's probably how my sister was attracted to him."

Rochell Johnson was just four years old when her mother, Henrietta Wright, was killed in 1986. Her only memory of her mother is that of her funeral. One of five siblings, Johnson was a teenager when she finally learned the nature of her mother's death.

"I needed to see the man who did this," she said.

"I would have had more memories of my mother if it hadn't been for him."

Franklin is scheduled to be arraigned on August 9.

-Grace Wong, In Session Senior Field Producer

Filed under: Case Updates