Tales of the Grim Sleeper

Tales of the Grim Sleeper examines the case of serial killer Lonnie David Franklin Jr., who terrorised Los Angeles for more than twenty-five years. He was active primarily in South Central Los Angeles, an area with a predominantly African American population.

Directed by Nick Broomfield, the film argues that Franklin was able to continue murdering African American women for such an extended period not because of any particular skill, but because of the Los Angeles Police Department’s failure to prioritise the killings of poor, Black women. One surviving victim, who was shot by Franklin in the 1980s, even led police to the street where he lived, yet no meaningful action was taken at the time.

Franklin was eventually arrested in 2010, bringing his decades-long killing spree to an end. His capture did not result from sustained investigative work, but from a chance DNA match that linked him to several victims. He was ultimately convicted of murdering ten women, though investigators fear the true number may be far higher after discovering photographs of numerous women hidden behind a wall in his home.