The Grim Sleeper Investigation

Grim Sleeper story breaker Christine Pelisek attended an invitation only ’roundtable discussion’ between relatives of the Grim Sleeper’s victims and officers of the 800 task force. You can read the full article HERE.

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John Floyd Thomas

Pelisek briefly touches on the latest news about John Floyd Thomas, a man allegedly responsible for the Westside Rapist slayings. However she  is careful to avoid mentioning any perceived connection between Thomas’ and the Grim Sleeper. Christine Pelisek is of course privy to confidential information and details not available to the general public. She is deeply involved in the investigation and would be the first to know or make a connection between these two killers if there was one. It seems that thegrimsleeper.com is alone in entertaining the possibility of a link between Thomas’ crimes and those of the Grim Sleeper. However the similarities cannot be ignored and even if it is just pure coincidence surely the possibility should be considered?

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Another thing to question is the statement within Pelisek’s article that the Grim Sleeper is “… the longest-operating serial killer, ever, west of the Mississippi“. During a press conference to announce Thomas’ arrest investigators stated that “Thomas is a suspect in at least 25 killings that started in the 1950’s and ended in the 80’s.” So surely Thomas deserves this dubious accolade along with the equally horrific ‘honor’ of LA’s most prolific serial killer ever?

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Thomas has been dubbed the Southland Strangler and/or the Westside Rapist but with his now well publicized period of inactivity from ‘78 - ‘83 and again from ‘89 -to the present surely Thomas is in every sense of the nickname the real ‘Grim Sleeper’?

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Until his April 2 arrest, John Floyd Thomas Jr was a Los Angeles insurance adjuster. Police now call him the “Southland Strangler” — named for the geographical section of Los Angeles County where they suspect he killed at least 30 women and raped many more. Thomas is also in the frame for a spate of crimes police say were committed by the “Westside Rapist”.

On first glance this suspect doesn’t fit the profile of the Grim Sleeper. Reports suggest he targets much older females who live alone and are white. This is a direct opposite of the Grim Sleeper’s known victims - young and black. However there are some striking similarities that are worth mentioning.

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Many of Thomas’ victims were strangled and beaten and at least one victim was killed in a location other than her home which suggests Thomas’ MO is markedly varied. The LA times is quoted as saying “On the 17 who were killed, he placed pillows or blankets over their faces.” This is also a signature of the Grim Sleeper  who is known to have placed items over the faces of some of his victims.

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Perhaps one of the most startling similarities is the time span and ‘gaps’ that separate Thomas’ crimes.  The first wave of slayings took place in  Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. There followed a decade of  ‘Sleep?’  until 1983 when Thomas was released from prison. He committed rape and murder over the next 6 years until 1989. The Los Angeles Times in its article goes on “…the last in this cycle of killings occurred [until] 1989. [Police] are not sure why the perpetrator stopped. That year, Thomas took a job in the state workers’ compensation agency in Glendale.” Coincidentally 1989 was also the year that the Grim Sleeper ceased killing for another decade! Did the Grim Sleeper get himself a job settling insurance claims?

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Also coincidentally, Thomas’ apartment near South La Brea Ave & Rodio Road is  located only 3 miles west of the Grim Sleeper murder locations (was Pat Brown a few miles off?). To the north is Thomas’ high school (Manual Arts Senior) and between these two points Grim Sleeper’s victim’s 2 and 8 were found.

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His Mugshots are also interesting. He certainly looks younger than his 72 years (bottom right shot). In his earlier mugshots he looks preppy and neat with a passing resemblance to the actor Samuel Jackson.

Los Angeles police Chief Beck said “His victims were selected to make it more difficult to get information from them. He picked on the most vulnerable prey in society.” Authorities are looking into at least 25 other killings they suspect might be linked to Thomas. Could they also be considering Thomas as the Grim Sleeper?

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It is not beyond the realms of credibility to make some solid links between the crimes attributed to Thomas and those of the Grim Sleeper. Of course Thomas’ alleged victims were elderly white women but those are just the ones that police have reported. If what they say is true and Thomas is found to be LA’s biggest Serial killer then within the list of victims may contain the names of Deborah Jackson, Mary Lowe, Thomas Steele, etc. etc…

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Further reading:

LATimes

CNN

Murcury News

LAPD News Release (with location map)

N.B. Regarding the map (see LAPD link above) is it too much to believe that TWO Serial Killers have been operating in the exact same location over a 20 year period, independent of each other? Both now elderly, both prone to cover their victims faces, both black…? Put it another way, what are the odds of finding TWO black serial killers, both over the age of 50, and both using markedly similar MOs living, working and operating within 3 miles of each other - without the other knowing? We ask again what are the odds?

It’s gone a bit quite for news and updates on the continuing Grim Sleeper investigation. In the meantime we have created a new area of the site;  the Grim Sleeper Wiki. This has been populated with most of the facts of the case so far but there is still much to add before we can claim it to be an exhaustive and complete Grim Sleeper encyclopaedia.

You can help by creating an account and adding content relevant to the case. It’s quite easy to edit a page or create  a new one and there are plenty of help pages available if you need advice.

Unlike Wikipedia the Grim Sleeper Wiki pages will be protected so only registered users can update and create content. We’ve taken this precaution in order to ward off the threat of spam and vandalism and more important to control the quality and accuracy of the information added to the wiki.

Please feel free to create an account and update the pages with relevant and accurate information. We aim to make this wiki an authoritative and valuable resource for visitors from across the internet.  Its purpose is to hold comprehensive and continually updated information on the case which can then be consulted in a  systematic and easily accessible format.

We hope you can find a little time to help us archive this aim and purpose.

Many thanks

Christine Pelisek has interviewed the criminal profiler Pat Brown who offers some thoughts on the Grim Sleeper - the longest operating serial killer west of the Mississippi.  During the interview Brown surmises that “…the  Grim Sleeper attacks women within one mile from his home, and works to blend into the neighborhood.”

The map below shows where the survivor ‘Enietra’ Margette met the Grim Sleeper.  She tells us that at one point he stopped off at a house  before commencing with his attack.

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Was the house within this circle? Obviously the location where each victim was found is not the same as where they were picked up.

We have scant information for the whereabouts of  most victims when they encountered their killer. However we do have an abduction location for Alicia “Monique” Alexander (see the blue line on the map above) AND we DO have a precise location where ‘Enietra’ Margette entered Grim Sleeper’s  ‘Pinto’ and we have her testimony that he stopped at a house. We would venture to suggest that the circle be expanded by a half mile to encompass Alicia Alexander’s abduction location. If all these facts are then tied together with Pat Brown’s theory then perhaps the RED circle above requires closer attention!

We’ve set-up a new forum because the comments on these main pages are becoming confusing to follow. Comments below mainsite posts (like this one) should directly apply to the post’s subject matter. Please make use of the forums for discussions and opinion on the Grim Sleeper Investigation and use the comments facility below each main-site post to comment only on that particular post entry.

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Also I want to thank everyone for using the site up to this point. The discussions and comments have been really active and thought provoking. There are many comments that would make excellent forum threads  so I am going to choose some and move them across to the forums to start a couple  of active discussions.

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Quick update: The post below regarding the scrap paper ‘puzzle’;  It seems likely now, looking at the ABC video, that the number is an assigned case number. The mystery is with the two words ‘Jose Sola’ . There have been some very good theories as to the origin of those words. Thanks.

This is a CNN news report featuring lead detective Dennis Kilcoyne who unfortunately provides no new information on the case!

After careful consideration we’ve come to the conclusion that this image is of Barbara Ware.

Grim Sleeper Crime scene photographs

These images were gleaned from online videos - sort of like rifling through LAPD trash! Sorry if this seems desperate but with the current drought on fresh information we’ve decided to dig deeper into what’s currently in the public domain.

We think this is likely to be Barbara Ware because information so far states that she was found “fully clothed” with “a plastic bag draped over her upper torso and head”  (as can be seen in this image). We have not placed it in Barbara Ware’s case page because we are not yet 100%  sure this is her. None-the-less these images allow us to create a better mental picture of the Grim Sleeper’s crimes.

Grim Sleeper Crime Scene Photos

CNN on the Grim Sleeper

CNN have created an interactive Grim Sleeper ‘case book’ which sumerizes the investigation, evidence, theories and other aspects of the case. It features sound-bites from Det.  Dennis Kilcoyne, Bernard Parks and various other ‘key players’. This interactive is a good place to get aquainted with the case. It supplies concise facts but provides little ‘new’ information. In fact it is rather disconcering to hear the frustration in Kilcoyne’s voice as he explains the lack of headway they’ve made after all this time. It is quite evident from his tone and manner that the 800 task force is struggling to recover from the mistakes made at the foetal stage of the investigation.  It is fair to say that the blue and white Dodge van episode was a huge break sqandered. A chance now lost by the passage of time.

A dog-eared scrap of paper may hold the key to solving the case of the Grim Sleeper. However in the words of Lead detective Dennis Kilcoyne “It’s part of the case I’m working on but I don’t know what that means because it’s been sitting there for 22 years!” This piece of evidence is attached to the Barbara Ware case.  Could these innocuous numbers and words tie with the Cosmopolitan church, the blue and white Dodge van or the anonymous ‘911 tip-off guy’?

Cryptic Clue!

Below we have enhanced the wording…

Cryptic Clue!

Maybe this means something to you! Perhaps you recognize the numbers or the words or maybe you are a fantastic puzzle solver. If so we set you the challenge of solving a puzzle that may crack this case wide open.

Get solving and good luck.