The Grim Sleeper Investigation

abc7 has a news report featuring Grim Sleeper’s surviving victim. Click here to view

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Here is the LAPD’s latest community Alert featuring the three new composite images and summery:

PDF of Community Alert with composites

And here they are:

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The Grim Sleeper Official Aged composite

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I’m not altogether convinced that the two aged images actually resemble how the younger man would look 20 years later. The middle image bears no real resemblance to the young guy and the two older men in this trio look to be two different men entirely - instead of being two representations of the same guy. Even if I do say so myself… I prefer our attempt.

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comments and opinion please

A quick post to mention that we’ve had a bit of info to say the LAPD will be holding a press conference and releasing an official aged composite of the Grim Sleeper on Thursday (17th December).  I’m eager to see their interpretation and compare it to our aged image.

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More soon…

Following the removal of our aged composite of the Grim Sleeper, we contacted LAPD for a reaction and to ask if they had any objections to it being published it on this website.

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So far we haven’t received a reply which is not surprising. We also contacted Margaret Prescod via Black Coalition. We received a quick reply asking only for the reasons for our interest in the case and for some ‘backgrouind’ on the website. We pointed them in the direction of an LAWeekly article about this website in the hope that it would answer their queries. Alas they have not made further contact with us so we’re guessing that The Grim Sleeper website  is perhaps not serious enough to warrant a response.

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It is not altogether surprising although we had hoped that Ms. Prescod would be appreciative of even the tiniest attempt to help catch this killer and look favorably on our efforts. Perhaps the email didn’t actually reach Margaret or maybe she has yet to send a reply. We’ll continue waiting.

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We’ve contacted LAWeekly’s Christine Pelisek who has been most helpful in the past and we hope to receive a reply from her soon.

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We want to put the aged composite back on the website but are reluctant to do so it until we get some further advice.

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Watch this space (or the one above!)

We’ve had a go at preparing a mock-up of a souped up Pinto in an effort to produce a ‘composite’ of the killer’s car based on witness’ accounts in 1988.  The model shown below is a 1970’s orange pinto with alloy wheels and the white stripe. We want opinions and suggestions so we can tweak the image to arrive at an ideal interpretation of the car.

Grim Sleeper's Pinto?

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ADDITION:

A question often asked about the orange Pinto identified by several witnesses is whether it actually WAS a Pinto or something similar.  Could the make of car be something other than a Pinto? It seems that this car was spotted on at least two separate occasions so the killer either owned the car or had regular access to it.  As has already been mentioned, the car was clearly souped up and the owner was obviously proud to show it off (again we reiterate why would a killer garner attention in this manner?). This clue (the car) is a big one - it’s not a nondescript vehicle that’s hard to spot, it’s a red light of a clue that should be easily traceable by police. Given that the Blue Van, the links to the Cosmopolitan Church, the ideally place witness  and the souped up orange Pinto are such huge clues, why has this killer been so lucky in evading capture?

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comments please…

You’ve probably noted the missing image in the post below. We’ve decided to remove our aged composite because we’ve had a rethink on the implications of publishing an unofficial image.  An updated composite should come from LAPD once they have decided how to approach the task. They have the responsibility and expertise to do this whereas we (armchair detectives) can only make educated guesses that are at best ’shots the the dark’.

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Our image, while maintaining elements of the original might be way off the mark and as such could be a detriment to the case. We do not want this. If in a few months the LAPD fails to offer up an alternative aged image then perhaps we can think again but  for now we should make do with the 1988 version.

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No one has approached us with a demand to remove the image, we’ve made this decision alone. We like the result of our effort. It certainly looks like the younger man in middle age - the resemblance between the two is obvious and the aging looks natural and how one would expect the younger man to look on hitting 50+.

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A couple of news websites have shown our image. Alas one news site has shown the original (1988) version with the erroneous report that it is the aged version!

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WHEN this killer is caught we can at least see how near (or far of) the mark we were!

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We urge LAPD to release a good quality updated version of the composite as quickly as possible so that the public can help find this man before he kills again.

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Let us know what you think about our decision  and sorry for backtracking.

Using the recently released composite sketch of the Grim Sleeper, we’ve attempted to manipulate the image to reflect how the killer might look today.

Here is the LAPD’s  OFFICIAL 1988 composite sketch…

LAPD OFFICIAL 1988 Composite

and below is  thegrimsleeper.com’s UNOFFICIAL ‘updated version’…

UNOFFICIAL AGED Composite

We think the result gives a good interpretation of how the younger man in the original composite would have aged over the last 21 years. The older man now has a duller, worn look around his eyes, his hairline has receded and the skin on his face has dropped. The face is fuller and the glabella is lower over the eyes. He now has deeper set nasiolabial lines and darker skin tones.

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Discuss…

21 years ago to the day that the only known survivor of the Grim Sleeper gave a description of her attacker to police, the LAPD has finally re-released a composite sketch of the killer. Is is part of a renewed effort to jog the collective memory of the south LA community who up until this week had not been aware that such a sketch existed.

Grim Sleeper in 1988?

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The sketch was created after the survivor ‘Enietra’ Margette was able to provide a description of her assailant following the attack on November 20 1988  - exactly 21 years ago - almost to the day that the sketch was re-issued.

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Below is MyFoxLA’s news report update on the newly released sketch…

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Newsweek has a new write-up on The Grim Sleeper investigation which is now gathering pace thanks to the ‘dogged’ efforts of Christine Pelisek of LA Weekly. The article poses an interesting question - Should the police be circumspect while investigating cases like this or should the public be kept in the loop? Does public awareness aid the investigation or can it hinder chances of catching the killer?

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It’s a hard question to answer and both options have benefits and drawbacks. In any investigation it is vital to create leads and collect fresh information and the best way to do this is by asking the community for help. People living, working and travelling through the area have expert knowledge that can crack a case wide open but they have no idea they possess this valuable knowledge until they are made aware of its importance. However, as soon as the investigation is in the public domain a huge advantage is given to the killer. S/he will be able to follow the story, track progress, cover tracks and generate false leads, create alibis, scupper potential leads, change MO, change location and generally do anything possible to thwart capture.

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Opening the investigation to the public also poses problems created by the shear number of leads generated. The public likes to help but too much help is sometimes more damaging than no help at all. The investigators have extra work (and wasted man hours) sifting through the information, picking the useful stuff out from the pile - the tiny amount of wheat in a huge pile of chaff! Conversely an investigation that is conducted behind-the-scenes attracts less new information but the quality of any new leads is possibly higher and ultimately more useful. Isn’t it? it’s a tough call.