The Grim Sleeper Investigation

27 Responses to “LAPD’s Latest Community Alert”

• 1 Troy McClure Says:
  December 20th, 2009 at: 1:32 am

  Hi new poster here. Great site. You should be commended for putting the time in to help catch this monster. Very informative and detailed. I read over the discussion. Lots of good theories as well.

  As for the aged composites, I think the ones on the left and the right are pretty good. Don’t see any resemblance in the middle picture. I also like the aged composite you did. Though there have been cases in the past with missing people or skulls found where forensic artists did a masterful job in creating how that person may look years later. It’s definitely not a blind guess. Hopefully the new pictures will lead to the suspect.

  A few other thoughts…

  -I don’t think the 1987 phone call to police reporting the body dumped was the GS. Though there’s definitely some questions as to how the caller saw so much but didn’t say what the driver looked like. I think he was probably just a local, may have lived in one of the houses on either side of the alleys. Could’ve been the GS though.

  -I suspect the authorities have given the surviving victim a copy of the recording and asked her if that was the man who abducted her. If she had said yes, I think they would’ve announced by now that the caller is the GS.

  -Speaking of the surviving victim, the article LAweekly did covering her story was great. Very scary. I’m surprised though that she can’t recall the house that the GS stopped by at after he picked her up. The trauma of what happened to her didn’t seem to affect her memory as she stated, in pretty good detail, what happened. Even if she wasn’t paying very much attention in the car, I would think she could re-trace to some degree where the man drove to, it likely wasn’t very far. And if she had the right street, it would eventually come back to her and she would recall the house. That could solve the case. Of course, I’m sure she has already tried hard to remember and just can’t. Can’t really blame her. It just is unfortunate cause, from reading the article, she remembers so much of what happened that night. I read a comment from someone else on the board that they thought it may have been the GS’s own home. Very possible. Either way, it’s a huge clue because I think once the victim got inside that car, I think the GS was planning to kill her. Then after the attack, he fortunately, did not. He probably didn’t mind showing her this home because he was planning to eliminate her.

  -If someone called the victim the well-known prostitute’s name on more than one occasion, she probably remembers the name and I wonder if they were able to find out who this woman was? She may have known the GS or he may have been a client.

  -I see you’re trying to re-create a model of the pinto the GS drove. One thing I’ll add is the white racing stripe, according to LAweekly articles, was on the hood of the car. It would be nice to get an accurate description of the interior. The LAweekly story says white diamond-patterned upholstery while other articles claim green interior or something.

  That’s it for now. Again, great job on this site!

• 2 GatorALLin Says:
  December 21st, 2009 at: 10:08 pm

  I have to agree with Troy that middle pic seems the odd one out. It would be interesting to see these 3 with hats, or bald, full facial hair and glasses just to see how much that could change them. I would love to hear if surviving victim gets chills from seeing any of these three? Cops should also include original 1988 sketch when they show 2009 versions! (add the pinto in also for the full combo).

• 3 GatorALLin Says:
  January 3rd, 2010 at: 2:38 am

  I am watching the AMW rerun of the GS case. I am guessing they will show the newly released pictures. EST 9 PM Fox 1/2/2010.

• 4 GatorALLin Says:
  January 3rd, 2010 at: 2:55 am

  Yes, of the 3 LAPD released drawings they showed the one to the far right at first…and the longest…then faded in to the one on the far right. They had a close up picture (not showing the gray hair or top of the pic). They never showed the middle pic on AMW. They did mention 500K reward (however, if I understand the reward it only really pays 200K for a single suspect/killer). They did mention the “green interior with tan seat covers” that I think was an error (I think should have been white diamond tux seats). They did show an orange 70’s pinto with white racing stripes.

• 5 GatorALLin Says:
  January 3rd, 2010 at: 3:10 am

  AMW “extended video with Jackie” http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=60381 this link still details that the surviving victim states the pinto’s interior is white with diamond tux seats (matches her details in the LA weekly article also on pg2.) http://www.laweekly.com/2009-03-12/news/grim-sleeper-39-s-sole-survivor/2 I get the feeling AMW took the same info the LaWeekly put out with the drawings when detailing the pinto and did not listen to the surviving victim.

• 6 intuitive investigator Says:
  January 5th, 2010 at: 7:26 am

  Okay, so I have done a little research because this case caught my attention just recently. I believe gatorallin you really have done your homework on this case,good job. Maybe we can get this guy off the street. I agree about the Montreal article(which no one has even mentioned on any site). I am curious however what you were talking about as far as the surviving victim had said he called her Mary? Is that correct? Do you know how we had can get a list of members and people who were there the night at the church. I also found that the number that said Jose Sola is a college book at the University of Cleveland, Ohio( in speculation that this was his paper and not a number for something else like taxes, which is possible). One more question GatorAllin, who have they gotten DNA from at this point do you know? I have a few intuitive feelings but like something else to back it to be positive.

• 7 GatorALLin Says:
  January 6th, 2010 at: 1:03 am

  IntuInvest-Glad to see your post and interest in the case. I agree that the Montreal link was interesting and hope the LAPD looked into that lead. My gut says that one is still a long shot. On the ‘Mary’ name, I could not find where surviving victim names her (please post a link here if you can find one) but am also hopeful that LAPD would go to known lists of prostitutes at that time and see if she is still alive to show the newly released and old sketch and help ID the GS. Clearly that name mix-up was a clue and if there were 2 surviving victims you would have a ton of new clues to work from! The Church member namelist is something the LAPD has put real work into. They even exhumed the body of the pastor (doge van was listed in his name/ownership) to look at DNA, but found no match. I did see another video from the lead detective where they were trying to locate older church members to talk to (with no real success). I am not sure what to make of the Jose Sola detail, there were a few good ideas posted on this site already about that. On the DNA, I know they have a very detailed profile for GS, but no matches, they also looked for a possible family member match but that did not get any hits either. A .22 slug was matched to 8 of the victims and they have DNA on the others (some have both DNA + slug match). I am curious to find out if they were able to check for DNA matches from Databases outside of the USA as GS had some accent and blue van was found outside of USA later. I don’t think the DNA DB has all of the files uploaded that is should and that it is incomplete at best (imagine if they took DNA from everyone that went to jail like they do for fingerprints, they would likely have caught GS years ago for a smaller crime). They would have caught John F. Thomas earlier but forgot to get his DNA on file faster. I’m sure there are lots of other errors like this in the computer DNA System that result in senseless killings able to continue. I think they have DNA on almost all of the victims, but would need to research that in detail before I could post any detailed listing.

• 8 GatorALLin Says:
  January 6th, 2010 at: 1:09 am

  In my posting in #4 above, found an error I made. Where I said…”then faded in to the one on the far right” this should have been far LEFT. AMW did end the show with another shot of the image on the far Left. Also I emailed the AMW site about the contradiction of saying the Pinto had a “green interior and tan seat covers” yet their own website posted a video from surviving victim detailing it as white interior and diamond tux seats. They did at least email me back that they were looking into that possible error.

• 9 GatorALLin Says:
  January 6th, 2010 at: 5:51 am

  Just noticed from CNN that the AMW show that aired the GS case did catch the first killer they previewed. A viewer of the television show “America’s Most Wanted” recognized descriptions of Merhige and his car and called police. Officers responded to the tip late Saturday, surrounding a small motel in the Florida Keys and taking Merhige into custody. Sitton said the tip came in from a promotional announcement before the show aired, not the show itself. According to its Web site, “America’s Most Wanted” has helped find more than 1,050 fugitives and bring home more than 50 missing children in its 22 years on the air. Lets hope they got some new tips with the new pictures.

• 10 GatorALLin Says:
  January 8th, 2010 at: 7:51 pm

  slight correction on Post #7, ref#6 above: “9 of the 12 cases are linked by ballistics. We have DNA evidence linking 6 of the 12 cases together. We have cross-over on two or three of the cases, so we know it’s the same guy.” Detective Dennis Kilcoyne…

• 11 GatorALLin Says:
  January 10th, 2010 at: 3:42 am

  Post#7 (correction) .25 slug good info here: http://thegrimsleeper.com/mo/

• 12 WTF Says:
  February 26th, 2010 at: 3:25 am

  Today serial killer Rodney Alcala was finally convicted - he has spent 30 years locked up at tax payers’ expense. Imagine what the families of the victims have had to go through all those years?! Our legal system sucks. Yes, he was finally convicted, but it took decades.

  AND: this psychopath creep was on a cheesy dating game show on 9/13/1978, less than three months after murdering one of his victims! The woman on the dating show chose him! (Bachelor # 1). Oddly enough, she would have been 100 % safe going on this date (did they ever go on a date?) because serial killers never kill people they know.

  Watch here how totally creepy he is whenever he speaks:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpy5AZsEnLg&feature=player_embedded

  L.A. Times story from today:

  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-alcala26-2010feb26,0,2983487.story

  But the Grim Sleeper is still free - let’s hope he gets caught and convicted like Rodney Alcala!

• 13 WTF Says:
  March 4th, 2010 at: 8:12 am

  Not sure if this KABC news interview with the survivor from May of 2009 video has been posted on this site? But just in case, here’s the link:

  http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=6812292

• 14 WTF Says:
  March 24th, 2010 at: 9:33 pm

  I hope Mitrice Richardson, 24 years old, was not a victim of the GS!!?? She’s been missing since September 17 of last year and greatly resembles some of the GS’s other victims and is the “right” age. She was apparently bipolar.

  Here is an excerpt from an article in the L.A. Times this week:

  “It has been six months since Mitrice Richardson vanished in the dark in Malibu, and the mystery surrounding the young woman has only deepened.

  Richardson is the 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton grad who crashed a dinner party at a swanky oceanfront restaurant, was arrested for not paying her $89 tab, then released from jail in the middle of the night without her purse, cellphone or automobile.

  No one she knows has heard from her since that September night.

  Searches of Malibu canyons and hills have turned up nothing to suggest that Richardson succumbed to the elements, was abducted or killed. Reported sightings of her — from West Hollywood to South Los Angeles — remain unconfirmed.”

  Link for this week’s full article as well as an article from March of this year:

  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks23-2010mar23,0,4043556.column

  http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/16/local/la-me-richardson17-2010mar17

  How could the police release a young woman in the middle of the night without money, phone or a car??! Yes, she tried to get around paying for her restaurant dinner, but she should have been released during daylight and her family should have been notified! (her parents have filed a damages claim against the county.)

• 15 WTF Says:
  March 25th, 2010 at: 1:00 am

  The Malibu police deparment claims that Mitrice made two calls while in custody, but they have not yet released the PD phone records to the family! (did she try to call her family?)

  Read more about the case on the web site established by Mitrice’s father Michael Richardson:

  http://www.bringmitricehome.org/The-Facts.html

  Mitrice had a BA in psychology with a 4.0. GPA - clearly smart, but possibly bipolar and stressed out in general for some reason.

  Date facts: she was put in custody in Malibu on Wed Sept. 16 after 10 pm and released a few hours later past midnight early Thurs Sept. 17.

  RELEVANT TO THE GRIM SLEEPER CASE: (?)

  She lived with her great-grandmother in Watts which is in South Central L.A, the area favored by the Grim Sleeper although he has (as far as we know) not struck in Watts specifically.

  Maybe Mitrice tried to make it back home from Malibu to Watts. It’s a long trek - maybe she was picked up by the GS? Maybe she agreed to a ride due to being out of it (mentally), or distressed, tired, etc. because of her ordeal. The GS is older now and would come across as a fatherly figure trying to help and she wouldn’t be suspicious and would most likely be too distressed to notice anything odd anyway even if he DID seem suspcious.

  I hope I’m wrong about her meeting the Grim Sleeper, but sadly I doubt she is still alive - it’s been six months since she vanished. The only explaination might be that she is wandering around, homeless and out of it mentally, but that’s unlikely.

  Shame on the Malibu/Lost Hills PD for releasing Mitrice from custody after midnight without money, a phone or a car and for not cooperating with the family in solving this mystery. This is the kind of case that breeds distrust in the police and makes you fear for anyone who might end up in the same situation: mentally ill and distressed, booked for minor offenses and released in the middle of the night. This could have been your daughter or son or mother or father or sister or brother or cousin or friend!

• 16 WTF Says:
  March 25th, 2010 at: 1:40 am

  The Malibu PD claim that Matrice was offered to stay at the police station overnight and that she chose to leave. But they had impounded her car at the Malibu restaurant and towed it, so she didn’t have her car. I don’t know why she didn’t have her phone or her purse - were they left in the impounded car?

  Her mother made several calls to the station. I don’t know where the mother lives, but she or her ex-husband should have gone straight to the Malibu police station to pick up their daughter. But perhaps she left before they could even get info?

  Unrelated to the GS, but puzzling: WHY did she drive to Malibu? Why did she pay almost $90 for a meal for two that she didn’t want to or couldn’t pay (even though she had money in the bank)? Did she meet someone there for a date? Was she distressed over a love affair gone wrong and went to meet him there?

  I think the police should start looking in alleys in South Central L.A. for six month old human remains - could be another GS case. Maybe someone saw her get picked up that early morning by a man who would fit the 2010 GS profile: early 50s.

  It IS possible though that the GS has stopped looking for victims in South Central L.A.. Maybe he became cautious after the Weekly published the cover story in Sept 2008 and March 2009 and especially after the police sketch was published last Nov and is now looking in other areas such as the Valley, East L.A., the South Bay, Long Beach.

• 17 WTF Says:
  March 25th, 2010 at: 1:47 am

  How many black men in their early 50s have a pock marked face? The GS taskforce could check dating profiles in the L.A. area, zero in on this age group and check the close up photos. The GS is most likely a regular single working Joe on the surface who finds dates online. (Remember: serial killers always kill strangers, not their romantic partners since that would get them busted in no time.)

• 18 WTF Says:
  March 25th, 2010 at: 1:53 am

  The restaurant receipt shows two guests, but only one steak and one beverage. Odd.

  Anyway, I’m mostly interested in the FACT that she lived in Watts and that MAYBE she tried to get a ride back there from Malibu after being released from custody.

• 19 GatorALLin Says:
  March 26th, 2010 at: 11:20 pm

  #16 Not sure if you heard these…wtf? http://www.findmitrice.info/police-recordings I think her mom was told to pick her up in the morning, but she was released at 1 am instead of 6 am.

  I was following the Mitrice case as well…IMHO the Mitrice case is not connected, but I guess it could be. She was last seen early in the morning after walking a long way from the Police station. I am guessing she did get a ride with the wrong guy early that morning. What type of killer is trolling for victims at 6am?? I was wondering if any workers or landscape guys were working that morning in the neighborhood where she was last seen that morning? I used google street view to walk around that area… intereseting to map from the police station to where she was last seen…then consider if she was on her way to the restaurant where her car was last (I wonder if she knew it was towed and that is where her purse and phone were also). I think she looked wild with her hair fully out…and out of place in that area… I bet her feet were sore after that long hike and gladly took a ride. My question is who is up that early offering rides (in that area) that turns out to be a killer?

• 20 WTF Says:
  March 27th, 2010 at: 3:28 am

  @ GatorAllin: she was realeased from custody half past midnight. The cops claim they suggested that she stay until morning but that she chose to leave. A man in the area called later to report a young black woman had been sitting down resting outside earlier - he had spotted her from his window. He had asked if she was okay and she had said yes. Why didn’t he go outside and help her? This was late at night and she was not a big scary guy, but clearly a young tired woman. It’s the “I don’t want to get involved” thing I guess, but it could have saved her life. It sounds like it was Mitrice - he said she was wearing jeans and a tee which is what she was wearing when she left the police station.

  I know the Mitrice case is a seperate case, but I believe it may be relevant to the GS case.

• 21 GatorALLin Says:
  March 30th, 2010 at: 4:01 am

  I heard them talking about a trail that is close to the house…I wonder who would be walking or riding in that area that could have found her that morning…or if she was picked up by car close to that area… I understand they searched that area several times and found nothing. On that link above with the calls taped at 1:40-1:55 was hard to hear…also the call from the last time she was seen at 6:55 on the tape and on was interesting, he did call out to her, but she replied “I’m just resting..” I bet they feel guilty now, knowing she is missing…Cops took Many hours to show up…(insert Epic Fail poster here of cops). These cases all have the same complete failure of the cops involved…maybe that is the best connection thus far.

• 22 wtxyz Says:
  March 31st, 2010 at: 4:54 pm

  the grim sleeper was not in prison for the (13) years that stopped killing, he was on parole.he went to prison in 1974 , sentenced to 6months to life then on parole for 16 years for the remander of his sentence. in the 70’s life sentence in california was 20 years. thats why he killed on his first spree.when he completed his parole he started his killing spree again.he was released on parole in 1979 after serving 4 years. he had to stay out of trouble while on parole so whatever crime he committed he had to distroy all evidence.no dna was taken while he was in prison because no one new about dna until the 80’s after he was released.

• 23 WTF Says:
  May 8th, 2010 at: 7:54 pm

  Half a dozen new billboards were put up this week in the area where the GS has killed and the LAPD did a press conference, as did Councilman Parks.

  The media barely covered it. Google “the grim sleeper” and you’ll see how few news updates there are which means most of the TV/radio stations/newspapers either don’t care or they were not given the press release which doesn’t make any sense. Why the hell would the city put up new billboards, hold a press conference and not alert all media?

  Notice though how few reporters were present at the press conferenc. Watch the video, read the article here:

  http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7177195

  Maybe someone will finally recognize him and he’ll get caught.

• 24 WTF Says:
  May 8th, 2010 at: 8:53 pm

  By the way: a composite drawing doesn’t always look like the real face. Compare Richard Ramirez aka the Nightstalker’s composite and his real face:

  http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0S020kEzuVLGRUAe9GJzbkF?fr2=sg-gac&sado=1&p=richard%20ramirez%20composite%20sketch&fr=yfp-t-701&ei=utf-8&x=wrt

  http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0S020soyOVLmV0AqliJzbkF?p=richard+ramirez+&fr=yfp-t-701&ei=utf-8&x=wrt&y=Search

  A VITAL FACT that is not being widely reported is that the GS has POCK MARKS on his face, across both cheeks as described by the survivor in 1988. Pock marks can’t be removed like a tattoo so we’re looking for a black man with regular chocolate colored complexion (think Denzel Washington) age 48-55, normal height and weight, with pock marks on his face.

• 25 WTF Says:
  June 9th, 2010 at: 9:13 pm

  Today the large reward for tips that lead to the capture of the Grim Sleeper was reinstated by the City of Los Angeles and will be in effect for six months. Twenty-five years since the first murder and the dude is still out there. That shit ain’t right.

  http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/reward-reinstated-in-grim-sleeper-case-20100608

• 26 WTF Says:
  June 24th, 2010 at: 7:24 pm

  Could this man be the Grim Sleeper??!! (ignore the dreads)

  The LAPD should check immediately to see if his DNA matches the Grim Sleeper’s DNA.

  I can’t tell from the photo if he has pock marks on his face, but he’s the right age.

  http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15363731?source=rss

• 27 WTF Says:
  July 7th, 2010 at: 8:03 am

  abc news report from the first week of May of this year when more Grim Sleeper billboards went up.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5P1RvBlMjE&feature=related

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