[12] He was given a dishonorable discharge from the United States Army in July 1975, after being released from prison for his conviction of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl in Stuttgart, West Germany, in April 1974.

[15] In the mid-1980s, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) became aware of an apparent serial killer targeting Black women who were chronic drug users and street sex workers.

[17] Following the press conference, the LAPD was heavily criticized for their failure to alert the South Central community to the possibility of a serial killer earlier.

Prescod contrasted the apparent lack of police interest in the South Central murders with the significant attention given to the investigation of Richard Ramirez, the serial killer dubbed the Night Stalker who targeted women in upscale areas of Los Angeles and San Francisco between June 1984 and August 1985.

[23] By late-1986, conflicting modus operandi and suspect descriptions caused the investigators to doubt their original theory of a single killer being responsible for all of the murders.

Evidence suggested that several serial killers – possibly four or more – were murdering women in South Los Angeles.

[24] The Southside Slayer Task Force began downsizing in 1987 due to the lack of results relative to the expense and manpower being used.

[25] Task-force commander Lt. John Zorn told the Los Angeles Times in December 1987 that "the flow of clues is almost non-existent at this point.

[24] The murders of Judith Simpson, Cynthia Walker, and Latanya Johnson, all committed with a 9 mm pistol in late 1988, were also investigated by the Southside Slayer Task Force.

Sheriff's Detective Rickey Ross was arrested for the murders after being found with drugs and a sex worker in a vehicle that had a rusted 9 mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol in the trunk.

[31] One particular group of killings, which were linked by common elements including the use of a .25 caliber firearm, remained unsolved and unaccounted for by any other known serial killer.

[34] Two decades later, the perpetrator of these crimes was dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" due to the long period of apparent inactivity between murders.

[35] In May 2007, the slaying of Janecia Peters, 25, was linked through DNA analysis to at least 11 unsolved murders in Los Angeles, the first of which occurred in 1985.

After a four-month investigation, LA Weekly investigative reporter Christine Pelisek broke the news of the task force's existence, the link between Peters' killing and the earlier murders, and the silence of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William Joseph Bratton regarding the killer's existence.

In some cases, LA Weekly was the first to inform the families that their daughters had long been confirmed as victims of a serial killer.

Bratton also released a 9-1-1 call from the 1980s in which a man reported seeing a body being dumped by Franklin, giving a detailed description and license plate number of a van connected with the now-closed Cosmopolitan Church.

Christopher was too young to have committed the murders, but the familial DNA match led investigators to look at his father, Lonnie, as the likely perpetrator.

[42] One undercover police officer pretended to be a waiter at a restaurant where Franklin ate, collecting dishes, silverware, glasses, and pizza crusts to obtain DNA.

[45][46] On December 16, 2010, the LAPD released 180 photos of women found in Franklin's home after unsuccessful attempts to identify the individuals, who were possibly additional victims.

[47] The images show mainly Black women of a wide age range, from teenagers to middle-aged and older, often nude.

Police believe Franklin took many of the pictures, which show both conscious and unconscious individuals, dating back thirty years.

The police were investigating two of the six as potential victims killed during a 14-year lapse between an initial spate of Grim Sleeper murders that ended in 1988 and several more that began in 2002.

Detectives said they linked Franklin to the six additional killings after reviewing hundreds of old case files and seeking the public's help in identifying a collection of 180 photographs of women and girls that were found in his possession.

[71][72][73] It has been suggested by law enforcement that Franklin could be a possible suspect for the abduction, rape and murder of five girls in Belize City between 1998 and 2000.

The four women frequented the area close to Franklin's house where the bodies of his alleged victims were discovered and all were involved in drug use and prostitution.