LOS ANGELES—A serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper” was sentenced to death Wednesday for the murders of nine women and a teenage girl that went unsolved for years as the body count grew in a poor section of Los Angeles haunted by the scourge of crack cocaine.
Lonnie Franklin Jr. was sentenced in Los Angeles County Superior Court after emotional family members of his victims spoke about the pain they had endured for decades.
“I can’t think of anyone I’ve encountered in all my years in the criminal justice system that has committed the monstrous crimes that you have,” Judge Kathleen Kennedy told Franklin.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman, second from left, hugs family members of the victims of Lonnie Franklin Jr., known as the "Grim Sleeper," after a jury decided he should be sentenced to death for murdering nine women and a teenage girl, in Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, Calif. on June 6. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
