--- title: Grim Sleeper: Verdict Reached in Los Angeles Trial description: Lonnie Franklin Jr. was convicted Thursday of one of the ten murders he is accused of committing over the course of two decades. canonical: https://time.com/4320208/grim-sleeper-trial-los-angeles/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-05T21:16:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:19:41.490Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Los Angeles Man Convincted in 'Grim Sleeper' Murders og:description: Lonnie Franklin Jr. was convicted of 10 murders og:url: https://time.com/4320208/grim-sleeper-trial-los-angeles/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd537667eaf0ba6/69889211cd1bba4ac2700956/lonnie-franklin-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Grim Sleeper og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Los Angeles Man Convincted in 'Grim Sleeper' Murders twitter:description: Lonnie Franklin Jr. was convicted of 10 murders twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd537667eaf0ba6/69889211cd1bba4ac2700956/lonnie-franklin-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Los Angeles Man Convincted in 'Grim Sleeper' Murders by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White May 5, 2016 9:16 PM CUT  Lonnie Franklin Jr. during closing arguments of his trail, in los Angeles, on May 2, 2016. Lonnie Franklin Jr. during closing arguments of his trail, in los Angeles, on May 2, 2016.Mark Boster—AP by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White May 5, 2016 9:16 PM CUT Los Angeles finally put to an end Thursday the decades-old case of serial murders committed by a man dubbed the [“Grim Sleeper.”](http://time.com/4168230/making-a-murderer-netflix-true-crime-stories/item/tales-of-the-grim-sleeper/ "undefined") Lonnie Franklin Jr. was convicted of 10 murders over the course of two decades, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutors said after months of testimony that the evidence points to Franklin, who could face the death penalty. All of the victims were young black women, whose bodies were discovered in alleys in a rough stretch of L.A. Franklin, 63, pleaded not guilty to the murders and the attempted murder of a woman who survived. His defense attorney [presented an intense closing argument](http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/05/05/verdict-expected-in-decades-old-grim-sleeper-case.html "undefined"), according to Fox, that asserts that a “mystery man,” alleged to be an unnamed nephew of Franklin’s, was the real killer. Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said that the defense was presenting the theory in a last-ditch attempt to deny Franklin’s guilt in the face of overwhelming evidence. “The theory of the defense is basically the equivalent of the skies opening up, a space ship descending and murdering all these women,” Silverman said. The case was the subject of a 2014 documentary [_Tales of the Grim Sleeper_](http://time.com/4168230/making-a-murderer-netflix-true-crime-stories/item/tales-of-the-grim-sleeper/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4320208/grim-sleeper-trial-los-angeles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4320208/grim-sleeper-trial-los-angeles/"},"headline":"Los Angeles Man Convincted in 'Grim Sleeper' Murders","datePublished":"2016-05-05T21:16:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:19:41.490Z","description":"Lonnie Franklin Jr. was convicted of 10 murders","url":"https://time.com/4320208/grim-sleeper-trial-los-angeles/","keywords":["California","Crime","los angeles"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd537667eaf0ba6/69889211cd1bba4ac2700956/lonnie-franklin-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd537667eaf0ba6/69889211cd1bba4ac2700956/lonnie-franklin-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Grim Sleeper","caption":"Grim Sleeper","creditText":"Mark Boster—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4320208/grim-sleeper-trial-los-angeles/","name":"Los Angeles Man Convincted in 'Grim Sleeper' Murders"}}]}] ```