The story of convicted “Grim Sleeper” serial killer Lonnie Franklin Jr. will be the focus of a two-hour A&E special titled Cold Case Files: The Grim Sleeper.
Award-winning actress and producer Regina Hall is set to narrate the November special, which will explore the investigation into Franklin’s crimes and the quest for justice in a Los Angeles community for more than two decades.
Franklin earned the moniker “Grim Sleeper” for killing nine women and one teenage girl between 1985 and 2007, with a 14-year break between the murders.
Related: ‘Grim Sleeper’ Serial Killer Lonnie Franklin Jr. Dies at 67
He targeted women who were prostitutes or drug addicts in South L.A., and usually left the victims’ naked bodies on the side of the road or in the trash.
For years, the crimes went unsolved, with residents complaining that police ignored the cases because the victims were mostly poor and Black.
Franklin was arrested after an LAPD task force linked him to the crimes via what’s known as familial DNA testing. Police said DNA from Franklin’s son, which was in a database following his arrest, showed genetic similarities to evidence found on the bodies of the victims.
Detectives believe Franklin may have been responsible for at least 25 killings.
He was convicted in 2016, and sentenced to death on Aug. 10, 2016, for 10 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
As previously reported, he died in prison in 2020 while awaiting execution.
The special on his killing spree is produced by Category 6 Media, part of A+E Factual Studios, for A&E Network.
Executive producers include Sharon Scott, Laura Fleury, Kristy Sabat, and Hillary Heath for Category 6 Media, and Elaine Frontain Bryant and Maitee Cueva for A&E Network. A+E Networks holds worldwide distribution rights.
Cold Case Files: The Grim Sleeper premieres on Friday, Nov. 8, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on A&E.
Watch the trailer below.
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