WILL THE REAL MIOONLIGHT MURDERER PLEASE STAND UP!

 

The year is 1946 and young couples are being attacked as they park on Lover's Lane in Texarkana, Arkansas. The news of a Phantom Killer on the loose sent the residents into sheer panic, but it didn't seem to scare enough young couples to prevent them from parking after their dates.

On February 22, 1946, twenty-five year old Jimmy Hollis and nineteen year old Mary Jeanne Larey sat in Jimmy's car parked on a secluded road only to have their activities interrupted by a hooded gunman who ordered them both out of the car.

Jimmy was no sooner out of the vehicle when the gunman cracked him over the head several times with his handgun while Mary Jeanne helplessly stood by. It wouldn't be long before it was her turn. Knocking Jimmy to the ground, this Phantom Killer ordered Mary Jeanne to run as fast as she could. She did so only to realize he was right behind her. When he caught up to her, he knocked her to the ground and sexually molested her with the barrel of his gun. When he was finished, he told her to run again, and this time, he shot her. Both would live to tell their story about the attack and give a description of a man who they estimated to be six feet tall. Unfortunately, with the burlap sack over his head, the only thing they could see were his eyes, and neither were sure if he was a white man or a light skinned man of color. Both confirmed that he cussed a lot.

Apparently a clever man, the Phantom waited another month before he would attack again. That was just enough time to relieve the tension in town to encourage people to go back to their normal routines. His next victims were twenty-nine year old Richard Griffin and seventeen year old Polly Moore. Both had been shot in the back of the head at close range by a .32 caliber handgun. When police found their bodies. Because of the blood stains on the ground, it was obvious they'd been shot outside and had been planted back inside their car.

One would think after the second killing it would stop those who liked to park in secluded areas with their dates, but time has a way of calming nerves, and of course, people never think things like this will happen to them. We all think we're invincible. Unfortunately, two teenagers were found dead in another secluded area.

Sixteen year old Paul Martin and fifteen year old Betty Jo Booker were those people. Police found their bodies several feet away from the vehicle. Paul had been shot four times,  Betty Jo twice. Sadly, the coroner's report confirmed that the same caliber handgun had been used and Betty Jo had been sexually assaulted.

Later, comparing notes, it was confirmed that both young women had not only been sexually assaulted, but had also been brutally tortured before dying.

By now, the police had begun to patrol the secluded areas, and that's when the Phantom killer outfoxed them and changed course. This time, going to a farmhouse on the outskirts of town where he stared through the picture window of the house and shot the residents. First it was the husband, Virgil Starks, who'd been shot twice. His wife, having been in the back of the house, heard the shots and ran to the phone to call the police: she was shot twice in the face.

Fear in Arkansas and the Texas sides of the city had the residents rushing out to purchase firearms for protection, even going so far as to remain indoors the minute the dreaded sundown occurred. On the night neighbors had reported seeing strange lights over at the Starks farmhouse, the local police surrounded the home only to find a reporter from Life magazine taking photographs of the crime scene with flash bulbs.

That's when the murders were coined the “Moonlight Murders” by the news media.

It seems at times like these, the crazies of the city all claim to be the killer and numerous individuals called police to report they were the Phantom Killer, or reports from neighbors claiming they knew who the killer was. All turned out to be false leads. But as the police reviewed the information received, the one name that kept cropping up was Youell Swinney. He'd already had a record for car theft, counterfeiting, burglary, and assault. They questioned him, but it didn't lead to an arrest. But in  July of 1946, a stakeout of a reported stolen car on the Arkansas side led police to a woman who claimed to be Swinney's girlfriend. When police questioned her, she provided details about the murders that had never been released to the media. Unfortunately, she kept changing her story and her testimony was labeled unreliable.  The interesting thing though is that she later married Swinnery, which meant she could never be forced to testify against him.

In 1947, Youell Swinney was sent to prison for life as a repeat offender for the car thefts, but without enough proof for the murders, he was released on appeal in 1973.

To this day, the identity of the Phantom Killer has never been identified. Now that he's dead, I guess we'll never know.

 

 

THE GRIM SLEEPER

During the 1980's several women were found murdered in South Los Angeles. All were African-American prostitutes.

Most of the victims were found shot in the chest by a .25 caliber gun, two of those victims were found strangled. The last victim however, was found with a napkin covering her face with the words AIDS in bold letters.  The bodies were typically found hidden under rubbish or in trash bins. Autopsies revealed semen in the victims but given their field, it was considered consensual.

Angry people of color rose in the community when nothing turned up and was determined by the residents as the police just not giving a damn. As a result, a coalition of black people set up their own group and offered a reward.

Oddly, the killings stopped and did not start up again until fourteen years later in 2002 when the police found three more victims, the killer having used the same MO.  This was when police began to refer to this killer as the Grim Sleeper, and the case was reopened, only this time a Task Force was set up that consisted of six detectives. Despite the formation, the LAPD did not release any news of the killer's return until a reporter published it in the newspaper. As such, they were forced to eventually offer a reward of $500,000 for any information that lead to the killer.

With no matches of DNA in the database, police decided to try a technique called 'familial DNA' which will identify relatives. That turned out to be the answer to their prayers when it led them to Christopher Franklin who'd been incarcerated on a weapons charge. That partial match led them to  his 57-year old father, Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., and ultimately matched the DNA collected from a half-eaten slice of pizza by an undercover cop posing as a waiter. Checking Franklin's background proved that he had actually worked for the City of Los Angeles' Sanitation and Police Departments as a mechanic during the years 1981 through 1988 when he retired on disability. It was later apparent that since he'd worked with the police every day, he knew how to avoid arrest and because he'd stayed out of trouble, his mouth had never been swabbed.

Further investigation would show that in 1989, he'd been arrested and convicted of stolen property as well as assault and battery. Even though he'd been incarcerated for a portion of that time, it was proven that he'd been on probation when the killings had occurred. This composite was drafted by a sketch artist based on witness testimony of one victim who'd been successful at getting away.

A canvas of witnesses would reveal that Franklin was known for talking badly about prostitutes, female drug addicts, and as he liked to refer to them, 'slutty' women in the neighborhood.

Others would say he was a doting grandfather who frequently helped neighbors fix their cars and stole the parts to do it. Apparently, knowing the parts had been stolen didn't seem to faze any of those people.

Finally, police raided Franklin's home, only to find the .25 caliber gun, the same that was used to kill some of the victims, but the most telling piece of evidence was the 180 photographs of the women he'd killed, many of whom were nude.  And for the photographs of those women still alive only meant they were on his hit list.

In 2011, Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., was charged with 10 counts of murder and is currently awaiting trial scheduled to begin this month.  I will keep you posted on the outcome of this trial. If convicted, Franklin could likely face the death penalty.