Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
The Grim Sleeper: What the Hell is Jerry Brown Waiting For?
Friday, September 12, 2008 at 10:11 pm
The Associated Press is reporting that investigators in Los Angeles are checking out at least thirty unsolved cases to see if they are linked to the serial killer known as the Grim Sleeper.
Yeah, you read that right. As many as thirty dead people connected to one man, who is, as far as we know, still out there. Still trolling the streets of Los Angeles.
Cops are focusing on similarities between the cases, such as the sites where the bodies were dumped. Speaking to the AP, LAPD Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said the following: "We don't know who he is, but his numbers are building [...] Once we are done, I am quite confident this will exceed anything we have ever seen in the city."
The LAPD, to their credit, are as serious as they get about this case, offering up a half-million dollar reward for any information leading to the capture of this prolific killer.
But I have to wonder if California Attorney General Jerry Brown is equally as interested in taking this guy off the street. To explain why I say that, I'll just quote from the AP article, written by Thomas Watkins:
Police have a DNA sample of the killer but have been unable to find a match in any prison database. Detectives want to run the sample against wider databases to see if it is similar to any family members, but California Attorney General Jerry Brown has not yet approved this.
Why the hell not? We're talking about a killer who really has a taste for the work. He started off slow, taking out seven women and a man between 1985 and 1987. Then, beginning in 2002, he began again, killing at least 3 more times. The most recent murder definitely linked to the Grim Sleeper occurred in January, 2007.
The Grim Sleeper is a classic prostitute killer, in many ways -- he targets women who have worked the streets, sometimes torturing them before he dumps them somewhere along Western Avenue. He may think he's somehow doing a service -- that's how many serials justify what they do to themselves, especially if they kill prostitutes. They're not even all that aware, sometimes, that they really just like the domination and control.
Since the Grim Sleeper is anywhere between his early 40s and late 50s, he is older and capable of patience -- he might be the type who thinks he can wait out the initial flurry of press about his crimes and start up again when the heat is off.
A tell-tale DNA match -- even just to a relative -- might short-circuit such a killer, and remove one more peril from the immensely dangerous life already being led by the prostitutes working the Grim Sleeper's stalking grounds.
I don't live in California, so I guess I can't complain too much about Jerry Brown, but I can't help but wonder what could possibly hold up a proactive measure like expanding the search for the Grim Sleeper. With a killer like this, I'd think the attitude might be "whatever works -- let's just get the maniac off the streets."
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