

The rapid rate of reproducing would rapidly deplete the ecological niche and would lead to extinction. Rats are prolific breeders, while humans produce few offspring.

The answer may have to do with the capacity for proliferation. If aging and dying were only a result of external hazards and wearing out processes, why did Pap die soon after leaving his routine? Why do mice and rats live only two or three years, even in protective conditions, while humans live eighty? Both humans and rats are exposed to similar stochastic factors and environmental hazards. The laws of thermodynamics dictate that everything tends to become more disordered over time. One view of aging and dying is that, over the course of a lifetime, things simply wear out due to cumulative damage caused by exposure to toxins, injuries and elemental hazards. Was there a lesson to be learned from Pap’s story? For heaven’s sake what would happen if Pap got sick with no one around to help? Within one month of moving to the retirement home, Pap was dead. Being the caring and convincing children that they were, he was convinced to make the change.
GRAND REAPER IN LOS ANGELES SKIN
Pap’s figure with his leathery skin and sinewy body was in stark contrast to the pale and squishy bodies of his children. One day, his children drove in from the city and convinced him to sell the farm and move to a nice retirement home. He would carve off bite sized pieces of fresh salami and snack as he worked the farm. He lived in a barter society in Western Pennsylvania, where he traded his eggs for his neighbor’s homemade salami that he strapped to his belt. He worked every day except Sunday when he went to church. He spent most of his life working on his farm, driving his tractor and feeding his chickens. DNA analysis matched the traces on these items to that of the Grim Sleeper.Pap was 86 years old. After following Franklin to a pizzeria near Buena Park, California, they dug his pizza crust, fork, and napkins out of the restaurant's trash can. Lacking an exact match for the DNA in their database, they searched for anyone who could share a familial relationship with its giver and came across Franklin's son, Christopher, who had been convicted of a weapons charge in 2008.Ĭoncluding that Christopher was too young to have committed the crimes in the '80s, the LAPD focused on his father, Lonnie Franklin, Jr., in 2010. When he picked up his pastimes again in the 2000s, the police were ready for him.įollowing the death of Janecia Peters in 2007, the LAPD linked DNA found at the scene of her murder to 11 other murders dating back to the 1980s. At one point, he took a 14-year break, but his memory continued to menace the people of South-Central Los Angeles. Any inkling of him getting caught or them treating him bad, he killed them.įranklin stalked the Los Angeles area on and off for 20 years while working as a mechanic and sanitation worker for the city.

But as soon as they showed hesitation or gave him a hard time, he killed them. He got caught and got away with it and he came back here and he started getting girls again. LAPD detective Daryn Dupree told People Magazine : The young woman tricked Franklin into giving her his phone number, which she subsequently gave to the police.Īll three men were tried and convicted, but Franklin only served one year of his four-year sentence. Franklin and two other servicemen had stopped along the highway to ask a 17-year-old girl directions before offering her a ride, but when she got in the car, they held a knife to her throat and took turns assaulting her. Not much is known about his childhood, but after high school, he enlisted in the Army and received a dishonorable discharge after he was convicted of taking part in the gang rape of a young girl while stationed in Germany. Prior Convictionsīorn in South-Central on August 30, 1952, Lonnie David Franklin, Jr. He was so prolific that some theorized the Grim Sleeper must be multiple people. In the meantime, t error spread throughout Los Angeles as people wondered when he would strike again. The Grim Sleeper, known as Lonnie Franklin to friends and family, led the police on a wild goose chase for years until a stray slice of pizza tossed in the trash brought him down.
GRAND REAPER IN LOS ANGELES SERIAL
Beginning in the 1980s, a serial killer stalked the women of South-Central Los Angeles for nearly two decades.
