"Grim Sleeper" Photos: LAPD Needs to Know Who These Woman Are

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) The Los Angeles Police Department is asking for the public's help in identifying women whose images were found in more than 1,000 photos and hundreds of hours of video - much of it sexually explicit in nature - in "Grim Sleeper" suspect Lonnie Franklin Jr.'s house.

PICTURES: "Grim Sleeper" Serial Killer Suspect's Private Photos

The LAPD released 180 photos selected from Franklin's stash Thursday.

"Now that we know who he is and what type of activity he is involved in with women," Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said, "we are very concerned for everyone in these photographs."

After months trying to identify the women in the pictures, the LAPD decided to go public with a selection of the images in the hopes that someone will recognize them and contact the authorities.

By Thursday afternoon, the LAPD's website had slowed to a crawl after its Texas-based server was strained by a massive surge in people trying to click through to the pictures.

The women appear to be willing participants in what police said were sexually explicit images.

"It baffles me how he is so successful at getting women to do what he asks them to do," Kilcoyne said. "It's not like we have pictures of him holding a knife to someone's neck."

Nearly all the women in the photos are black, except for two or three white women and one Latina. Some of the women appear to be sleeping.

Clear Channel Outdoor has agreed to provide billboard space across Los Angeles to display the photos.

Franklin is accused of killing women from 1985 to 1988 and from 2002 to 2007. The 14-year pause led to the nickname "Grim Sleeper." He has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault and murder in the deaths of 10 women in the Los Angeles area.

Anyone with information about the women in the photographs is asked to call 1-877-LAPD-24-7.

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF GRIM SLEEPER CASE