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"Grim Sleeper" Photos: LAPD Releases 180 Photos of Possible Victims of Serial Killer

Grim Sleeper Photos: LAPD Releases 160 Photos of Possible Victims of Serial Killer
Lonnie Franklin Jr. (AP)

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) Lonnie Franklin Jr., suspect in the Grim Sleeper murders, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault and murder in the deaths of 10 women in the Los Angeles area, but Los Angeles Police investigators believe that he may be responsible for many more.

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

Detectives found almost 1,000 photos and hundreds of hours of home video of showing women, almost all of them partly or completely nude and striking sexually graphic poses.

Detectives attempted to identify the women in the pictures but after months of investigation the department decided to go public with about 180 images in the hopes that someone will recognize them and contact the authorities.

Franklin has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting and killing 10 women from 1985 to 2007. A 14-year gap between assaults led police to dub the mysterious killer the "Grim Sleeper." Authorities said they have linked the 58-year-old former city sanitation worker and LAPD garage attendant to the killings through a combination of DNA and ballistics evidence. Franklin remains in custody.

When investigators searched Franklin's home in July they collected a number of items that they hoped would provide a clearer picture of the alleged serial killer, and what they discovered seems to bolster what investigators have repeatedly said since Franklin's arrest - there may be more victims and he may not have actually stopped killing during that 14-year gap.

"There's going to be a lot of speculation about the condition of some of the women in these photographs,' Kilcoyne told the Times on Wednesday. "Right now, I don't know the answer."

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF GRIM SLEEPER CASE

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