Serial Killer Doc TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER Investigates Forgotten Victims of South Central

Filmmaker Nick Broomfield talks about his fascinating documentary Tales of the Grim Sleeper, which investigates the disappearance of hundreds of women in South Central Los Angeles and the arrest in the case of the alleged killer known as the Grim Sleeper, Lonnie David Franklin.

Nick said he discovered right away that despite the fact that Franklin is accused of killing numerous women over a span of 25 years, he was also well-known in the area and had several friends who were interviewed for the film. “Lonnie was a very popular guy in the street, he was almost like a kind of Robin Hood character in so far as he was like the local fence. He was also the guy who could get you a cheap washing machine, parts for your car, all these kinds of things.”

He was actually making quite a bit of money, also from hustling cars and interchanging parts to get them running to sell off.

“Making a film is a bit like a confessional I think. People suddenly start thinking about things that maybe they don’t normally think about of they choose not to think about. And I think a lot of them were troubled by their friendship with Lonnie, that they were so close to somebody who had done all these murders.”

Nick recalled filming Tales of the Grim Sleeper in South Central for about a year-and-a-half and during that time, the more individuals came forward with things to say. “They were almost things they had to exorcize from their subconscious.”

He also established a production office in South Central where people were drop by during the day – many of whom didn’t want to be interviewed on the streets of in their own homes, so they would be conducted their.

“I think often the backstory is kind of more interesting than the front one, and I guess that’s what this film is too. It’s ostensibly about Lonnie Franklin and the murders, but it’s really much more a portrait of the community and the friends, and the way it works and the relationship with the LAPD – and how this whole thing could happen for 25 years, and nobody really gave a shit about all the murders that were happening.”

The film has parallels to Nick’s 1993 documentary Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, which portrayed that notorious murderer who was also victimized herself and was ignored by police like the people of South Central.

Nick revealed the basic questions in his mind that attracted him to the story portrayed in Tales of the Grim Sleeper. “This could only have happened in South Central, and why did it happen in South Central, and what were the ingredients – it’s not a banana republic – this is the middle of Los Angeles, just 15 miles away from where I live in Santa Monica, how is it possible?”

He says despite the fact that more than 200 women disappeared over the years in South Central, very little has ever been written about it, even major media sources like the Los Angeles Times have basically ignored the story.

One of the reasons the murders were ignored not only by the media, but to a large extent by police as well can be traced back to an idea by law enforcement that there were people they referred to with the slang term NHI – which stands for no human involved.

“That was referring to a homeless person who was dead, a gang member who was dead, or a prostitute or someone on drugs,” Nick said. “And it basically meant that it was just rushed through, there wasn’t really a proper forensic examination.”

He said one of the problems with the case at the moment is that a lot of the victims’ clothes, shell casings, or other evidence was discarded by police because of a lack of storage space and because the Grim Sleeper case was not a priority.

Nick also points out that it was actually a journalist working for the LA Weekly, Christine Pelisek, who first revealed that a serial killer had been operating in South Central – it took the LAPD 20 years to finally admit the same thing.

Watch the full interview to also hear more of Nick’s personal stories about filming his compelling documentary, and also to get an update on the case against Lonnie Franklin.