Grim Sleeper survivor details harrowing attack in 1st TV interview

Thursday, August 18, 2016
Grim Sleeper survivor details harrowing attack in 1st TV interview
A victim who survived an attack from convicted "Grim Sleeper" Lonnie Franklin Jr. is recalling the harrowing ordeal.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- New casualties of convicted serial killer Lonnie Franklin are now coming to light.

In her first TV interview, Laura Moore details the attack which she had kept secret for decades until now.

"This is something I wanted to share because it happened to me. I see these bruises on me every day," says the 55 year old.

Franklin shot Moore six times.

"I do have like one or two bullets still in me."

Today investigators say Moore is one of three women from South Los Angeles who survived Franklin's attack. Moore's case was not among the 10 prosecuted by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.

By Moore's own admission, she was too much of an emotional mess to assist detectives. And by the time they contacted her, the DA had plenty of evidence to convict Franklin.

Moore says she is still haunted by Franklin's words when he drove up to her at a bus stop. She says he spoke to her kindly and assured her she would be safer riding with him.

"I searched the car front and back for weapons," before accepting his offer, she says.

Then came the nightmare. Instead of taking where she wanted to go Franklin took her to an alley and shot her in the arm, back and chest.

She managed to escape, falling from the car to the sidewalk, then crawling across Hoover Street for help.

As paramedics and police responded she saw Franklin slowly drive by.

"I was trying to tell them that that was him, but I couldn't talk. I couldn't get it out," Moore recalled.

It was a pivotal moment. Franklin then was free to find more victims.

The attack happened in 1984 when Moore was 21 years old. That's more than a year before Franklin committed the first of the nine murders and one attempted murder that would bring him to court.

Moore was not able to identify Franklin until 26 years later when he was arrested.

As Franklin heads to death row, his reign of terror is over. But not Moore's pain.

"It is like I am wearing a mask. Everybody thinks I am OK. But I am not."

Today LAPD is trying to identify more than two dozen women whose photos were found in Franklin's house. Investigators suspect that many of them are victims whose bodies were never found.

The photos can be seen here on the LAPD website.

Copyright © 2024 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.