South Los Angeles: $500,000 reward in serial killings

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The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved a $500,000 reward to help catch a serial killer believed responsible for 11 slayings in South Los Angeles and Inglewood over the last two decades.

The first killing occurred in 1985 when Debra Jackson, 29, a black woman, was shot three times in the chest. Her body was found in an alley near West Gage Avenue. Three years later, police determined the gun used to kill Jackson was linked to seven other slayings. DNA evidence has linked the killer to homicides in 2002 and 2003 and most recently to the shooting death of Janecia Peters, 25, a black woman, who was found in January 2007 covered with a garbage bag on South Western Avenue. Peters’ murder was one of many listed in the Homicide Report when it launched. The LA Weekly reports on the serial killer, which it has dubbed the Grim Sleeper.

—Phil Willon