'DNA sweeps' in South L.A. to find a serial killer

Late one afternoon last week, a prostitute sauntered out of the dismal City Motel and put herself on display on the corner of Figueroa and 48th streets. Hands on hips and dressed in a pink tank top, tight shorts and clear plastic heels, she cast smiles at men as they slowed their cars. The sun hung low in the sky behind her, bathing South Los Angeles in a soft yellow glow.

A white van passed and pulled over to the curb. A short, middle-aged man with glasses and a thin mustache got out, stuck his hands in his pockets and walked back to the hooker. He paid no attention to a man sweeping the sidewalk across the street or another leaning against the motel wall.

The john and hooker struck a price -- $70 for sex. As the john returned to his van to retrieve something, the two men he had ignored earlier closed in. One flashed his Los Angeles Police Department badge, told the stunned-looking john to turn around and pulled out a pair handcuffs. The hooker, also an undercover officer, disappeared into the motel.

It was the kind of arrest the members of the LAPD vice squad had made hundreds of times. That afternoon, however, the stakes were higher. With the LAPD hunting for an elusive serial killer who has claimed 11 victims in South L.A. since the mid-1980s, the squad was hoping for the equivalent of a lightning strike.

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--Joel Rubin