Law & Order: Los Angeles (2010) s01e07 Episode Script
Ballona Creek
NARRATOR: In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups, the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
What do you have there, Luis? Just an old bike.
Why do they think this is a trash can? Trash can.
(SNICKERS) Hey, homes, that's my bike.
Am I going to have to come down there and get my bike back? (LAUGHING) You going to be all right down here, Don? They're just fooling around.
No worries.
No worries.
See you later.
Excuse me.
Sir, there's something in the water down here! Where? In the net! (COUGHING) DPW worker, Luis Valdez, called it in.
Says he knows the guy, name's Don Heller.
"Watershed Management.
" There could be a City vehicle somewhere upstream.
Call his job, get a plate number, and get a BOLO out.
Body's been in the water overnight.
Four or five stab wounds to the torso.
Defensive wounds are dominant on the right arm.
Attacker could be a lefty.
You're the one that found the body, Mr.
Valdez? A girl on the skates was the first one to see him from the bike path.
And where'd she go? Where'd she go? Um, I turned around and she was gone.
How'd you know Heller? I see him here all the time.
Testing the water.
Yeah? Did you see him yesterday? Yesterday? Ah, around 4:00 at the creek near Centinela.
Notice anything unusual? Anything unusual? Some gang kids were yelling stuff at us from the bridge.
One of them threw a rock at him.
You think you'd recognize any of them? It was too far away.
I shouldn't have left Don there by himself.
It's not your fault, sir.
Thank you.
My grandfather used to fish in this creek when he was a kid.
Yeah? Now the kids hunt.
Don was always home by 7:00.
I tried calling him all night.
I called the hospitals.
I just can't believe REX: Did he ever mention any trouble at the creek? No.
He was just an engineer.
CINDY: He was the sweetest man.
Why would they do this to him? We'll have someone drive you home now, Mrs.
Heller.
Five stab wounds to the right side of the chest and abdomen.
One edge of the knife was serrated.
Murder weapon turn up? No.
We don't even have a crime scene yet.
He was probably stabbed upstream and carried down toward the ocean overnight.
A witness saw bangers giving him a hard time near Centinela.
Centinela's no man's land.
Culver City Boys to the east, Venice 13 to the west.
About all they have in common is they like to go down to Ballona Creek and drink and get high.
They found Heller's truck two miles from Ballona Creek at Marco Place.
ARLEEN: Venice 13 turf.
Ignition's popped.
We might get prints in here.
I got water samples from the creek.
Date and location on the stickers.
His last sample was taken at Berryman Street at 04:24 p.
m.
REX: Hey.
It's Heller's.
There's blood.
We got ourselves a crime scene.
TJ: This isn't gang turf.
They must have dumped the truck outside of Venice 13's front yard just to throw us off the scent.
Every few days Don signed out a truck and headed over to Ballona Creek to take water samples.
Anything controversial about his work? Not unless you consider clean water controversial.
Did Heller ever bust anybody for dumping in the creek? Oh, sure.
A couple of years ago there were high levels of mercury in the water.
On his own time, Don figured out this shop that made neon signs was dumping waste water.
He had the EPA shut them down.
This is his car.
(CAR LOCKS BEEP OPEN) If you need anything, just ask.
TJ: Thank you.
All right I got searches on his GPS for 5708 Western Avenue three days ago.
The week before that, South Central.
That's nowhere near Ballona Creek.
I wonder where he's dipping his test tube.
Seen this guy around? Thank you.
Strike three.
I don't know about your pibil, but I'm already starting to regret this carne asada.
Cowboy up, amigo.
So this was your first beat, huh? Yeah.
Mostly drugs and prostitutes until the block was torched during the riots.
I'm not seeing why Heller was here.
Can't be for the fine dining.
Some people like grease.
Maybe his wife can tell us why he was here.
CINDY: South Central? I've lived here 15 years, I've never even been.
Did Mr.
Heller have any family down there or colleague? Maybe an old school friend? No.
I can't imagine what he was doing there.
(TELEPHONE RINGING) People keep calling.
I guess they mean well.
Look at this.
He downloaded this from the web.
Women murdered in South Central.
This one is from 1987, '89, '91, this one is from 1990.
The victim, an unidentified black female in her 20s was found stabbed to death in an alley behind Behind the 3600 block of Leimert Boulevard.
One of the addresses in Heller's GPS.
alley behind West 57th and Denker, multiple stab wounds.
She had a couple of dope busts.
behind 5309 Avalon multiple stab wounds, no record.
multiple stab wounds, priors for dope and solicitation.
Four years, eight murders and one MO.
All within a half mile of Western and Slauson.
Yeah.
Most of the victims were girls who ran the streets, base heads, prostitutes And somebody's daughters.
I don't remember any report back then of a serial killer working the area.
Who was the lead investigator? Bob Reedy, Southwest Division, caught four of the cases.
REX: He retired 10 years ago.
I remember him.
We should reach out to him.
Does Compstat have any open cases with a similar MO after '91? No.
If it's the same killer, he stopped after '91.
Or he went to jail or the hospital or took his act somewhere else.
Where was Heller? Living in Glendale, single, teaching at Pamona College.
He started working for the city in 1997.
There's one more case from '91, same MO but the victim survived.
Diana McDermott, she was left for dead in an alley behind Hoover Street.
She gave a sketch of her attacker.
Doesn't look much like Heller.
Find her.
Give her an old DMV photo of Heller.
We find out what Heller had to do with these killings.
Maybe it tells us who killed him.
DIANA: I don't know.
It was so long ago.
I try I try not to dwell.
You know, he left me with fourteen scars like this.
Everywhere.
I can't have children.
Never been on a date.
REX: Miss McDermott, we know how hard this is on you but maybe if you tell us what happened, you'll remember his face.
I was 16.
I had a big fight with my father and I ran out of the house, went down to the corner store and got myself a just to show how grown up I was.
This man drives up and says, "It's dangerous out here.
"Let me give you a ride home.
" Like a fool I get in.
He pulled into an alley and he starts telling me how pretty I was.
I was pretty.
I tried to get out of the car, but he put a knife at my throat.
He got on top of me and he pinned my arms down.
He felt me up while he was rubbing on himself.
He had my bra in his mouth and he was sucking on it.
And I was praying that he wouldn't kill me.
He got done with his business and then he pulled me out of the car and started stabbing me.
I don't remember anything else.
Can you see him now in your mind? Yes.
I don't see him.
I'm sorry.
It's been a long time.
It'd be a good thing if he was dead by now.
(HELICOPTER WHIRRING) Time of death is less than 24 hours.
Who found her? Shop owner taking out the garbage.
No ID on her.
So far I count What kind of knife? Single edge, serrated.
Looks like someone's come out of retirement.
Our working theory is Heller suspected someone he knew was involved in the murders 20 years ago.
He started poking around, suspect caught wind of it, took him out.
Killing Heller might have been enough to tickle the suspect's taste for blood, put him back on the hunt.
It's most likely it was somebody Heller knew personally, like a friend or acquaintance.
We're drawing up a list of males over 40 in his social and professional orbits.
What about our Jane Doe? No hit on her prints and she doesn't match any missing persons report in the state.
Go wider.
Put her photo on the internet.
This guy's smart.
He knew enough not to leave a calling card on the victim.
You can thank the O.
J.
Trial.
Everybody got a primer on DNA evidence.
This guy was working before O.
J.
and before the PD was pulling DNA off victims.
Maybe we can use today's technology on yesterday's evidence.
Negative for semen, negative for blood other than the victim's.
This is a mess.
Lot of this stuff's just thrown in here, no tags, no way to tell what belongs to who.
Sylvia Watson.
One woman's shoe, one pushup bra, soda can.
Another bra.
The girl who survived, Diana McDermott, she said her assailant sucked on her bra.
Maybe we can pull DNA off of that.
Even if we pull DNA off them, we don't know what belongs to who.
A defense lawyer would have a field day.
SHEILA: Sylvia was 19 when she was killed.
We lost her to drugs a couple of years before that.
After all this time, why are you asking about our girl? We think we might have a lead on the person who killed her.
Oh, my God.
First, we need you to identify some clothing Sylvia might have been wearing when she was found.
Recognize either of these.
Yes.
The pretty pink one.
I bought it for her at the Kmart on Crenshaw.
Who does that other one belong to? One of the other girls.
What other girls are you talking about? The other girls killed by the man who killed your daughter.
The same man? Well, how many girls did he kill? Nine that we know of including one three days ago.
Nine? CHARLES: No one told us there were other girls.
No one told you there might be a serial killer in your area? CHARLES: No.
We thought Sylvia was killed by one of her drug friends.
CHARLES: Nine girls.
Was Sylvia the first? No, sir.
There were four others before her.
Four? And no one said a word? We're very sorry.
Unbelievable.
There was a wolf loose and nobody told these people to keep their girls safe at home? The good old days, huh? (CELL PHONE RINGING) Cheer up, retired Detective Bob Reedy just walked into RHD.
Betty Basehead murders, we call them.
Once we saw the pattern, I caught all the cases.
You realized this was the work of a single suspect? Yeah.
Based on the geography and the MO.
Why not put the word out, huh? Give the locals a chance to protect their own.
They didn't want people to panic.
One tip might have broken the case.
It wasn't my call.
Look, times were different then.
Height of the crack war, ODs, crack whores, dealers, snitches.
We were drowning in bodies.
After the King Riots, the brass just pulled us off the case.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Hey, nobody wanted to have anything to do with cops.
(SCOFFS) He's still at it, huh? Don't sweat it.
LAUREN: "Slauson Slasher.
" Now he has a name.
All we need is a face.
The lab found trace DNA from saliva on Sylvia Watson's bra.
But no matches to the state databases or to CODIS.
So our suspect isn't in the database, but maybe one of his relatives is.
You want to run a search for familial DNA.
If one of his cousins was arrested, their DNA will be in the database.
If we find the cousin, maybe we find the suspect.
You'll need permission from the Attorney General.
I'll get on it.
For an identical match to the DNA sample from the bra, I would need ten pairs of alleles.
These peaks here.
But since we are looking for close relatives of your suspect, I set the search parameter at eight pairs of alleles.
Congratulations.
You have one hit.
Brandon Duffy.
Date of birth, 09-28-92.
He's 18.
He'll be thrilled to hear he's related to the Slauson Slasher.
Got it.
Brandon Duffy, convicted of unlawful use of a vehicle in '08.
Joy-riding.
Sentenced to probation.
Let's go give him the good news.
Kid's living large.
Yeah, that's what you get when your dad's a successful architect.
You know, the dad's 53.
Right in our suspect's age range.
We could scam some of his DNA, see if it matches our suspect.
Or we could just ask for his cooperation.
Mr.
Duffy, sorry to bother you.
I'm Detective Winters.
This is Detective Jaruszalski.
Is there a problem? No, no, we just need your help in an investigation.
Some DNA found at a crime scene partially matches your son's DNA taken when he was arrested a couple of years ago.
My son's a suspect? REX: No.
He's not in any trouble.
But we need to eliminate his male relatives as potential suspects.
And how would you do that? By taking a DNA swab.
We can do it right here.
Won't take but a few seconds.
You want my DNA? Not a chance.
I'm calling my lawyer.
You stay away from my son.
Your son smokes? No.
I do.
Thank you.
The lab pulled Mark Duffy's DNA off his cigarettes, but it's going to take at least a week to run it for a match to our suspect.
Apart from his father, how many of the son's other relatives fit the profile? Four males on his dad's side, two on his mother's.
None with priors.
All upstanding citizens.
Except cousin Bob who has a thing for knives and young women.
MAN: Lieutenant.
Thanks.
Terrific.
Duffy filed for a restraining order against us and he's got the ACLU backing him up.
GROBAN: Mr.
Duffy is not the only family member who's been harassed by the police, Your Honor.
His brother's trash was searched.
His brother-in-law's employer was questioned as to his whereabouts.
The action was the result of a search of databases for familial DNA, which is why I'm here on behalf of the ACLU.
This is a controversial new law enforcement tool, Your Honor.
It, by definition, targets innocent people.
It's a scientific fact that the DNA found on one of the victims is from an immediate male relative of Brandon Duffy.
Must they all endure suspicion and harassment by the police? The police have the permission of the Attorney General's office to search familial DNA.
That doesn't immunize it from my scrutiny.
I find the police conduct here extremely disturbing.
What's disturbing, Your Honor, is the fact that a serial killer has been out there for 20 years, nine young women have been killed already, the police are finally closing in on the suspect.
Nobody is stopping them, Your Honor.
As long as they don't trample on the rights of innocent people.
Mr.
Dekker, I'm issuing a restraining order to stop all further testing of the Duffy's DNA and to stop any further investigation or surveillance of the members of the family without probable cause.
(WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY) An appeal could take months.
By that time, the suspect could completely disappear.
REX: Counselor.
You need to see this.
She was found three hours ago, same area as the others.
Miss Caffey, I want to show you something.
I'm in a hurry.
Her name's LaTanya Weaver.
And she was found this morning, near Slauson Avenue.
The next one's on you.
LaTanya was a senior at Fremont High.
Average student, no history of drugs or gangs.
Last seen Thursday night walking home from a friend's.
I have a task force out canvassing her route home.
But so far, no leads.
Can we put any of Brandon Duffy's relatives near the scene? No.
I had to pull the surveillance to comply with the restraining order.
But we did find something in the public records.
In 2004 Mark Duffy and his family were granted an Order of Protection from Maria Cordero, a 47-year-old Latino living in Santa Ana.
Restraining orders, orders of protection, Mark Duffy's got something to hide.
MARIA: Mark Duffy? No, my lawyer said I can't talk about that.
That was six years ago.
Please, Mrs.
Cordero, we're investigating a murder.
Don't you want to help? I don't know.
Mr.
Duffy was very angry.
Why? What did you do? I just wanted to see Brandon.
Their son? Why? I have a daughter, Angela.
When she was 17, one night somebody come into her room through the window, he raped her.
This was Brandon? Oh, no, no, no.
This was almost We moved here after my husband died.
Angela got pregnant from the rape and we gave the baby to an agency for adoption.
Brandon was the baby.
The Duffy's adopted him.
Yes.
Six years ago, Angela discovered that she couldn't have children.
I was very sad.
I wanted to see my grandson.
I found him.
But Mr.
Duffy wouldn't let me see him.
He didn't want Brandon to know how he was born from a rape.
So he got a judge to keep me away.
Brandon's adopted, that takes Duffy and his relatives off the hook.
Mrs.
Cordero, we're going to need the names of Angela's blood relatives.
The men, uncles, cousins.
Please, I don't want any more problems.
I'm sorry.
Now that the Duffys are off the table, we're looking for male relatives of Brandon's biological parents.
His mom, Angela Cordero, and his dad, an unidentified rapist.
The rape was never reported, there was no investigation, no leads.
And the kid's grandmother won't cooperate.
Anyone else listed at Maria Cordero's address? Just Angela.
But before they moved to Santa Ana in '91, they lived in Los Angeles at 5864 Cimarron Street.
Yeah.
South Central.
That's the right neighborhood.
Anybody else listed at that address? There's There's an Eduardo Cordero, died 1991.
He must have been Maria's husband.
That can't be our guy.
There's Luis Cordero, three years younger.
Could have been his brother, he'd be 54 now.
ARLEEN: Where is he now? Last known address for him is '93.
Where is he working? Last entry under his social security is also 1993.
This is nice.
His last job.
He was a janitor at Rampart Division.
Luis Cordero? Doesn't ring a bell.
Maybe if you had a DMV photo.
He didn't have a driver's license.
The city records says he worked the day shift.
I remember a Latino guy who cleaned the bathrooms.
His name might've been Luis.
He was really into the scanners we had back then.
Listening to the radio calls.
We had a name for that guy, Bunnyman.
(LAUGHS) Yeah, right.
Bunnyman, after the punk band.
Echo and the Bunnymen? What's the connection? Well, this guy had some kind of verbal tick, you know, a nervous thing where he'd repeat the last thing you said like an echo.
(GRUNTS) How you doing, Mr.
Valdez? Okay.
Just working.
Any of those bangers been bothering you? Bothering me? Nah.
Everything's cool.
I like your cleaning technique.
You ever work as a custodian? Custodian? I like the fresh air.
Like the air around Rampart Division? Never worked there.
You know who did? Luis Cordero.
(SCREAMS) You're going to pay for this suit, Luis.
REX: Get up.
Valdez is on medication.
Dutasteride.
For benign prostatic hyperplasia.
Enlarged prostate.
I've got one the size of a Long Island potato.
Ah.
I got a beveled hunting knife with a serrated spine.
Looks nice and clean.
Bleach.
Bingo.
Trophy case.
The police found two bras stained with blood matched to the latest two victims.
And a knife consistent with that used on all of the victims, including Mr.
Heller.
There are thousands of such knives in the city.
And for all anyone knows, my client found those bras discarded in Ballona Creek.
Your Honor, Mr.
Valdez has worked for the city for over 25 years, he's not going anywhere now.
Mr.
Valdez has mastered hiding in plain sight, Your Honor.
After his first killing spree, when he was known as Luis Cordero, he took his mother's maiden name, got a new Social Security number and started a new life as a DPW worker.
Remand without bail is the only way to keep him in our sights.
Your Honor, in a city that is rife with pop stars and actors who have changed their names Please, Mr.
Solomon, is that the best you can come up with? Your client is remanded without bail until trial.
Mr.
Dekker.
Oh, Mr.
Duffy, look, we won't be bothering your family anymore.
You have to help us.
My son knows that he was adopted, but we never told him how he was conceived.
That's going to come out during this man's trial, how he's related to Brandon, the rape.
I'm not sure I can prevent that.
It'll scar Brandon for the rest of his life.
That's why I stopped you before from testing our DNA.
Mr.
Dekker, can't you offer this man some kind of a plea bargain so there's no trial.
I'm very sorry, Mr.
Duffy, but I don't hog-trade with a serial killer.
But then my son would never have to know.
I don't know what to tell you.
But I've got 11 murder victims and their families.
I have to speak for them.
Brandon Duffy was a juvenile when his DNA was taken after his conviction for joy-riding.
The law at the time stated that the DNA could be entered into the database only when there was an adult conviction.
Brandon was 15.
Fine.
Let Brandon Duffy sue the County Sheriff that took his DNA.
His parents don't want money.
They want to preserve their son's privacy and prevent the revelation that their son is a child of rape.
Say the boy's DNA was in the system in error.
What does it have to do with Mr.
Valdez? Your Honor, my client only became a suspect because the police found Brandon Duffy's DNA in the database.
All the evidence that the police have recovered stems from that tainted DNA match.
He's right, Mr.
Dekker, without that boy's DNA the police would not have found Mr.
Valdez, or the knife or the clothing.
Please don't tell me you're going to dismiss our entire prosecution because some clerk hit the wrong key on his computer.
Facts are facts.
I'm dismissing the charges and releasing Mr.
Valdez.
Hold on, Your Honor.
We have a victim who survived an attack by Mr.
Valdez.
She may be able to identify him.
Before you put this maniac back on the street, will you at least give us a chance to put him in a lineup? Mr.
Dekker, you can have your lineup.
Okay, Miss McDermott, take your time and tell us if you see the man who stabbed you.
I don't know.
It was so long ago.
I'm sorry.
I can't be sure.
ARLEEN: It's okay.
We'll get you a ride home.
You're a free man, Luis.
I want two cars on him 24l7.
Eleven murder cases blown out of the water.
What the hell's the ACLU thinking? Forget that.
Judge Ridgeway just tossed all our evidence.
Time to start from scratch.
DNA from the bra worn by Sylvia Watson.
Legally we have to pretend we don't know whose DNA that is.
Right.
Unidentified DNA sitting in the computer database waiting for a match.
The trick is getting Valdez's DNA back in the system legally.
We can.
If he gets arrested, he'll be swabbed, his DNA will be run through the database automatically.
If he gets arrested again.
(EXHALES) We have to make that happen.
We can't arrest him on a pretext.
Valdez has to actually do something.
Maybe he already has.
There's one victim here who's been overlooked.
Luis is my brother-in-law, Angela's uncle.
But we haven't seen him since we moved to Santa Ana.
You and your husband shared a house with him until then.
Why did you move out? After my husband died, I didn't feel comfortable living with Luis.
Angela was young, it wasn't proper.
Angela? I want to talk to you about the rape 18 years ago.
What if I don't want to? I can't force you.
But I think you can help us.
I think you can help us with many cases.
We just moved into this house.
I was in my new bedroom, sleeping.
I was 17.
I woke up, I was on my stomach.
This man was on my back raping me.
This man, what did he look like? I couldn't see.
He pushed my face into my pillow.
ANGELA: I couldn't even scream.
Did he say anything? Maybe you recognized his voice? You did.
You did recognize his voice.
Angela, all these women he's killed.
(GAGGING) You could stop him.
Tell him, Angela.
Tell him.
He whispered in my ear, it was like I was under water, but I could tell it was It was Uncle Luis.
What did he say to you? He said that if I told my mother, if I told the police, he would kill me.
Angela refused to go to the police.
So I took her to the doctor, she was bleeding.
What are you going to do? The rape happened outside of our jurisdiction so I need you to report it to the police here in Santa Ana.
How can I say it's him after all this time? You let us worry about that.
But I promise you, you'll never have to face him.
You'll never have to testify.
But I need you to be strong now.
I need you to stand up for yourself.
PALEY: 1992? Look, I'm happy to put a rapist behind bars, but it took her She was 17 and the rapist was her uncle.
He threatened to kill her if she reported it.
There are emergency room records confirming vaginal injury.
A rape kit? I don't know.
You have nothing but the girl's word two decades later.
It's a dead loser before a jury.
Listen, Karen, this uncle, he's the serial killer.
I'm sure you've read about him.
The one where you just lost all your evidence? JONAH: We'll get it back.
I just need you to prosecute him on the rape.
There's more than enough evidence to get past the preliminary hearing.
The victim's credible.
Nice of the City to put a serial killer back on payroll.
Well, he's union and no conviction.
So Our tax dollars hard at work.
(SIRENS WAILING IN THE DISTANCE) REX: Here comes the Santa Ana Cavalry.
(TIRES SCREECH) Freeze! Don't move! Get down! It's like watching a cop movie.
Hmm.
Now all we have to do is wait for Santa Ana to put his DNA in the database.
They finally ID'd our Jane Doe.
Kelli Torneau, age 17, no family.
She was born in New Orleans.
(COMPUTER PINGS) Valdez's DNA just hit the database.
Got him.
This is absurd, Your Honor.
You dismissed these murder cases last week.
Because the evidence then was based on a match with DNA that had been put in the database in error.
Now the evidence against Mr.
Valdez is based on his DNA that's been properly put into the database subsequent to his arrest for rape.
An old rape case that Mr.
Dekker convinced Orange County to use as a pretext to arrest my client.
I did not rape my niece, Your Honor.
And I did not kill nobody.
Quiet, Mr.
Valdez.
This was no pretext arrest.
There was medical evidence and an ID by the victim.
The rape happened Prosecution is barred by the statute of limitations.
If defense counsel had done his homework, he'd know that there's no clock for a sex crime against a minor that went previously unreported to the police.
The victim here was 17.
She's right, Mr.
Solomon.
And since Prop 69 required a DNA swab from Mr.
Valdez after his arrest for rape, our murder cases no longer go through a third party or violate anyone's privacy.
He's got you there, Mr.
Solomon.
But good.
I'm denying your motion to dismiss.
All murder charges will stand.
I'll see you folks at trial.
(GAVEL BANGS) Even if you win at trial, we'll have this tied up with appeals for the next 10 years.
And with the ACLU on board, we might have Prop 69 declared unconstitutional or that dubious statute of limitations exception.
And the next time Mr.
Valdez walks out of here, it might be for good.
You do what you got to do.
But I will be riding shotgun with the Attorney General's office on the appeal.
Come on, Dekker, a bird in the hand must be worth something.
You're not hearing me, Mr.
Solomon.
This case is going to end when your client receives a lethal injection from the state of California.
Lethal injection? Please.
I'll stay in prison for as long as you want.
All right, Dekker, word on the street is that the death penalty is not really your thing.
It's the law of this state and I'm going to enforce it.
I was good when I took those pills.
I never hurt nobody, but Don Heller, if he wasn't so nosey.
Nosey? He found out that I changed my name and he asked me questions, all the time questions.
And he just wouldn't leave me alone.
And I But I'll take those pills again.
And I'll be good again, but please Don't just let them kill me.
If you can convince a jury that you deserve mercy, so be it.
But I'm going to show you the same mercy you showed those women.
JONAH: Twenty-three years ago, a lone predator began murdering young, black women in South Central Los Angeles.
With a knife as sharp as wolves' teeth, he tore his victims to pieces.
Young women whose deaths weren't covered on TV, didn't make the front page of newspapers.
Young women whose murders weren't given their proper due by the police.
With time, the evidence was packed away in boxes, the murder books pushed to the back shelf, the cases faded away.
The victims were forgotten, by all except their families.
Until now.
We will prove that this man that sits before you, Luis Valdez, is one of the most vicious serial killers in the history of this city.
And today, everyone will know the names of his victims.
Sherry Conlon.
Beverly Greene.
Sylvia Watson.
Milicent Taylor.
Marlena Treadway.
Grace Bradshaw.
Luanne Hicks.
Diana McDermott.
Don Heller.
Kelli Torneau.
LaTanya Weaver.
Finally, they will all have their day in court.
These are their stories.
What do you have there, Luis? Just an old bike.
Why do they think this is a trash can? Trash can.
(SNICKERS) Hey, homes, that's my bike.
Am I going to have to come down there and get my bike back? (LAUGHING) You going to be all right down here, Don? They're just fooling around.
No worries.
No worries.
See you later.
Excuse me.
Sir, there's something in the water down here! Where? In the net! (COUGHING) DPW worker, Luis Valdez, called it in.
Says he knows the guy, name's Don Heller.
"Watershed Management.
" There could be a City vehicle somewhere upstream.
Call his job, get a plate number, and get a BOLO out.
Body's been in the water overnight.
Four or five stab wounds to the torso.
Defensive wounds are dominant on the right arm.
Attacker could be a lefty.
You're the one that found the body, Mr.
Valdez? A girl on the skates was the first one to see him from the bike path.
And where'd she go? Where'd she go? Um, I turned around and she was gone.
How'd you know Heller? I see him here all the time.
Testing the water.
Yeah? Did you see him yesterday? Yesterday? Ah, around 4:00 at the creek near Centinela.
Notice anything unusual? Anything unusual? Some gang kids were yelling stuff at us from the bridge.
One of them threw a rock at him.
You think you'd recognize any of them? It was too far away.
I shouldn't have left Don there by himself.
It's not your fault, sir.
Thank you.
My grandfather used to fish in this creek when he was a kid.
Yeah? Now the kids hunt.
Don was always home by 7:00.
I tried calling him all night.
I called the hospitals.
I just can't believe REX: Did he ever mention any trouble at the creek? No.
He was just an engineer.
CINDY: He was the sweetest man.
Why would they do this to him? We'll have someone drive you home now, Mrs.
Heller.
Five stab wounds to the right side of the chest and abdomen.
One edge of the knife was serrated.
Murder weapon turn up? No.
We don't even have a crime scene yet.
He was probably stabbed upstream and carried down toward the ocean overnight.
A witness saw bangers giving him a hard time near Centinela.
Centinela's no man's land.
Culver City Boys to the east, Venice 13 to the west.
About all they have in common is they like to go down to Ballona Creek and drink and get high.
They found Heller's truck two miles from Ballona Creek at Marco Place.
ARLEEN: Venice 13 turf.
Ignition's popped.
We might get prints in here.
I got water samples from the creek.
Date and location on the stickers.
His last sample was taken at Berryman Street at 04:24 p.
m.
REX: Hey.
It's Heller's.
There's blood.
We got ourselves a crime scene.
TJ: This isn't gang turf.
They must have dumped the truck outside of Venice 13's front yard just to throw us off the scent.
Every few days Don signed out a truck and headed over to Ballona Creek to take water samples.
Anything controversial about his work? Not unless you consider clean water controversial.
Did Heller ever bust anybody for dumping in the creek? Oh, sure.
A couple of years ago there were high levels of mercury in the water.
On his own time, Don figured out this shop that made neon signs was dumping waste water.
He had the EPA shut them down.
This is his car.
(CAR LOCKS BEEP OPEN) If you need anything, just ask.
TJ: Thank you.
All right I got searches on his GPS for 5708 Western Avenue three days ago.
The week before that, South Central.
That's nowhere near Ballona Creek.
I wonder where he's dipping his test tube.
Seen this guy around? Thank you.
Strike three.
I don't know about your pibil, but I'm already starting to regret this carne asada.
Cowboy up, amigo.
So this was your first beat, huh? Yeah.
Mostly drugs and prostitutes until the block was torched during the riots.
I'm not seeing why Heller was here.
Can't be for the fine dining.
Some people like grease.
Maybe his wife can tell us why he was here.
CINDY: South Central? I've lived here 15 years, I've never even been.
Did Mr.
Heller have any family down there or colleague? Maybe an old school friend? No.
I can't imagine what he was doing there.
(TELEPHONE RINGING) People keep calling.
I guess they mean well.
Look at this.
He downloaded this from the web.
Women murdered in South Central.
This one is from 1987, '89, '91, this one is from 1990.
The victim, an unidentified black female in her 20s was found stabbed to death in an alley behind Behind the 3600 block of Leimert Boulevard.
One of the addresses in Heller's GPS.
alley behind West 57th and Denker, multiple stab wounds.
She had a couple of dope busts.
behind 5309 Avalon multiple stab wounds, no record.
multiple stab wounds, priors for dope and solicitation.
Four years, eight murders and one MO.
All within a half mile of Western and Slauson.
Yeah.
Most of the victims were girls who ran the streets, base heads, prostitutes And somebody's daughters.
I don't remember any report back then of a serial killer working the area.
Who was the lead investigator? Bob Reedy, Southwest Division, caught four of the cases.
REX: He retired 10 years ago.
I remember him.
We should reach out to him.
Does Compstat have any open cases with a similar MO after '91? No.
If it's the same killer, he stopped after '91.
Or he went to jail or the hospital or took his act somewhere else.
Where was Heller? Living in Glendale, single, teaching at Pamona College.
He started working for the city in 1997.
There's one more case from '91, same MO but the victim survived.
Diana McDermott, she was left for dead in an alley behind Hoover Street.
She gave a sketch of her attacker.
Doesn't look much like Heller.
Find her.
Give her an old DMV photo of Heller.
We find out what Heller had to do with these killings.
Maybe it tells us who killed him.
DIANA: I don't know.
It was so long ago.
I try I try not to dwell.
You know, he left me with fourteen scars like this.
Everywhere.
I can't have children.
Never been on a date.
REX: Miss McDermott, we know how hard this is on you but maybe if you tell us what happened, you'll remember his face.
I was 16.
I had a big fight with my father and I ran out of the house, went down to the corner store and got myself a just to show how grown up I was.
This man drives up and says, "It's dangerous out here.
"Let me give you a ride home.
" Like a fool I get in.
He pulled into an alley and he starts telling me how pretty I was.
I was pretty.
I tried to get out of the car, but he put a knife at my throat.
He got on top of me and he pinned my arms down.
He felt me up while he was rubbing on himself.
He had my bra in his mouth and he was sucking on it.
And I was praying that he wouldn't kill me.
He got done with his business and then he pulled me out of the car and started stabbing me.
I don't remember anything else.
Can you see him now in your mind? Yes.
I don't see him.
I'm sorry.
It's been a long time.
It'd be a good thing if he was dead by now.
(HELICOPTER WHIRRING) Time of death is less than 24 hours.
Who found her? Shop owner taking out the garbage.
No ID on her.
So far I count What kind of knife? Single edge, serrated.
Looks like someone's come out of retirement.
Our working theory is Heller suspected someone he knew was involved in the murders 20 years ago.
He started poking around, suspect caught wind of it, took him out.
Killing Heller might have been enough to tickle the suspect's taste for blood, put him back on the hunt.
It's most likely it was somebody Heller knew personally, like a friend or acquaintance.
We're drawing up a list of males over 40 in his social and professional orbits.
What about our Jane Doe? No hit on her prints and she doesn't match any missing persons report in the state.
Go wider.
Put her photo on the internet.
This guy's smart.
He knew enough not to leave a calling card on the victim.
You can thank the O.
J.
Trial.
Everybody got a primer on DNA evidence.
This guy was working before O.
J.
and before the PD was pulling DNA off victims.
Maybe we can use today's technology on yesterday's evidence.
Negative for semen, negative for blood other than the victim's.
This is a mess.
Lot of this stuff's just thrown in here, no tags, no way to tell what belongs to who.
Sylvia Watson.
One woman's shoe, one pushup bra, soda can.
Another bra.
The girl who survived, Diana McDermott, she said her assailant sucked on her bra.
Maybe we can pull DNA off of that.
Even if we pull DNA off them, we don't know what belongs to who.
A defense lawyer would have a field day.
SHEILA: Sylvia was 19 when she was killed.
We lost her to drugs a couple of years before that.
After all this time, why are you asking about our girl? We think we might have a lead on the person who killed her.
Oh, my God.
First, we need you to identify some clothing Sylvia might have been wearing when she was found.
Recognize either of these.
Yes.
The pretty pink one.
I bought it for her at the Kmart on Crenshaw.
Who does that other one belong to? One of the other girls.
What other girls are you talking about? The other girls killed by the man who killed your daughter.
The same man? Well, how many girls did he kill? Nine that we know of including one three days ago.
Nine? CHARLES: No one told us there were other girls.
No one told you there might be a serial killer in your area? CHARLES: No.
We thought Sylvia was killed by one of her drug friends.
CHARLES: Nine girls.
Was Sylvia the first? No, sir.
There were four others before her.
Four? And no one said a word? We're very sorry.
Unbelievable.
There was a wolf loose and nobody told these people to keep their girls safe at home? The good old days, huh? (CELL PHONE RINGING) Cheer up, retired Detective Bob Reedy just walked into RHD.
Betty Basehead murders, we call them.
Once we saw the pattern, I caught all the cases.
You realized this was the work of a single suspect? Yeah.
Based on the geography and the MO.
Why not put the word out, huh? Give the locals a chance to protect their own.
They didn't want people to panic.
One tip might have broken the case.
It wasn't my call.
Look, times were different then.
Height of the crack war, ODs, crack whores, dealers, snitches.
We were drowning in bodies.
After the King Riots, the brass just pulled us off the case.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Hey, nobody wanted to have anything to do with cops.
(SCOFFS) He's still at it, huh? Don't sweat it.
LAUREN: "Slauson Slasher.
" Now he has a name.
All we need is a face.
The lab found trace DNA from saliva on Sylvia Watson's bra.
But no matches to the state databases or to CODIS.
So our suspect isn't in the database, but maybe one of his relatives is.
You want to run a search for familial DNA.
If one of his cousins was arrested, their DNA will be in the database.
If we find the cousin, maybe we find the suspect.
You'll need permission from the Attorney General.
I'll get on it.
For an identical match to the DNA sample from the bra, I would need ten pairs of alleles.
These peaks here.
But since we are looking for close relatives of your suspect, I set the search parameter at eight pairs of alleles.
Congratulations.
You have one hit.
Brandon Duffy.
Date of birth, 09-28-92.
He's 18.
He'll be thrilled to hear he's related to the Slauson Slasher.
Got it.
Brandon Duffy, convicted of unlawful use of a vehicle in '08.
Joy-riding.
Sentenced to probation.
Let's go give him the good news.
Kid's living large.
Yeah, that's what you get when your dad's a successful architect.
You know, the dad's 53.
Right in our suspect's age range.
We could scam some of his DNA, see if it matches our suspect.
Or we could just ask for his cooperation.
Mr.
Duffy, sorry to bother you.
I'm Detective Winters.
This is Detective Jaruszalski.
Is there a problem? No, no, we just need your help in an investigation.
Some DNA found at a crime scene partially matches your son's DNA taken when he was arrested a couple of years ago.
My son's a suspect? REX: No.
He's not in any trouble.
But we need to eliminate his male relatives as potential suspects.
And how would you do that? By taking a DNA swab.
We can do it right here.
Won't take but a few seconds.
You want my DNA? Not a chance.
I'm calling my lawyer.
You stay away from my son.
Your son smokes? No.
I do.
Thank you.
The lab pulled Mark Duffy's DNA off his cigarettes, but it's going to take at least a week to run it for a match to our suspect.
Apart from his father, how many of the son's other relatives fit the profile? Four males on his dad's side, two on his mother's.
None with priors.
All upstanding citizens.
Except cousin Bob who has a thing for knives and young women.
MAN: Lieutenant.
Thanks.
Terrific.
Duffy filed for a restraining order against us and he's got the ACLU backing him up.
GROBAN: Mr.
Duffy is not the only family member who's been harassed by the police, Your Honor.
His brother's trash was searched.
His brother-in-law's employer was questioned as to his whereabouts.
The action was the result of a search of databases for familial DNA, which is why I'm here on behalf of the ACLU.
This is a controversial new law enforcement tool, Your Honor.
It, by definition, targets innocent people.
It's a scientific fact that the DNA found on one of the victims is from an immediate male relative of Brandon Duffy.
Must they all endure suspicion and harassment by the police? The police have the permission of the Attorney General's office to search familial DNA.
That doesn't immunize it from my scrutiny.
I find the police conduct here extremely disturbing.
What's disturbing, Your Honor, is the fact that a serial killer has been out there for 20 years, nine young women have been killed already, the police are finally closing in on the suspect.
Nobody is stopping them, Your Honor.
As long as they don't trample on the rights of innocent people.
Mr.
Dekker, I'm issuing a restraining order to stop all further testing of the Duffy's DNA and to stop any further investigation or surveillance of the members of the family without probable cause.
(WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY) An appeal could take months.
By that time, the suspect could completely disappear.
REX: Counselor.
You need to see this.
She was found three hours ago, same area as the others.
Miss Caffey, I want to show you something.
I'm in a hurry.
Her name's LaTanya Weaver.
And she was found this morning, near Slauson Avenue.
The next one's on you.
LaTanya was a senior at Fremont High.
Average student, no history of drugs or gangs.
Last seen Thursday night walking home from a friend's.
I have a task force out canvassing her route home.
But so far, no leads.
Can we put any of Brandon Duffy's relatives near the scene? No.
I had to pull the surveillance to comply with the restraining order.
But we did find something in the public records.
In 2004 Mark Duffy and his family were granted an Order of Protection from Maria Cordero, a 47-year-old Latino living in Santa Ana.
Restraining orders, orders of protection, Mark Duffy's got something to hide.
MARIA: Mark Duffy? No, my lawyer said I can't talk about that.
That was six years ago.
Please, Mrs.
Cordero, we're investigating a murder.
Don't you want to help? I don't know.
Mr.
Duffy was very angry.
Why? What did you do? I just wanted to see Brandon.
Their son? Why? I have a daughter, Angela.
When she was 17, one night somebody come into her room through the window, he raped her.
This was Brandon? Oh, no, no, no.
This was almost We moved here after my husband died.
Angela got pregnant from the rape and we gave the baby to an agency for adoption.
Brandon was the baby.
The Duffy's adopted him.
Yes.
Six years ago, Angela discovered that she couldn't have children.
I was very sad.
I wanted to see my grandson.
I found him.
But Mr.
Duffy wouldn't let me see him.
He didn't want Brandon to know how he was born from a rape.
So he got a judge to keep me away.
Brandon's adopted, that takes Duffy and his relatives off the hook.
Mrs.
Cordero, we're going to need the names of Angela's blood relatives.
The men, uncles, cousins.
Please, I don't want any more problems.
I'm sorry.
Now that the Duffys are off the table, we're looking for male relatives of Brandon's biological parents.
His mom, Angela Cordero, and his dad, an unidentified rapist.
The rape was never reported, there was no investigation, no leads.
And the kid's grandmother won't cooperate.
Anyone else listed at Maria Cordero's address? Just Angela.
But before they moved to Santa Ana in '91, they lived in Los Angeles at 5864 Cimarron Street.
Yeah.
South Central.
That's the right neighborhood.
Anybody else listed at that address? There's There's an Eduardo Cordero, died 1991.
He must have been Maria's husband.
That can't be our guy.
There's Luis Cordero, three years younger.
Could have been his brother, he'd be 54 now.
ARLEEN: Where is he now? Last known address for him is '93.
Where is he working? Last entry under his social security is also 1993.
This is nice.
His last job.
He was a janitor at Rampart Division.
Luis Cordero? Doesn't ring a bell.
Maybe if you had a DMV photo.
He didn't have a driver's license.
The city records says he worked the day shift.
I remember a Latino guy who cleaned the bathrooms.
His name might've been Luis.
He was really into the scanners we had back then.
Listening to the radio calls.
We had a name for that guy, Bunnyman.
(LAUGHS) Yeah, right.
Bunnyman, after the punk band.
Echo and the Bunnymen? What's the connection? Well, this guy had some kind of verbal tick, you know, a nervous thing where he'd repeat the last thing you said like an echo.
(GRUNTS) How you doing, Mr.
Valdez? Okay.
Just working.
Any of those bangers been bothering you? Bothering me? Nah.
Everything's cool.
I like your cleaning technique.
You ever work as a custodian? Custodian? I like the fresh air.
Like the air around Rampart Division? Never worked there.
You know who did? Luis Cordero.
(SCREAMS) You're going to pay for this suit, Luis.
REX: Get up.
Valdez is on medication.
Dutasteride.
For benign prostatic hyperplasia.
Enlarged prostate.
I've got one the size of a Long Island potato.
Ah.
I got a beveled hunting knife with a serrated spine.
Looks nice and clean.
Bleach.
Bingo.
Trophy case.
The police found two bras stained with blood matched to the latest two victims.
And a knife consistent with that used on all of the victims, including Mr.
Heller.
There are thousands of such knives in the city.
And for all anyone knows, my client found those bras discarded in Ballona Creek.
Your Honor, Mr.
Valdez has worked for the city for over 25 years, he's not going anywhere now.
Mr.
Valdez has mastered hiding in plain sight, Your Honor.
After his first killing spree, when he was known as Luis Cordero, he took his mother's maiden name, got a new Social Security number and started a new life as a DPW worker.
Remand without bail is the only way to keep him in our sights.
Your Honor, in a city that is rife with pop stars and actors who have changed their names Please, Mr.
Solomon, is that the best you can come up with? Your client is remanded without bail until trial.
Mr.
Dekker.
Oh, Mr.
Duffy, look, we won't be bothering your family anymore.
You have to help us.
My son knows that he was adopted, but we never told him how he was conceived.
That's going to come out during this man's trial, how he's related to Brandon, the rape.
I'm not sure I can prevent that.
It'll scar Brandon for the rest of his life.
That's why I stopped you before from testing our DNA.
Mr.
Dekker, can't you offer this man some kind of a plea bargain so there's no trial.
I'm very sorry, Mr.
Duffy, but I don't hog-trade with a serial killer.
But then my son would never have to know.
I don't know what to tell you.
But I've got 11 murder victims and their families.
I have to speak for them.
Brandon Duffy was a juvenile when his DNA was taken after his conviction for joy-riding.
The law at the time stated that the DNA could be entered into the database only when there was an adult conviction.
Brandon was 15.
Fine.
Let Brandon Duffy sue the County Sheriff that took his DNA.
His parents don't want money.
They want to preserve their son's privacy and prevent the revelation that their son is a child of rape.
Say the boy's DNA was in the system in error.
What does it have to do with Mr.
Valdez? Your Honor, my client only became a suspect because the police found Brandon Duffy's DNA in the database.
All the evidence that the police have recovered stems from that tainted DNA match.
He's right, Mr.
Dekker, without that boy's DNA the police would not have found Mr.
Valdez, or the knife or the clothing.
Please don't tell me you're going to dismiss our entire prosecution because some clerk hit the wrong key on his computer.
Facts are facts.
I'm dismissing the charges and releasing Mr.
Valdez.
Hold on, Your Honor.
We have a victim who survived an attack by Mr.
Valdez.
She may be able to identify him.
Before you put this maniac back on the street, will you at least give us a chance to put him in a lineup? Mr.
Dekker, you can have your lineup.
Okay, Miss McDermott, take your time and tell us if you see the man who stabbed you.
I don't know.
It was so long ago.
I'm sorry.
I can't be sure.
ARLEEN: It's okay.
We'll get you a ride home.
You're a free man, Luis.
I want two cars on him 24l7.
Eleven murder cases blown out of the water.
What the hell's the ACLU thinking? Forget that.
Judge Ridgeway just tossed all our evidence.
Time to start from scratch.
DNA from the bra worn by Sylvia Watson.
Legally we have to pretend we don't know whose DNA that is.
Right.
Unidentified DNA sitting in the computer database waiting for a match.
The trick is getting Valdez's DNA back in the system legally.
We can.
If he gets arrested, he'll be swabbed, his DNA will be run through the database automatically.
If he gets arrested again.
(EXHALES) We have to make that happen.
We can't arrest him on a pretext.
Valdez has to actually do something.
Maybe he already has.
There's one victim here who's been overlooked.
Luis is my brother-in-law, Angela's uncle.
But we haven't seen him since we moved to Santa Ana.
You and your husband shared a house with him until then.
Why did you move out? After my husband died, I didn't feel comfortable living with Luis.
Angela was young, it wasn't proper.
Angela? I want to talk to you about the rape 18 years ago.
What if I don't want to? I can't force you.
But I think you can help us.
I think you can help us with many cases.
We just moved into this house.
I was in my new bedroom, sleeping.
I was 17.
I woke up, I was on my stomach.
This man was on my back raping me.
This man, what did he look like? I couldn't see.
He pushed my face into my pillow.
ANGELA: I couldn't even scream.
Did he say anything? Maybe you recognized his voice? You did.
You did recognize his voice.
Angela, all these women he's killed.
(GAGGING) You could stop him.
Tell him, Angela.
Tell him.
He whispered in my ear, it was like I was under water, but I could tell it was It was Uncle Luis.
What did he say to you? He said that if I told my mother, if I told the police, he would kill me.
Angela refused to go to the police.
So I took her to the doctor, she was bleeding.
What are you going to do? The rape happened outside of our jurisdiction so I need you to report it to the police here in Santa Ana.
How can I say it's him after all this time? You let us worry about that.
But I promise you, you'll never have to face him.
You'll never have to testify.
But I need you to be strong now.
I need you to stand up for yourself.
PALEY: 1992? Look, I'm happy to put a rapist behind bars, but it took her She was 17 and the rapist was her uncle.
He threatened to kill her if she reported it.
There are emergency room records confirming vaginal injury.
A rape kit? I don't know.
You have nothing but the girl's word two decades later.
It's a dead loser before a jury.
Listen, Karen, this uncle, he's the serial killer.
I'm sure you've read about him.
The one where you just lost all your evidence? JONAH: We'll get it back.
I just need you to prosecute him on the rape.
There's more than enough evidence to get past the preliminary hearing.
The victim's credible.
Nice of the City to put a serial killer back on payroll.
Well, he's union and no conviction.
So Our tax dollars hard at work.
(SIRENS WAILING IN THE DISTANCE) REX: Here comes the Santa Ana Cavalry.
(TIRES SCREECH) Freeze! Don't move! Get down! It's like watching a cop movie.
Hmm.
Now all we have to do is wait for Santa Ana to put his DNA in the database.
They finally ID'd our Jane Doe.
Kelli Torneau, age 17, no family.
She was born in New Orleans.
(COMPUTER PINGS) Valdez's DNA just hit the database.
Got him.
This is absurd, Your Honor.
You dismissed these murder cases last week.
Because the evidence then was based on a match with DNA that had been put in the database in error.
Now the evidence against Mr.
Valdez is based on his DNA that's been properly put into the database subsequent to his arrest for rape.
An old rape case that Mr.
Dekker convinced Orange County to use as a pretext to arrest my client.
I did not rape my niece, Your Honor.
And I did not kill nobody.
Quiet, Mr.
Valdez.
This was no pretext arrest.
There was medical evidence and an ID by the victim.
The rape happened Prosecution is barred by the statute of limitations.
If defense counsel had done his homework, he'd know that there's no clock for a sex crime against a minor that went previously unreported to the police.
The victim here was 17.
She's right, Mr.
Solomon.
And since Prop 69 required a DNA swab from Mr.
Valdez after his arrest for rape, our murder cases no longer go through a third party or violate anyone's privacy.
He's got you there, Mr.
Solomon.
But good.
I'm denying your motion to dismiss.
All murder charges will stand.
I'll see you folks at trial.
(GAVEL BANGS) Even if you win at trial, we'll have this tied up with appeals for the next 10 years.
And with the ACLU on board, we might have Prop 69 declared unconstitutional or that dubious statute of limitations exception.
And the next time Mr.
Valdez walks out of here, it might be for good.
You do what you got to do.
But I will be riding shotgun with the Attorney General's office on the appeal.
Come on, Dekker, a bird in the hand must be worth something.
You're not hearing me, Mr.
Solomon.
This case is going to end when your client receives a lethal injection from the state of California.
Lethal injection? Please.
I'll stay in prison for as long as you want.
All right, Dekker, word on the street is that the death penalty is not really your thing.
It's the law of this state and I'm going to enforce it.
I was good when I took those pills.
I never hurt nobody, but Don Heller, if he wasn't so nosey.
Nosey? He found out that I changed my name and he asked me questions, all the time questions.
And he just wouldn't leave me alone.
And I But I'll take those pills again.
And I'll be good again, but please Don't just let them kill me.
If you can convince a jury that you deserve mercy, so be it.
But I'm going to show you the same mercy you showed those women.
JONAH: Twenty-three years ago, a lone predator began murdering young, black women in South Central Los Angeles.
With a knife as sharp as wolves' teeth, he tore his victims to pieces.
Young women whose deaths weren't covered on TV, didn't make the front page of newspapers.
Young women whose murders weren't given their proper due by the police.
With time, the evidence was packed away in boxes, the murder books pushed to the back shelf, the cases faded away.
The victims were forgotten, by all except their families.
Until now.
We will prove that this man that sits before you, Luis Valdez, is one of the most vicious serial killers in the history of this city.
And today, everyone will know the names of his victims.
Sherry Conlon.
Beverly Greene.
Sylvia Watson.
Milicent Taylor.
Marlena Treadway.
Grace Bradshaw.
Luanne Hicks.
Diana McDermott.
Don Heller.
Kelli Torneau.
LaTanya Weaver.
Finally, they will all have their day in court.