Cops hit wall in ‘Sleeper’ hunt

LOS ANGELES - They have a sample of his DNA, a description from a survivor and a $500,000 reward, but detectives investigating the city’s most notorious serial killer have hit a wall.

On Wednesday, they plan to release a recording of a 1987 emergency call in hopes of tracking down the man dubbed the “Grim Sleeper,” who has killed at least 11 times in nearly a quarter century.

“It’s a long shot, that’s for sure,” said Detective Dennis Kilcoyne. “I am hoping a couple people call us. ... Maybe that will lead us to something.”

Kilcoyne heads a squad of seven Los Angeles homicide detectives who for nearly two years have been assigned exclusively to the case.

The killer most recently struck Jan. 1, 2007, and his first known victim was in 1985.
Police have pored over investigative files from all the killings and are now focusing on the January 1987 slaying of Barbara Ware, a 23-year-old with a history of prostitution who was found shot to death in a South Los Angeles alley.

A man saw a blue-and-white van dump her body. He called police with his account and gave the license plate number of the van.

Within about an hour, police had tracked the van to its registered address at a church.
“The engine was still warm to the touch,” Kilcoyne said.

Several congregants were inside the now-defunct church but no one seemed to know anything.

“Then the trail stops there,” said Kilcoyne. “It sounds like it was a pretty good road map for the investigation at the time and it just fizzled out.”

Kilcoyne and his men hope to track down former churchgoers or even someone who knows the voice on the emergency call.