Franklin Lynch (serial killer)

Last updated
Franklin Lynch
Franklin Lynch.jpg
Other names"The Day Stalker"
Conviction(s) 3 counts of first degree murder
Criminal penalty Death
Details
Victims3–13
Span of crimes
June –August 1987
CountryUnited States
State(s) California
Date apprehended
October 14, 1987

Franklin Lynch is an American serial killer who is currently housed at San Quentin State Prison's death row. [1] [2] [3] Convicted of the murders of three elderly women in successive months during the summer of 1987, Lynch is the prime suspect in 10 other murders of elderly women that took place in San Leandro, which were called publicly "The Day Stalker Murders." Circumstantial evidence links him to a total of 13 murders. [1]

Contents

Biography

In his teenage years, he began taking drugs, which developed into a cocaine addiction. He was arrested multiple times for robbery and had served multiple years in a state prison.

Investigation

In September 1987, the San Leandro Police Department (SLPD) formed their investigation into solving a string of recent brutal attacks and murders targeting elderly women whilst they were in their home. Prior to their investigation, they started examining the details of recent murders to see if they could be connected to any other cases. The investigation began when they came to the conclusion that a serial killer was targeting elderly white women who were either widowed or living alone. [1]

The murders had a pattern: the women would be in their home when an intruder forced himself into the home and attacked the woman, beating them to death. The murders had also all happened in San Leandro. [4]

Despite targeting a certain type of woman, he never sexually assaulted any of them, but money and expensive valuables were taken from the home, and police believed that was the motive for the murders. By early October, the killer was linked to up to 13 murders, with the most recent only being in late August. The killer was also suspected of over two dozen robberies and attacks on elderly women dating back to 1980. [1] The killer was dubbed the Day Stalker due to his nature of striking at around mid-day hours. Victims included Pearl Larson (aged 76), Norma Marglon (aged 78), Adeline Figuerido (aged 89), Anna Constantin (aged 73), Agnes George (aged 74), and Marie Lovardi (aged 82).

In late October, the investigators were notified by neighbors of 32-year-old Franklin Lynch, an ex-convict who had previously served time for robbery and drug charges. Lynch was taken into custody, and after a search of his home, items were found that belonged to Pearl Larson, the first victim of the Day Stalker. In a further search, items were found that belonged to victims Adeline Figuerido and Anna Constantine as well.

Conviction and later appeals

Franklin Lynch was convicted of the three murders and two separate attacks that were non-fatal, and he was sentenced to death in 1992. [1] He was soon transferred to San Quentin State Prison to await his execution.

In 2004, he tried to appeal his sentence, and he argued he should have been able to represent himself. The appeal stated that Lynch's conviction should be overturned, as he claimed there were numerous errors that occurred at trial between the jury and the judge. He also argued that California's death penalty law is unconstitutional and violates international law. However, his appeal was rejected, and as of September 2021, he remains on death row in San Quentin. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Quentin Rehabilitation Center</span> Mens prison in California, US

San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Paul Franklin</span> American serial killer

Joseph Paul Franklin was an American serial killer, white supremacist, and domestic terrorist who engaged in a murder spree spanning the late 1970s and early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleophus Prince Jr.</span> American serial killer

Cleophus Prince Jr. is an American serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1993 for the rape and murder of six women in San Diego County, California. The killings occurred between January and September 1990 and became known as the Clairemont serial killings as most of the murders took place there. Before these crimes and while serving in the United States Navy, Prince was court-martialed in 1989 due to larceny. Upon being convicted, he was recommended to be discharged after serving his sentence. Multiple books have been written on Prince and his crimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Carpenter</span> American serial killer on death row

David Joseph Carpenter, known as The Trailside Killer, is an American serial killer and serial rapist known for stalking and murdering a variety of individuals on hiking trails in state parks near San Francisco, California. He attacked at least ten individuals and was convicted in seven murders and was confirmed to be the killer in an eighth murder; Carpenter is also suspected in two additional killings. Two victims, Steven Haertle and Lois Rinna, mother of television personality Lisa Rinna, survived. Carpenter used a .38 caliber handgun in all but one of the killings. A .44 caliber handgun was used in the killing of Edda Kane on Mount Tamalpais.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Hughes (serial killer)</span> American serial killer

Michael Hubert Hughes is a convicted American serial killer on death row in San Quentin. Hughes was initially sentenced to life without parole for the murders of four women and girls in California. Later, he was convicted of committing three further murders of women, linked to the crimes via DNA profiling. At the second trial, he was sentenced to the death penalty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grim Sleeper</span> American serial killer (1952–2020)

Lonnie David Franklin Jr., better known by the nickname Grim Sleeper, was an American serial killer who was responsible for at least ten murders and one attempted murder in Los Angeles, California from 1984 to 2007. He was also convicted for rape and sexual violence. Franklin earned his nickname when he appeared to have taken a 14-year break from his crimes, from 1988 to 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Blair (serial killer)</span> American serial killer (1961–2024)

Terry Anthony Blair was an American serial killer who was convicted of killing seven women of various ages in Kansas City, Missouri, although investigators believed that there were additional unidentified victims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Ramirez</span> American serial killer and sex offender (1960–2013)

Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramirez, better known as Richard Ramirez, was an American serial killer and sex offender whose killing spree occurred in Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area in the state of California. From April 1984 to August 1985, Ramirez murdered at least fourteen people during various break-ins, with his crimes usually taking place in the afternoon, leading to him being dubbed the Night Stalker, the Walk-In Killer, and the Valley Intruder. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1989 and died while awaiting execution in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glen Edward Rogers</span> American serial killer on death row

Glen Edward Rogers, is an American convicted serial killer. He was also convicted of related crimes in Florida and California, such as armed robbery, grand theft auto, and arson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan Hill</span> American serial killer (born 1961)

Ivan Jerome Hill, known as The 60 Freeway Killer, is an American serial killer who raped and murdered at least eight women in Los Angeles between 1986 and 1994. Hill dumped his victims' corpses along the East-West Highway, known as "California State Route 60", contributing to his nickname. Hill was captured based on DNA profiling nearly a decade after his last murder and was sentenced to death in 2007.

Lyndon Fitzgerald Pace is an American serial killer and burglar. Between 1988 and 1989, he robbed and killed elderly women primarily in Atlanta's Vine City neighborhood. Among his burglary victims was Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow. Pace was convicted of four murders, but was not tried for a fifth, and was sentenced to death for his crimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Ables</span> American serial killer

Tony Alvin Ables is an American serial killer convicted of multiple homicides in the Tampa Bay area. Officially convicted of two murders, he was linked through DNA evidence in 2006 to two additional cases: the 1983 killing of 84-year-old Adeline McLaughlin and the 1987 death of his 31-year-old girlfriend, Deborah Kisor. Despite their romantic involvement, Ables was not charged and has yet to be tried for McLaughlin's murder. He is currently serving a life sentence for the 1990 murder of another girlfriend, 48-year-old Marlene Burns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony McKnight</span> American serial killer and rapist

Anthony McKnight was an American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and sex offender who killed five women and assaulted five others in Oakland, California, over a period of five months in late 1985 and early 1986. In 2008, he was found guilty of these murders and sentenced to death, but died awaiting execution in 2019.

Eugene Alvin Broxton is an American murderer and suspected serial killer. Convicted and sentenced to death for the May 1991 murder of a woman in Channelview, Texas, Broxton is also the sole suspect in four other murders for which he has never been convicted but remains the sole suspect.

Vender Lee Duncan was an American serial killer, rapist and burglar who sexually assaulted and killed three elderly women in San Francisco, California from 1955 to 1957. Following an arrest for burglary, he confessed to all his crimes, was convicted for two and eventually executed at the San Quentin State Prison in 1959.

Edwin Bernard Kaprat III, known as The Granny Killer, was an American serial killer, rapist, and arsonist who committed six murders in Tampa and Hernando County, Florida from 1991 to 1993, with a majority of his victims being elderly women. Convicted for two of the killings and sentenced to death, he and another inmate were stabbed to death during a dispute in prison.

Wiesław Wiszniewski is a Polish serial killer who, with the help of three accomplices, murdered eight elderly women in Warsaw from 1998 to 1999 during robberies. He was later arrested, tried and convicted for the murders, and received a life term.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Suspect Charged in 1 of 13 Similar Bay Area Killings". Los Angeles Times . Associated Press. 28 October 1987. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  2. ↑ Richman, Josh (25 May 2010). "Court should've let East Bay serial killer represent himself, lawyer argues". East Bay Times . Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  3. 1 2 "18 years later, killer to appeal death sentence". VC Star . Associated Press. 22 May 2010. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  4. ↑ Richman, Josh (25 May 2010). "Court should've let East Bay serial killer represent himself, lawyer argues". East Bay Times . Retrieved 28 August 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.