Death row inmate Lonnie D. Franklin found dead in cell at San Quentin
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - Lonnie D. Franklin Jr., a death row inmate at San Quentin State Prison, was found dead in his single cell Saturday evening, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced. He was 67 years old.
Medical assistance was rendered when he was found and an ambulance was summoned. Franklin was pronounced dead at 7:43 p.m.
"His cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy; however, there were no signs of trauma," the CDCR said.
Franklin, a serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper," was on death row for the murders of nine women and one teenage girl committed between 1985 and 2007.
He was sentenced to death in Los Angeles County on Aug. 10, 2016, for 10 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
The CDCR noted that since California reinstated capital punishment in 1978, "82 condemned inmates have died from natural causes, 27 have committed suicide, 13 were executed in California, one was executed in Missouri, one was executed in Virginia, 14 have died from other causes and eight - including Franklin - are pending a cause of death. There are 727 people on California's death row."