Congrats to LA Weekly’s Christine Pelisek for “Grim Sleeper”

Christine Pelisek has done fine work over the past three years on the serial killer that the LA Weekly has named “The Grim Sleeper.”

The Aug. 17 issue of Newsweek magazine has a large, multimedia story on the murders, which includes Christine Pelisek’s important work. (Be sure to check out the video, which is on Page 3 of the article.)

The bodies—eight of them— first began turning up in 1985. And then, it seems, the killer took a 13-year break. But then in 2002 two new bodies turned up, and then a third and the LAPD appointed a special task force to find a killer who they realized, due to forensic links, was like responsible for both spates of murders. But they kept the fact of the re-emegence of a serial killer a secret.

Christine first broke the story in 2006 when the LAPD was still trying to keep the string of South LA murders quiet so not to tip off the killer.

But, as community members have rightly said, if these kinds of murders were taking place in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica or Brentwood do we have any doubt whatsoever that the police would have let the public know?

Pelisek followed up in August 2008 by reporting the news of the task force, and the anguish of the victims’ families. It was then, reports Newsweek, that the LA Times finally took serious notice.

LAPD homicide detective Dennis Kilcoyne, the dedicated cops-cop who is head of the task force, is another intriguing character in Newsweek’s story-about-the-story. It seems that he and Pelisek now have a relationship of mutual respect.

Bottom line: Christine Pelisek, one of two three full time news reporters still left at the Weekly, is getting much deserved credit for work that is of tremendous value. And that’s a good thing—especially in this dark time for journalism.

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CORRECTION NOTE; I’m afraid I repeated Newsweek’s error that Christine was only one of two news reporters still working full time at the Weekly. (Actually they said “reporters” period, but I knew that couldn’t be right.) I am told that the Weekly has five full time writers, three of whom are news reporters. In addition to Christine, there is Steven Mikulan, and Patrick Range McDonald. On the arts and culture side, there is Libby Molyneaux and Gendy Alimurung. All are hardworking and talented and I regret leaving any of them out.

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Photo by Nick Ut for the AP

FYI: Nick Ut is the great AP photographer who took the tragic and now iconic 1972 photo of the napalmed girl during the Vietnam War. Ut’s photo won the Pulitzer that year.