Serial killer: Louis Craine
Louis Craine, an unemployed construction worker, was portrayed by his defense attorneys in court as an illiterate man with a fourth-grade education and an IQ of 69, unable to kill anyone. Yet in 1989, with the help of his own family's testimony, he was convicted of the first degree murder of four women. He had strangled them to death.
Although he was acquitted in a fifth homicide, authorities consider the killing of Patricia Burton tied to him. Her case remains closed.
Superior Court Judge Janice Claire Croft sentenced Craine to death for the killings, however he died in a prison hospital of an undisclosed ailment just months later.
Two of the four killings he was convicted of had earlier been attributed to a serial killer dubbed The Southside Slayer. Authorities later said the others were the victims of at least two killers.
Since the early 1980s, at least five serial killers, and possibly more, were active in the South Los Angeles area. These killers targeted mostly young African American women, dumping their bodies in alleys, vacant buildings or parks.
Click here to see a map of where authorities found the bodies of 53 victims of serial killers between 1984 and 2007.
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