2 Southside Killings Tied to Prisoner

An unemployed construction worker already facing trial in three murders was charged Friday with two of the much-publicized Southside Slayer killings of young prostitutes in the predominantly black areas of Los Angeles, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates announced.

Louis Craine, 31, has been in custody since May 29 after a woman was found slain in Southeast Los Angeles. Evidence gathered in that killing led police to link Craine to the two Southside Slayer deaths.

Craine is the third suspect to be charged with killings that were investigated by the Southside Slayer Task Force, a joint police-sheriff team that once numbered 50 detectives but recently was reduced to 16.

On Friday, Craine was charged with slaying Sheila Rae Burton, also known as Sheila Rae Burris, a 30-year-old divorcee from Illinois who was found stabbed and strangled Nov. 18, 1984, in an alley near the 9800 block of Maie Avenue in Los Angeles.

Burton was the fourth victim on the list of murders investigated by the task force that was formed in January, 1986, amid concern that a serial killer might be responsible for the slayings on the city’s Southside. Despite the three arrests, most of the murders dating back to 1983 remain unsolved.

Craine was also charged with the murder of Gail M. Ficklin, a 24-year-old maid with a police record for prostitution. The 11th victim on the task force’s list, Ficklin was found on Aug. 15, 1985, in an alley just off the 9800 block of Grandee Avenue in Los Angeles. She had been strangled.

Ficklin and Burton were among 18 young women, most of them prostitutes, killed between the fall of 1983 and May, 1987.

The number of murders investigated by the task force had been 17, but Gates disclosed Friday that another victim--who was murdered the day of Craine’s arrest last May--was being added to the list.

Victim No. 18 was identified as Carolyn Barney, whose body was found in the 9700 block of South Graham Avenue.

“There were differences in the way he (Craine) killed them,” Gates said of the slayings. “(But) on the last one, there was some similarity, and that’s why the task force was asked to move into that investigation.”

He refused to discuss what the similarity was.

Gates said Craine’s arrest pointed up investigators’ belief that no one person committed all the crimes, although fears had spread throughout the community that a single murderer, dubbed the Southside Serial Killer, was stalking the streets.

“I think right at the beginning we thought that there might be one single person, but very early on most of us believed that there was more than one suspect,” Gates said. “The sheer numbers and the times they (the murders) were occurring had to lead you to believe there was more than one suspect.”

Two other men have been arrested in three other Southside Slayer killings. Daniel Lee Siebert, a convicted killer imprisoned in Alabama, was charged last year with two of the slayings. The second man, Charles Mosley, was convicted of the 1986 death of a third victim.

Besides the three Southside Slayer murders Craine is accused of committing, he also faces murder charges in the deaths of Loretta Perry, whose body was found Jan. 25, 1987, in the 9500 block of South Defiance Avenue, and Vivian Louise Collins, who was slain March 18, 1987, in the 1600 block of East Century Boulevard.

Court documents show Craine is facing charges of murder and sodomy with special circumstances. In addition, he faces two sexual assault charges involving a prostitute and an assault with a deadly weapon charge against a family friend.

The district attorney’s office said it will seek the death penalty against Craine.

Documents on file in Los Angeles Superior Court provide details about the murders and other crimes that Craine is charged with.

The documents--preliminary hearing transcripts--quoted Los Angeles Homicide Detective Victor Pietrantoni, who based his court testimony on a six-hour interrogation of Craine, who he said waived his rights and talked freely.

Pietrantoni testified that Barney, a known prostitute, was picked up by Craine last May as the suspect drove by in a station wagon. They reportedly struck up a conversation, then parked the car near Craine’s home, where they engaged in oral sex, according to the detective.

Craine then sodomized Barney, and she asked for more money. They got into a struggle, and Craine put his forearm against her throat for about 15 minutes, the detective said in the documents.

“He thought she’d gone to sleep,” the investigator said.

Craine released the pressure and realized there was something wrong but left the body in car and went inside and slept. The next day, the body was removed from the car and thrown into a vacant lot across the street, Pietrantoni said.

In the Collins case, Craine and his brother, Roger, reportedly decided to hire a prostitute and found Collins. They then went to a vacant house in the 1600 block of East Century Boulevard.

Craine told the detective that his brother argued with Collins and started choking her while he (Louis) sodomized her. Then they switched positions, with Louis choking her and Roger sodomizing her, the detective further testified.

Police said Collins was later found dead in the house, with cocaine in her body.

Perry allegedly died the same way. Police said she was taken to a vacant house and a fight ensued. Craine told police that his brother started to choke her, and he (Louis) began sodomizing her. Then they switched again.

The district attorney’s office said late Friday that despite the detective’s testimony, prosecutors have not charged Roger Craine with murder.

They have, however, charged him with assault in connection with a known prostitute identified as Cheryl Williams. Louis Craine also has been charged with oral copulation and forced sodomy in an attack on Williams, police said.

The final count against Louis Craine involves an attack on a family friend, Yolanda Parker, who was visiting Craine’s sister at the family home. Police said that Sandra Craine discovered her brother in the back of the house twisting Parker’s arm behind her back and pushing her face into the ground.

Craine once lived in the 1000 block of West 42nd Place, according to Department of Motor Vehicle records. According to the apartment manager, Albert Nelson, Craine lived in a 20-unit apartment building with a friend, Jesse Smith, until 1986, when Smith died of a heart attack,

Nelson said Craine never had a job in the three years that he lived with Smith, although police listed his former occupation as construction worker. The apartment manager recalled that Craine spent much of his time sipping beer on the front stoop of the building. Craine’s only apparent means of support, Nelson said, were welfare checks.

“He was always calm,” Nelson said. “He never gave me any problems. He’d just sit on the step and never bothered nobody.”

Nelson said the body of a black woman who had been murdered was discovered behind the apartment building two years ago. Craine was no longer living in the building when that body was discovered.

However, other residents of the building and other neighbors said they were questioned as recently as Wednesday about Craine’s possible connection to the crime. Residents could not recall the victim’s name and other details of the crime.

Despite Craine’s arrest, a long-time critic of the police investigation said Friday that the addition of an 18th victim indicates that there may be more Southside Slayer victims who police have not counted.

“First, we’re glad that anybody who murders anybody is arrested,” said Margaret Prescod, leader of the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders. “So, if it is a break in the case, we are very pleased. What concerns us is we have been worried all along the numbers (of victims) were greater than 17. . . .”

Craine is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Compton Municipal Court in the two Southside Slayer deaths. He is currently being held without bail in County Jail in connection with the three other murders.

Times staff writer David Freed contributed to this story.