Los Angeles is affectionately referred to as the “City of Angels,” but the devil lives there, too.
How to watch
Watch Serial Killer Capital: Los Angeles on Oxygen Sunday, October 20th at 7/6pm.
The city’s history has seen many scary times, from the ’80s when women were stalked by Night Stalker Richard Ramirez to the late ’70s when they were stalked by Hillside Stranglers Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono. They were induced and killed. “Serial Killer Capital: Los Angeles,” currently airing on Oxygen, delves even deeper into the terrifying dark side of Tinseltown.
While many people know about the Night Stalker and the Hillside Stranglers, less has been reported about the murders of 16 women in South Los Angeles over a three-year period beginning in January 1984. More murders followed. Investigators eventually discovered that the city was being terrorized by a serial killer who preyed on young, vulnerable women struggling with substance abuse.
One of those serial killers was Louis Crain. Here’s everything you need to know about him.
Who is Louis Crane?
Born in Los Angeles in 1957, Crane dropped out of school after the fourth grade. After that, he worked intermittently as an unskilled laborer. At the time of the murder in the 1980s, he was living with his family and working at a construction site in the San Fernando Valley.
“His mother was commenting on the fact that he was very angry with certain types of girls, especially female prostitutes who used crack cocaine,” the detective said. Vic Pietrantoni of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery and Homicide Division spoke on “Serial Killer Capital: Los Angeles.”
How was Louis Crain captured?
On May 27, 1987, Crane was on police radar after Carolyn Barney’s body was discovered. A 29-year-old black woman was strangled and raped. Witnesses reported seeing Crain arguing with Bernie in the back seat of a station wagon moments before her body was found in the Watts neighborhood of South Los Angeles.
Pietrantoni said Crane initially appeared to be a “mild person” during questioning. “He didn’t seem like the type of person to commit such a violent crime.”
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But when Crain was asked about Bernie, that opinion quickly changed. “He initially said there had been an argument and left,” the detective said.
“After some more questioning, he admitted that he had actually pushed her neck with his forearm and that he thought she was asleep and walked away,” Pietrantoni added. “At one point he actually admitted that he knew she was actually dead.”
In a surprising twist, Crane asked the detective to pray with him. Cliff Shepard, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, said Crain later confessed to three more strangulation murders.
Who are Louis Crain’s victims?
According to Serial Killer Capital: Los Angeles, Crain confessed to killing Barney as well as Loretta Perry, Vivian Collins and Gail Ficklin. These women were murdered between August 1985 and March 1987.
“All of his victims were acquaintances of his neighborhood,” Pietrantoni said. “All of his crimes occurred within a stone’s throw of his residence.”
FBI profiler Dr. Mary Ellen O’Toole said, “He doesn’t seem concerned about whether he will be found because the victims were found so close to where he lived.”
Crane was convicted of four murders. He died in prison on November 7, 1989 due to complications from AIDS.
In addition to Crane, three other men were arrested in what became known as the Southside Slayer murders.
Learn more about them in Serial Killer Capital: Los Angeles on Oxygen.
