Shocker: 650 items taken from Grim Sleeper's home included creepy stuff

ID cards, a brown paper bag, an LAPD officer's notepad, a ski mask, mattress covers, a pair of gloves, porno videos, photos of porn actresses, guns and ammunition, handcuffs, car seats stained with bodily fluids: these are a few of the 650 things investigators took from the home of the man believed to be the Grim Sleeper serial killer.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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David Carroll

Which of these items will be used to explain the Grin Sleeper’s behaviour? Hint: It won’t be the ski mask, mattress covers, gloves, handcuffs, car seats, paper bag or notepad.
- scaught
  
  If you’re referring to his race, that would be pretty odd. I can’t even think of another black serial killer. Maybe the DC sniper, but that was more related to some kind of extreme Islamist bent.
  - flosofl
    
    Wayne Williams? But I gotta admit, I think the well is rather dry after that.
hobomike

These are a few of my favorite things…
- Pantograph
  
  Photos of porn stars
  dressed up like kittens
  Strangling gloves
  that work better than mittens
  DVDs of girls, some wearing G-strings…
  - Anonymous
    
    These are a few of my favorite things!
    
    Locks of hooker’s hair
    Purse from a dead au pair
    One bloody blade
    Hidden camera pix I’ve saved…
oasisob1

I want photos of everything in situ.

I spy a ski mask, handcuffs, three sevens and a glove,
a mattress cover, two guns, and magazines for self love…
Anonymous

…and 5 dvds of mp3 files worth an estimated 2 quadrillion dollars.
Anonymous

shoot, a fellah could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff….
Anonymous

No violent video games, I notice.
imag

Thank you, BB peanut gallery, for being the voice of reason. It’s a reminder of how anyone could cherry-pick facts out of our life and string them together to make us look bad…

If the guy is guilty, I’d actually be more interested in some of the innocent or amusing things he owned….
jimh

They don’t mention his tea cozy collection.
berco

As I recall, several news sources and blogs were dismissive of the evidence against Hans Reiser because it was circumstantial.

After he was convicted (despite his protestations of innocence) he mitigated his sentence by leading authorities to his victim’s body.

Not to say this guy is or is not guilty, but it’s silly to guess either way at this point. Unless we are just doing it for the lulz.
elleomnom

porn and mattress covers? somebody hold me!
Anonymous

I think I have seven of those things in my house. My car seat even has some of my blood on it from after I ran into the kitchen cabinets and started bleeding without realizing it.
chip

Nothing you listed is particularly creepy in-and-of itself. Most people put covers on their mattresses, own ski masks, and carry ID cards. 35-50% of Americans keep at least one gun in their home. ALL men possess pornographic video and/or pictures. Actual forensic investigation will no doubt show whether the “bodily fluids” on the car seats are blood, semen, or just regular old sweat – which you’ll find in ANY car seat that has been through an LA summer.

This guy might be the grim sleeper, but you should probably wait to see some actual evidence before you label common, everyday items in his home “creepy”.