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The buyer of a Los Angeles home that formerly belonged to a serial killer known as “The Grim Sleeper” has put the home on the market and simultaneously sued the home’s sellers and every agent and real estate company involved with the purchase for allegedly not disclosing the home’s previous notorious occupant.
The murderer, Lonnie David Franklin Jr., was convicted in 2016 of killing nine women and a teenage girl between 1985 and 2007 in Los Angeles and was suspected of killing many others over his lifetime. He was sentenced to California’s death row, but died in prison at age 67 in March 2020.
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Franklin’s former home, located at 1728 West 81st Street in Los Angeles, was put up for sale on Wed. May 21, according to Redfin’s website. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom 1,770-square-foot house was listed for $865,000.
“The spacious dining and living areas boast a cozy fireplace, while abundant storage cabinets and pantries add to the home’s functionality,” the property’s listing description reads.
“Step outside to the covered patio, ideal for relaxing or hosting guests.”
A Redfin listing for the property at 1728 W. 81st St. once owned by “The Grim Sleeper,” Lonnie David Franklin Jr. The listing was uploaded to Redfin on May 21, 2025.
The listing description makes no mention of the home’s previous occupants or the legal imbroglio surrounding the home. Inman has reached out to the listing agent, Joseph M. Rasson of Rasson Realty & Financial Corp., for comment and will update this story if and when a response is received.
On Mon., May 19, the most recent buyer of the home, Suyeon Park, filed a lawsuit against sellers Surendra Pandey and Madav Budhathoki; Khemlal Adhikari, the listing agent; Keller Williams Coastal Properties, the listing brokerage; Jason Anderson, the buyer’s agent; eXp Realty of California, the buyer’s brokerage; Pacific Coastline Escrow, the escrow company for the transaction; and Chicago Title Company, the title company for the transaction.
Park bought the home in February 2025 for about $755,000.
The suit, filed in the state’s Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses the defendants of “sheer laziness in order to make a quick profit” and maintains they knew the house was once owned and lived in by The Grim Sleeper.
“The Grim Sleeper resided at the House during the entire murder spree,” the complaint says.
“Defendants knew that Plaintiff was not aware of this. But either negligently, purposely, knowingly and/or intentionally failed to disclose this information in order for the Transaction to go through and have them get paid.”
“Defendants knew that the House was nowhere near the value of which it was sold to Plaintiff given that a serial killer lived there,” the complaint adds, noting that the defendants assured Park before the deal closed “that there was nothing that Plaintiff needed to be concerned with relating to the House.”
The complaint alleges that when Park moved in, she made improvements to the house costing about $50,000.
A neighbor informed Park that the house was once owned by The Grim Sleeper and when Park asked the neighbor whether the sellers knew, the neighbor said the sellers knew, according to the complaint.
The neighbor also allegedly told Park that the house had once been listed, then taken off the market and re-listed again “after some time” at a “significantly lower price.” The same neighbor also mentioned an incident during an open house when a car drove by and yelled to Adhikari, the listing agent, that the house was where The Grim Sleeper had lived.
The complaint also describes an incident toward the end of February 2025 after Park moved in when a technician came to the property to install internet.
“Unknown to Plaintiff, another passerby drove and parked his vehicle and then approached the technician if he could take a tour of the House given that a serial murderer had lived there,” the complaint says.
“As a result, Plaintiff has lived with constant fear and stress for her safety and well being.”
The complaint makes 10 claims against the defendants: breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealings; intentional misrepresentation; concealment; negligent misrepresentation; fraud; conspiracy to defraud; breach of fiduciary duty; constructive fraud; intentional infliction of emotional distress; and negligence.
The filing charges that “there existed an implied promise that Defendants make full disclosures as to issues relating to trespassers and deranged fans of the serial killer that used to live there” and that “in order to reap all the benefits of the Transaction, Defendants purposely did not disclose that a serial murder lived there and that Plaintiff may be bombarded with unwelcome guests.”
The complaint stresses that Park would not have bought the home “[h]ad Defendants disclosed this omitted information.”
The complaint asks for compensatory damages, exemplary and punitive damages, and for attorney’s fees.
Inman has reached out to the defendant agents and companies for comment and will update this story if and when responses are received.
Read the complaint (re-load the page if document is not visible):
