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Most of the slayings went unsolved for years until an unrelated case – and the work of the LAPD’s Cold Case Unit and its forensics specialists – began to connect the cases, one by one, to Turner. In the meanwhile, David Allen Jones confessed under interrogation by police to three of the slayings and served 11 years in prison before DNA evidence exonerated him. Jones subsequently received a $720,000 settlement for his false conviction and imprisonment. The DNA evidence that freed Jones and turned suspicion on Turner was taken from Turner during a 2002 rape investigation. According to prosecutors, the victim in that case identified Turner by name and by the Skid Row mission where he was working at the time. While Turner served an eight-year prison sentence for his conviction in that rape, investigators used DNA to connect him to each of the victims in the serial killings – beginning with a link to Vance and Mildred Beasley, whose body was found Nov. 6, 1996, in the 9600 block of South Broadway. “Case after case after case came back to Chester Turner,” Grace told jurors. “Now, amazingly, stunningly, 11 murders have a murderer, and he is Chester Turner. The knock of justice is now banging loudly on Chester Turner’s door.” Defense on attack Turner’s defense attorney, John Tyre, deferred giving an opening statement. But he has been quoted in news reports of planning an O.J. Simpson-style defense, attacking the veracity and integrity of the DNA and evidence-gathering. Turner’s defense suffered a setback earlier this year when a judge ruled that it could not present evidence related to Jones’ confession and conviction in three of the killings. But Turner’s lawyer scored a victory when Judge William Pounders approved a request keeping the trial from being televised. Unsolved slayings In an interview outside the courtroom, Grace said his characterization of Turner as Los Angeles’ most prolific identified serial killer stems from the fact that not all of other serial killers’ victims were killed within the city limits. In addition, he said, Turner could be linked to other unsolved slayings, as well. Bonin, Bianchi and Buono were convicted of 14 murders each, and Ramirez was convicted of 13 murders. Along with several accomplices, Bonin is also believed to have raped and killed as many as 20 young men and boys. He was executed in 1996. Buono was found dead, apparently of a heart attack, in 2002 at Calipatria State Prison while serving a life sentence. Bianchi is serving a prison term in Washington. Ramirez is currently awaiting execution on California’s Death Row at San Quentin State Prison. tony.castro@dailynews.com (818) 713-3761 Death Toll Chester Dewayne Turner is charged with killing the following women: Diane Johnson, 21, found face-down and partially nude March 9, 1987, in the 10200 block of South Grand Avenue, alongside the Harbor Freeway. Annette Ernest, 26, whose partially nude body was found face-down Oct. 29, 1987, in the 10200 block of South Grand Avenue, west of the Harbor Freeway. Anita Fishman, 31, whose badly decomposed body was found by children Jan. 20, 1989, in the 9800 block of South Figueroa Street. Regina Washington, 27, was 6 1/2 months pregnant when she was strangled with an electrical cord in September 1989 in the back of a vacant house in the 8800 block of South Figueroa Street. Andrea Tripplett, 29, was 5 1/2 months pregnant when she was strangled in April 1993 in the 7800 block of South Figueroa Street. Desarae Jones, 29, whose body was found May 16, 1993, beside a vacant house in the 6800 block of Estrella Avenue. Natalie Price, 31, whose body was found Feb. 12, 1995, outside a home in the 500 block of West 80th Street. Mildred Beasley, 45, whose body was found Nov. 6, 1996, in a field area in the 9600 block of South Broadway. Paula Vance, 38, who was killed Feb. 3, 1998, at 630 W. 6th St. Brenda Bries, 37, was found dead April 6, 1998, with her head resting on a portable toilet in Skid Row.160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! That evidence is graphic, as jurors learned Tuesday, watching a grainy Feb. 3, 1998, surveillance video of the rape and strangulation of Paula Vance, whose body was found next to an office building at Sixth and Hope streets. A couple of jurors winced during the video, and three women spectators got up and left the courtroom. In the front row, Jerri Johnson Tripplett, the mother of another of Turner’s alleged victims, wiped tears from her eyes with a handkerchief. “My daughter was killed in 1993, and it was 11 years later that they found her killer,” Johnson Tripplett said in an interview during the lunch break. “There have been degrees of closure. But when you’ve lost a child you’ve brought into this world, I don’t think there can ever be closure.” Andrea Tripplett’s body was found April 2, 1993, in the 7800 block of Figueroa Avenue – close to the area where Turner lived and worked during much of the 1980s and 1990s. The other victims also were found in the so-called Figueroa Corridor – areas reputed to be linked to prostitution and drug trafficking. Cases finally linked The long, ugly scar running from the right side of his shaved head down the side of his face, the cold stare from empty eyes, tells you that 6-foot-2, 260-pound Chester Dewayne Turner is not someone you want to meet in a dark alley in South Los Angeles. The partially nude bodies of 10 women – most believed to be prostitutes – found strangled on downtown’s back streets between 1987 and 1998 are even better evidence, prosecutors said during opening arguments Tuesday in the death-penalty case against Turner. “The evidence we will introduce will show that Chester Turner is possibly the most prolific serial killer in the history of the city of Los Angeles,” Deputy District Attorney Robert L. Grace Jr. told jurors, equating the defendant to the likes of “Freeway Killer” William Bonin, “Hillside Stranglers” Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, and “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez. Turner, 39, a onetime Domino’s Pizza worker and Skid Row mission worker, sat expressionless during the first day of a weeks-long trial, with prosecutors saying they will introduce evidence linking him to the murders of 10 women and one unborn child. read more