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(CNN) -- Authorities said Wednesday they have arrested a suspect in the Grim Sleeper serial killer case and will charge him with 10 counts of murder.
Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 57, faces an additional count of attempted murder, officials said.
Nicknamed for taking long breaks between attacks, the killer is believed responsible for at least 11 deaths since 1985 in south Los Angeles. The killer targeted black women, some working as prostitutes, using the same small caliber weapon
Margaret Prescod, who founded the Black Coalition Fighting Black Serial Murders and worked heavily with the families of the victims in the case, told CNN she spoke with the Grim Sleeper Task Force who informed her of the arrest Wednesday.
Prescod said Det. Dennis Kilcoyne, head of the task force, told her that unlike a previous arrest in the case that turned out to be wrong, he was sure they had gotten their man this time.
"He told me that what they have is very solid," Prescod said.
Prescod said she is "cautiously optimistic" about the development because there was an arrest years ago in the case, which police touted as solidly based on ballistics evidence, but turned out to be false.
If Franklin turns out to be the Grim Sleeper, "it would be a huge relief, not only for the [victims' families], but for the entire community that remained at threat," Prescod said.
"We are mortified that it has taken this long to make an arrest but nevertheless, one is always glad when there is a breakthrough and we can only hope right now that it is a solid breakthrough."
Prescod told CNN she met with victims' family members, who had many questions about the arrest.
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Family members were told not to give any details about the case or speak to the media until officials hold a press conference Thursday, she said.
Overall, Prescod said, there was a feeling of relief among the relatives of the serial killer's victims.
During a quick news conference near the suspect's home, Capt. Kevin McClure with LAPD Robbery Homicide said family members had been briefed on the case.
McClure also said Franklin would be arraigned in court Thursday morning.
District Attorney Steve Cooley praised the commitment of the LAPD in solving this multidecade case.
"This was accomplished by the LAPD's hard work with great assistance from the California Department of Justice Division of Law Enforcement personnel," Cooley said.
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Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa echoed Cooley's statement.
"There was a lot of painstaking work that went into this and we are very proud of the work our officers have done in making this happen," Villaraigosa said.
Prescod told CNN she had spoken with several of the victims' families, some of whom are members of her coalition, to tell them about the news.
She said family members were screaming and shouting on the phone when she told them the news, elated that perhaps they could find closure in the deaths of their loved ones.
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Aerial footage on Wednesday showed police searching cars in the garage of the suspect's home in south Los Angeles -- not far from the corridor where the victims' bodies were dumped.
"That is indeed very close along the corridor that these murders happened," Prescod said of the location. "So it's not surprising, if this is the guy, that it would be someone who is from the neighborhood, familiar with the area."
Prescod said much of her organization's efforts focused on the area where Franklin was arrested.
"We went around there, going door-to-door to make sure people knew about the murders. At the time that we did that, most of the people hadn't even heard about the murders and people were concerned because they felt -- this is happening and we frankly don't know anything about it."
Before the arrest, officials struggled to find new leads partially because the changing makeup of the neighborhood where the crimes were committed made it difficult to find witnesses. The killer left behind DNA and fingerprints that police were unable to match to a name.
A 911 call made in 1987 reporting one of the murders led police to a van they believed was involved. But the trail went cold.
In May, new composite sketches of a suspect went up on billboards across Los Angeles as police intensified their hunt for the serial killer.
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